Just in case I may have mislead anyone here (with all this 'vinylology'
lately) - Swim has just got back from a quick trip over to the town for
'essentials' (olives with chili peppers for her, jam doughnuts and
white-iced sticky buns for me, a DVD and popcorn, an alarm clock with a
choice of calls - rooster, seagulls etc.... :-) and she hands me three LPs.

'Ow much?' sez I - 'Three quid' sez she. 'OK' sez I....

I inspect them:

A 1980 'digital' recording (EMI - ASD 3994 in mint condition) of Jane
Parker-Smith playing Liszt and Franck on the Organ of the Church of St
Francis de Sales, Philadelphia. (Lists the pipes, including the 32' Contre
Bourdon 'Pedal with Ventils' - must remember to keep an ear out for
'artifacts' when that one's bulging the walls out here....)

A beautiful, mint-looking 1958 EMI-ALP 1643 (looks like a 'Shaded Dog' to
me) album of a peenist (whom I do not know) called Soloman playing Grieg and
Schumann Piano Concertos with The Philharmonia Orchestra under Menges.

And....

A tidy MFP copy of 'The Best Of the Monkees'.....!!!

(Don't ask - it ain't for me!! :-)

Anyway, I wiped the few spots of mould of the Clarifoil on the Solomon (I
like a little bit of brown mold on the sleeves occasionally - keeps the
dickheads away...) to reveal a superb-looking album and then proceeded to
peel a 50p sticker off each of the classicals.

'How much did you say?' I asked. 'Three quid' sez she. 'The classicals had
50p stickers on them.' sez I (Knowing that you daren't argue with the old
biddies in the charity shops when they reckon up your purchases...)

'Yes, that's right' sez she - '50p each for the classical and two quid for
The Monkees'.... !!! :-)

Anyway, the moral/point of this tale is that, although the prices have
generally gone up enormously, there are still some stunning bargains still
to be found - so, keep looking!! (I do hope this will be regarded as an
interesting 'shared experience' and not 'boasting' - we are talking about
charity shop vinyl at chump change prices, after all....!!! ;-)

Now I can't bloody clean them yet, as the rain has soaked the plug on my
extension lead to the garage!!! :-(