I also sort out the car boot sales – I've never managed to find the really good stuff, (I live in Coventry, so a lot of the time, the stuff being sold looks like it has been used to plough a field), but have found assorted games and some consoles that have worked.

One of my proudest moments was buying two non-working Game Gears, for 50p and 20p and then fiddling about until I got one of them working.  Sadly, I had to sell it a few years back to help pay vet bills for one of our cats who had presumably tried wrestling a car.

I did miss out on what looked like a vintage Atari 2600 by about 30 seconds a few months back (which was a real shame, as I've never owned one).  I was gutted for days!

The best non-gaming bargain I've found was a Force FX lightsaber, for sale for £10.00*.  It was being sold by one of those stalls where it looks like they sell stock from bankrupt companies.  Evidently, they had no idea what they were selling, as I asked to take a look at it, pulled an uncertain face and asked how much.  When the sum of £10.00 was mentioned, I 'grudgingly' agreed, paid up and legged it to the exit, giggling all the way!

Even better, when I got home, I tested it and it worked perfectly!

*For those who don't know, these were being sold for anywhere between £80.00 and £120.00 at the time – dependent on where you shopped.

Car boot sales here would be like a collective yard sale. We don't have yard sales here in the UK (probably some government regulation against it!) so people load up all their old tat into the trunk / boot of the car, gather at some approved spot, price everything and sell it.

Maybe there is some dodgy gear there – I remember going regularly to a flea market, Ingliston market, and could buy cheap knock off after shave, designer gear, bootleg tapes, etc. Even remember one guy had a list of Amiga and ST games and he'd knock a copy off of whatever people asked for.

How the police never stopped none of this is beyond me, a more innocent time I guess!