Abe Books Online, and More Praise for Brockiland Fahrweid

(I am toying with the idea of starting a tribute song to Brockiland to the tune of Elton John's "Rocketman". Thoughts?) ;)

I went back to Brockiland today, to see if something we saw there on Saturday was still around (a foolish mission, I know). Turns out it doesn't take too long to get there, and there are three buses that go from the Dietikon Bahnhof to the nearest bus stop (Limmatbrücke) - the 301, the 302 and the 304.
 

For 15 CHF, I got..... 1. The fabric the receipt is laying upon,.....

The Weihnachtsturm (pyramide) was still there, but on closer examination was missing several key pieces (all the candle holders and all the fan blades... rather useless in its current condition, and not nice enough to try to salvage).
 

.... 2. This decanter (I love these cut glass things!),....

Not only was the Weihnachtsturm there, but so was half of the Dietikon area. I arrived around 15:30, not realising it was only open until 17:00. But no matter - it was so crawling with people (many of which were exceedingly annoying), and I didn't want to stay long. Worse, a bus load of special needs adults were there on a field trip. This would have been no problem at all, except one was especially overwhelmed and had to take a seat right in the middle of the high-traffic, narrow aisle that abuts the kitchen, glassware, toy, and tool aisles. It was, in short, a gong show. :)
 

....3. Yet another plain, white hand towel (3 Fr. each - great deal),..... 4. Some 'flower arrangement candles', which I though would make lighting the grill easier (and more elegant!).... and 5. The square table cloth (ivory-coloured)...

I didn't stay long - but I did get a few things (more black tableware, to go with my collection). And the usual lady was on the till, and she was just as generous to me as she was on Saturday.

..... 6. This curved, art-glass dish....

So maybe that day that I accused her of not being the cheapest option was a particularly rough one. Or she was under pressure from the powers that be to bring in more cash.  
 

... and 7. This large black glass charger, which still had the maker's label (sticker) on the front. Crazy! All for 15 CHF!

So I'd like to make a redaction on that earlier post where I accused her of not giving the best prices. She's been more than fair to me recently. :) Maybe she recognizes me, I don't know. Not many native English speakers around, it seems!

Again, while the downtown Brockiland is great and is much bigger, it's also twice as annoying, and I'm beginning to think that my competition (the sort of people who look for the same sorts of things I look for) is mostly downtown and has scoured that place nearly clean.

I know from my stats that virtually no one reads this blog (awww, shame!), but if you ever do, take it from me that it's worth a trip out to the Dietikon area for a snoop around Brockiland Fahrweid. And if Bülach is closer for you, the big brocki there is also worth the trip (not as cheap, but still worthwhile!). 

Now, for my special mention of Abe Books, online:

By far and wide, Abe is one of the cheapest online sources for second-hand books (The Book Depository is another good one). I wanted a copy of The Silmarillion, and so I thought about buying the e-book....

First of all, there is no e-book available (apart from some very sketchy torrents that may or may not have an epub... I decided that if it couldn't be bought, it probably didn't legitimately exist on a torrent, either!).

I did find a format that didn't work for my e-reader, and a price - around 10 USD.

Guess how much I bought my used book for from Abe Books? 1.60 CHF. With shipping, it cost roughly 6 CHF! It's not in great condition (it's a paperback that is older than I am!), but it's certainly functional.

I think it's ANNOYING that you can't buy a digital version of a book for less than a real, in-the-flesh copy. So that's my hint to you - save your money, rescue an unloved book from a bookseller somewhere in the English-speaking world through Abe Books (or The Book Depository). Don't forget to price compare (shipping included). ;)

And a further tip - if you have a computer, you can read epub books right on your screen. There are thousands upon thousands of classic books (and probably some newer ones, too) available for FREE (totally free!) on Project Gutenberg. I donated some money to them in thanks - I've enjoyed many books from them in the past, and I didn't spend a dime. So I gave them what I thought was a generous donation, but which was probably still considerably less than what I would have paid for used books (let alone new ones)! 

Now you can have something to read on the train and bus out to Brockiland Dietikon-Fahrweid! ;)

'Til next time!

TiZ