MARKET FORCES

by Hattie Ellis (Salisbury)

New stallholders and shoppers arrive at the Tuesday and Saturday market, washed in by tides of fate and the recession. One woman near stands beside Vietnamese lacquerware. The colours are dyed in 20 layers: sky- turquoise, ruby, temple gold.

Cancer made her change her life. The couple put their printing business up for sale; then property went down and down. Her health recovered; bills continued. She set out her stall, went to the market square.

Her teacher-nephew sends her boxes of bowls, plates and cups from Ho Chi Minh City. Now she stands outside near the spuds, CDs and moleskin trousers, gently explaining what she sells, keeping warm in a ski-jacket from a charity shop.

We can't afford to do very much, she says. But it's a different way of being busy; a relaxing way. We walk in the countryside. My husband goes fishing on the beach. Life is up and down. But you wouldn't have it on an even keel; it’d be boring.

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What Hattie Ellis says about MARKET FORCES:

Alison Constable has a stall at Salisbury’s twice weekly historic market.