shyster

every wednesday and saturday in here bury is market day. at first i thought it was some sort of tourist attraction, but later realized that, if it was, why would they pick wednesday? in fact it is just the outdoor market where us locals buy our fruit and veg, fresh cut flowers, hardware, and, oddly, replica native-american dreamcatchers.

anyway, one of my favorite purchases is fresh feta, grape leaves, and garlic stuffed olives from "The Olive Guy." we have a love-hate relationship. i've sampled olives from the other vendors, and his are the best, but he's a total scam artist. and he is hardly dependable. for a while he was at both markets, but different places. then just saturday. and finally, he was nowhere to be found for all of june and july. then, suddenly, he's back, next to "Bread Lady" (who is actually sometimes "Bread Guy" on Saturdays, selling the most amazing onion bread on earth) on Saturdays only.

i hate that i am happy about his being back, because the first thing he does is try to sell me two blocks of feta when i said one, twice, and then dumps at least three times as many olives as i requested in a sack and, suddenly, i owe him 10 quid. BLAST! you have to watch him like a hawk -- our first trip dan and i dropped 13 pounds on freakin' OLIVES.

man, i wish there were better olives at the market, but until there are, i will continue to have shady dealings with olive guy and fully enjoy my 10-hour garlic breath.