It is not a quest ...

...if you are only going to the shops for some tobacco.

When i first started my Johnson challenge Taph said it was not a challenge it i just go to Peters of Kensington. Well we spent a month scouring op shops and ebay, and all we found was one very chipped plate in an op shop.

So i decided to test the waters and see what was around that was new. Peters of Kensington had some stuff new and i will be making a pilgrimage there, but the shock to the system was the TV shopping networks' website. I was not able to help myself and bought a tea set and a set of coffee mugs.

I do not know what came over me, maybe it was the concept of finding an internet site in Australia who had some for sale. Maybe it was because i had been looking for matching bits for my parents set for years and had only ever found some cups and saucers, and i felt this search would go the same way.

Whatever the reason, i bought these items, and blew the budget in the process. Of course now i do have a teapot and associated items.

And a road trip to Sydney in the near future.

Growing My Johnson.

I have been doing the search for the pieces to grow my Johnson collection with, and i have had quite a few false positives as i spy plates that look like the set i am searching for, only to turn them over and discover that they are completely the wrong thing.

On their own the "Sheffield Bone White" looks like a "Johnson Brothers Regency White", but when you put them side by side you can see they are very different.

My reactions when finding these pieces (and one set) has ranged from an "oh dam-it" to one occasion where it took every bit of my self restraint to stop myself from smashing the pieces in disgust.

The plates at Salvos jammo

Having said that, if you are looking for replacement pieces for a Sheffield dinner setting in the Bone White Style;

• Vinnies Gungahlin have a setting for four (well they did last week),
• Salvos Jamison have 7 dinner plates (but one is very chipped),
• Salvos Phillip have a dessert fruit plate,
• as does Aussie Junk in Mitchell.

Oh well my search continues, and i hope this post helps in yours.

A quick update. Here is a photo of two plates found at Aussie junk.

And Salvos Belconnon have two cups and saucers.

Free Range Money - 12 July

Well here it is, week two of the free range money challenge and I figured I might as well do a progress report.
Cans collected 131 or $1.31
Shopping trolley returned $1
Petrol dockets $7.50
Money found/given $0.20



This gives me a total free range money for the two weeks of $8.91. The recent federal government tax cut gave me an extra $8.40 a week.

I have also decided to impose some rules on myself. As this is a self imposed challenge, I can make and change rules as I please.

• I cannot beg. These first two sound obvious but I have to put it on the record. I cannot beg for your money, cans or shopping dockets, however, if you decide to give them to me, then that is ok.
• I cannot steal. In the same vain, taking something from private property is wrong, but taking it from a public place is ok.
• I cannot go through recycling bins for cans, however if cans are obviously put into the normal garbage, then they are fair game. But it must be obvious. I do not want to go digging around in peoples garbage.