Sometimes you have to get lucky.

[Black Stuart]

Yesterday I took a break from my workload to visit 'le marche de jarden' in my commune. It's literally just down the road. They don't just sell plants but clothes and many other things as well. We normally visit to buy strawberries, cherries and a big apple pie - the cherries this year are the best I have ever eaten

There is always a bric-a-brac (tat) section which I normally never visit anymore. I saw that there was a vinyl dealer there and just to confirm that as usual in France s/hand vinyl is both **** and expensive. I was right but next to him was a woman selling various things.

I saw she had 2 boxes of vinyl, as I was there I might as well take a look, well you never know do you. In front were a few Nana Mouskari which looked to be new. Going past these I saw a Yehudi Menuhin/Mendelsshon/LSO - it looked to be new, both the double sleeve and the LP itself. I put this and an Erato LP to one side and started on the second box which was full of boxed sets.

I could'nt believe it but they were all brand new and unplayed - a Decca FFSS/Mozart Sonatas/Radu Lupu& Szymon Goldberg. Philips/Mahler's 7th/Concertgebouw/Bernard Haitink, one of my favourite classics. An Erato copy of Faust with Montserrat Caballe/1977 awarded the 'Le Diapason D'or.
EMI Rossini/Barber of Seville. Philips/ Berlioz, Romeo & Juliette.

The earliest box set was from 1964, the others were all 70s' absolutely mint. I ended up buying 6 x boxed sets and 2 single LPs, double sleeved (were'nt they always in those days) for €20.

How this woman came by them and how were they stored to re-appear in this mint condition after so long I don't know but I do know that I definately got lucky yesterday