My Evangelista

I slept for about four hours after my shift today. When I was sure that I don't have enough willpower to sleep anymore, I doned the largest among my sunglasses collection and headed out to Evangelista St. (Well I live along one of Evangelista's tributaries.)

When my sister and I moved to our new apartment a few months back we immediately fell in love with the location of our new abode. For one, it is very accessible to Mercury Drug, Jollibee, McDonalds, 7-11, and a slew of other establishments that are practically right outside our doorstep. Conveniently, Edsa is just a few streets away.

But the one thing that really makes Evangelista very endearing to me is the fact that Bangkal's famed thrift shops is just a few blocks from our apartment. It has become a habit that when I have nothing to do at home and is in the mood for some window shopping I head to the thrift shops to look around.

The thrift shops actually sell EVERYTHING (except food). There are antique furnitures, bicycles, paintings, baskets, magazines, clothes, pans, books, magazines, toys, lamps, washing machines, old casette tapes. You name it, they have it. It's a mix of vintage shops, antique stores, ukay-ukay, and book sale. The stores are actually the store-owners' garage. Some of the merchandise even slip way into the street.

The Evangelista thrift shops is like a repository of other people's unwandted things but would be a treasure for people like me who like old, cheap stuff. Not that I could buy any of the antique or old furnitures, but looking at them could already give me a sensation equal to a good orgasm.

Lately, I've been purchasing discarded books left and right. They are sold from P10 to P50. Just today, I found a copy of Catch 22 and Tuesdays with Morrie sold for about P15 each. I also regularly buy issues of Time Magazine, Vogue and other fashion magazines from five years back. I have this basketfull of magazines already as well as a shelf full of books (some of which I brought from Davao).

To my surprise, Carlos Celdran (http://celdrantours.blogspot.com), the famous tour guide, holds tours in Evangelista's thrift shops.

Now I hardly go to the mall these days. I find it more satisfying to scour the goods in Evangelista and actually can buy some of them.