Weird Market Stall

[NotQuiteCockney]

Our local market has a stall which is always covered with a tarpaulin - the women shopping have their under it, iyswim. I think they're buying clothes? They're chatting a lot, too.

Why do they do this? Is this a women-only privacy thing? I think the people are mostly African though, not Bengali (like most Muslims around here). It looks like normal clothes, not lingerie or anything.

Anyone else have a weird stall like this in the market? And if so, have you been brave enough to get under the tarpaulin and find out what they're up to?

Oh, please? I don't want to go under the tarp!

Go on Go on, you know you're dying to.

oooh how weird! never seen anything like that round here... maybe it's a front for some illegal goings on?????

They're not speaking English in there. They have a giant pile of clothes, and are discussing them all or something.

Under a tarp.

trading bush meat

Hmm, don't think there's any meat. It really does just look like giant piles of clothes. No coat hangers. Just big big stacks of clothes on a table, and women standing all around.

how very odd... go in and see what happens!

The tarp takes up space on the pavement and getting around it is a real hassle.

I will have to give up and go in, won't I.

Maybe I'll ask some of the local ladies I know, if they know what's going on in there.

(The market is really for people looking for cheap boob tops or knock-offs of what's in fashion this week, it's not for me.)

maybe it is so they can try things on?

Hmm, could be, I guess. That makes some sense. I'll maybe try peering at them next time. They certainly move around a lot, under that tarp!

(I once walked into a bar, with some friends, and got asked "are you sure you're in the right place?" It was a tiny tiny bar, and everyone in it was staring. We walked out. I don't want to have the same thing happen with a tarp!)

i think you need to have a stake out! you need some binoculars and a good hiding place... watch them all day! lol

what kind of bar was it?????? that's very odd...

orrrrrr... get chatting with a nearby stallholder and then ask them!

I really only know the fruit and veg guys. Nearly all the stalls are clothes, and not the sort of clothes I want or need!

It was a very small bar, with a tank with a reptile in it, I think. It was on a main road, it wasn't hidden or anything. (I've been to one excellent hidden gay bar, and had no stress there, even though almost all the folks in it were guys.)

The bar might have been a gay one, but it was a long way from the local Gay Village etc. And it wasn't a nightclub, anyway. I don't know what it was. We never found out.

did you go back the next day and it had mysteriously vanished? hehehe

ask the fruit and veg guys! i bet they get asked all the time

Actually, I could ask the owner of a nearby cafe, I actually know him, and spend money in his shop. He might know, too, he's quite up to date on the local goss.

go now go now! i need to know what they're up to

Oh, I can't, sorry, DS2 is asleep and then it's the school run for me. I'll go to that cafe tomorrow or next week ...

i want to knwo now

next week??????/ noooooooo

I'll try asking other women in the playground, maybe. Market's a long way from the school, though

I'm intrigued now.

I've been intrigued for a few years now. Will ask the local cafe owner, next time I see him.

It probably is just women getting changed.

I just can't imagine clothes shopping in a crowd like that, never mind trying on clothes! (Yes, I know, Mark One etc, been in one once, found it scary.)

YEARS!!!!?????
I'm so nosey that I couldn't have waited years to find out.

Where is this mysterious tarp?

Roman Road Market, East London

You must find out for us! I know, bend down to tie your shoe, then stick a camera under the tarp and take photos.