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?

Go under the tarp and announce "Sorry for barging in but I've wondered what is under here for years and now 25 of my imaginary friends from an internet site want to know too."

No one will think you're weird at all.

No, it's not just when it's raining, or even cold. It is like this every market day, all year round.

Honestly, I thought it was some sort of traditional thing, like eels or pie, mash and liquor.

BAH.We are 100 miles from London.Even my burning curiosity can't justify making the trip to London with 2 under 3's in tow,to look under a tarpaulin.

You have an obligation to your imaginary friends to solve this mystery now NQC .

It's so boring where I live,that the only thing under a tarp around here is a haystack or a rusting tractor.

BAH.We are 100 miles from London.Even my burning curiosity can't justify making the trip to London with 2 under 3's in tow,to look under a tarpaulin.

You have an obligation to your imaginary friends to solve this mystery now NQC .

It's so boring where I live,that the only thing under a tarp around here is a haystack or a rusting tractor.

Update please NQC :)

LOL Mirage - i can just imagine you making the day trip!

Blu,if NQC doesn't find out soon & tell us,I just may have to do it!

I can imagine the conversation I'd have with dh before going.
Me;Dh,I'm going to London.[this would be a MAJOR event in our house}.
DH;Why?
Me;someone that I don't know & have never met has seen women going under a tarp in East London & doesn't know what they are doing under there.Therefore,it is imperitive that I find out what is going on & tell a lot of other people that I don't know & have never met.
DH'Oh OK,right...........

And I've though of how I'd do it too.I would encourage dd1,who is 2.5,to run under the tarp.I would have to go in after her to retrieve her & have a good look around,whilst apologising for my badly behaved child..

Can you tell that I'm getting slightly obsessed?

Mirage; DP works near the market in question. I'm (somehow) going to persuade him to do a little field research. the conversation will go as your imagined one, without the trip to london.Damn. He hasn't got a phone that takes pics. that's what we need....It is near one of the best cafes in the world.
nQC is it Pelliccis you go in to ask?

Mirage - that's perfect!
ooooh - come down for a meet-up - the Tarp Trip Meet-Up!

Oh, sorry, Blu, that's not the right market! Pelluccis is indeed incredible (although I like the walls more than the food, frankly). That's the Bethnal Green market, I think it's called. It's the Roman Road market.

I haven't been back. But I'm thinking of going to the vicinity tomorrow, for a knitting thing, and might drop in on the cafe (which is called Chichis, and is very lovely indeed, although the walls aren't as nice. The food is better, though.)

The tarp thing won't be happening tomorrow, though, the market is only Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

oooh, yes, wrong road! I used to have spag bol and chips, treacle sponge with ice cream and custard in Pelliccis - but a long time ago!

OK - you have to report back on Saturday if you discover anyhting new!

Blu,good on your dh.

Mr Blu,your mission,should you choose to undertake it,is to infiltrate the tarp of mystery!

I like the idea of the tarp trip meet up.I've forgotten what its like to visit civilisation.Don't ever move to the countryside,it really is as dull as ditchwater.

Shall we start taking bets on what is going on under there?

Blu - you want your husband to take pics of a tent that is used by a large group of women - possibly as a changing room?

I can see the headlines now.......

Aha! He tells me he is assessing a proposal for an art project about roman rd - and that there have been performance art events there. BOUND to be dubious and lurid, in that case, and he will be in his element in the Tarp of Mystery.
Or even in a makeshift changing room full of half-dressed women, M2PW!

Oh, I know Roman Road is trying to gentrify, what with the Trolley Dolley events etc. And as the tarp isn't actually a traditional English thing, it turns out, I guess it's sorta part of the New East End, but I think it's the interim East End (cheap things, poor foreigners) rather than the (theoretical) shiny new East End (loft apartments, pomegranite molasses).

If you want a shiny New East End market, you want Broadway Market, Saturday morning.

Ok, I went and had a peak today.

I still don't really understand it, but it seems to be just a regular clothing stall, really.

There's a bloke, and a big crowd of women around him, and the stall, on all sides.

There are two big piles of clothes, one covered with (another) tarp, one visible. And the bloke is going through the big pile of clothes, discussing them (what size etc), and the women were discussing who would take them. It looked like a really really strange way to buy clothes

Nobody seemed to be trying stuff on. I didn't try sidling up to the table and trying to buy stuff because there were women, a few deep, all the way around. Also, I didn't want any more clothes.

had a peek. Geez, my brain is broken today.

Is it some kind of swap-meet for asylum-seekers?