Keep on Troc'ing

Keep on Troc’ing

Probably an unoriginal pun, I am sure, amongst local expats, but it serves to introduce a shopping experience without equal.

“Un Troc”, by its dictionary definition, is a barter, exchange or swap. The chain of shops of this name, supplies, apparently throughout Europe, a vast assortment of household goods no longer wanted by their original owners. And when I say vast, I mean overwhelming.  There are a number of stores near us, and like any second hand store, the quality of goods supplied is very much dependent on the wealth of the immediate neighbourhoods. So the smaller stores on the borders in Belgium and France seem to stock more tat than those on the Duchy itself.

Imagine, if you will, all the furniture you ever used on your gite holidays: the massive dark wood, ornately carved sideboards and dressers; refectory style tables and chairs that only Hagrid would ever find comfortable; the wardrobes with their creaky, ill fitting doors and mysterious stains; the array of cooking utensils and foot spas; all found their way to the gites along with sets of coloured wine glasses and salad spinners; hundreds of the hard leather sofas beloved by the dentists of my youth. They have all come home to roost in the Troc. We imagine that across Europe, scores of great grandmothers have died leaving their estates to their many children and grandchildren, now living in their sleek apartments with no room for furniture that is larger than a child’s bedroom. Where else to send it, in the hopes of making some cash, but Le Troc? Who would buy such monsters? If we were setting up in our own chateau and were keen to fill echoing spaces, then, bien sur, these would be useful et charmant - but not for us at the moment.

Then there are the real treasures: a pair of red leather chairs shaped like stiletto shoes; “lits de bateau” (or sleigh beds), intricately carved or smoothly polished, all deposited when 1.6 metre beds became more fashionable than the usual 1.4m; an adorable high chair, dating from the 50’s – varnished wood and decorated with delightful scenes of children playing; model sailing boats, fully rigged. And of course the tank sized yello ochre model of a French Bulldog. But we resisted.

Our quest was for a sideboard or dresser. Although we got rid of so much “stuff”, we still needed a place to put glass and china. We also wanted a pretty piece of furniture (not flat packed) as a memento of our time on The Frontier. In the Troc in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg’s second largest town, was the perfect piece. Made entirely in oak, and not a splinter of mdf or chipboard in sight, it sat in the window as part of a smart salon set, and we loved it.  There is a little damage, apparently caused by the men removing it from the owner’s home, which caused much chagrin, but did not lessen the price. Could they deliver? Of course, they could bring it on Wednesday.  Much excitement, some hasty calculations and it was ours, at apparently a tenth of the original price. Bargain.

We went to lunch to celebrate, a rather nice little Italian place where the menu of the day included a cheese and ham parmentier (basically a triangular cheese pasty) and braised beef so tender, you could eat it with a teaspoon, produced by a spherical jolly chef. And then we went back to the Troc to buy four oak dining chairs for 20 Euros – and some webbing to ensure we do not disappear through the sagging seats. A successful day followed up by two very polite young men delivering the sideboard  on the Wednesday as promised.  All glass and crockery now installed, it is just perfect, and a little polish seems to be treating the damage splendidly.

No Troc’ing for a while now. But watch this space.

A bientot.