23/04/18: 1980s vinyl (North London Hospice)

North London Hospice, Whetstone. No Parlez is one of the most common charity shop LPs (see HERE). Of a similar-ish vintage are the second Bucks Fizz LP (Are You Ready, 1982) and a 12" of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" (1987).

24/02/18: The Who by Numbers (Cancer Research)

Cancer Research, North Finchley. Good to see another No Parlez. It is still THE charity shop LP. I bought the Heaven 17 album and the Sarah McLachlan CD. The album by The Who was missing the disc. But next to the empty sleeve was a different record called The Story of The Who – in badly scratched condition. I went to the till and asked if they had the record for The Who by Numbers and the sleeve for The Story of The Who, but they didn't, so they gave me both for free. So now I have an unplayable Who album in the wrong cover.

10/02/18: Carly, Art and Doris (Barnardo's)

Barnardo's, Whetstone.

25/11/17: Street-Legal (Barnardo's)

Barnardo's, Whetstone. Was quite excited to find a vinyl copy of Bob Dylan's 1978 LP Street-Legal for a mere 49p. Sadly, there was no outer sleeve for it.

29/07/17: Charity shop hop, North Finchley

1. The Bothy – saw a white-label record with a message written on the sleeve: "To Steve, Thought this would be a good first record. Good luck, Sam." But what's on the record? Nearly bought the Substance CD by Joy Division. Not sure why I didn't, actually.

2. Cancer Research was closed, even though the list on the door said it should have been open for an hour already.

3. All Aboard. Plenty of DVDs. "Two books for 50p" special offer still running, but couldn't find two I wanted. Or even one. Nearly bought £1 vinyl copies of Commoners Crown by Steeleye Span and Johnny Cash and His Woman, but they were both too beaten up.

4. North London Hospice. Nearly bought CDs by the Sex Pistols (NMTB), Queen (Greatest Hits) and Talking Heads (Stop Making Sense), but again the condition wasn't quite good enough. Various Anne McCaffrey fantasy novels on the crowded bookshelves.

5. RFFR. Bought three vinyl LPs for £1 each:
• Many a Mile by Buffy Sainte-Marie (1965).
• Back Home Again by John Denver (1974).
• Songs of the British Isles by Nana Mouskouri (1976; one of 200-plus albums Nana released).

31/07/15: Judith/Now & Then/Scrooged/Sundown (All Aboard)

In All Aboard, Chipping Barnet, I bought a Gordon Lightfoot LP (Sundown), a triple-gatefold-sleeve Carpenters album (Now & Then), a Judy Collins record (Judith) and a DVD of the Bill Murray film Scrooged:

Fittingly, they had Neil Powell's book Amis & Son: Two Literary Generations next to books by Kingsley (The Anti-Death League) and Martin Amis (Yellow Dog):

They weren't taking good care of their vinyl...

24/05/15: Singles... ... only 50p! (Bargain eh?) (RSPCA)

RSPCA, Highgate. "Singles... ... only 50p! (Bargain eh?)" reads the enthusiastic text on the fetching pink starburst. But surely they are only a bargain if they are good singles, and "Victim of Love" by Erasure was not a promising start.

02/05/15: The Tide is High (North London Hospice)

North London Hospice, Whetstone. Would have quite liked this Blondie single. Unfortunately, there was nothing inside the sleeve and the disc was nowhere to be seen. Plenty of Tight Fit, Billy Ocean and Tracy Ullman though.

28/03/15: McCartney (North London Hospice)

North London Hospice, East Barnet. A generous Beatles fan had clearly dropped in recently, based on this window display. In the vinyl section, too, there was evidence of the same donor: a selection of solo McCartney albums including Pipes of Peace, Give My Regards to Broad Street, McCartney II and possibly (I am slightly struggling to recall) Tug of War. I've heard McCartney II, which has its moments, and remain intrigued by this later-phase Macca, although not intrigued enough to pay the £2–3 asking prices on offer here.

17/01/15: No Parlez (Barnardo's)

Barnardo’s, Whetstone. Every charity shop in the UK stocks a vinyl copy of No Parlez by Paul Young. This shop has two. Just to the right of Paul is Basil Brush, looking rather fetching in his little foxmobile.