Do Your Bit for ACIDh

ACIDh… Not a chemical formula, but a charity shop and the BWN Blog?s fun place of the week. A great place to browse if, like me, you miss the numerous thrift shops and charity shops of home

and your idea of a thrill is to potter in sneeze-inducing conditions amongst old-fashioned serving plates, faded monogrammed sheets, battered pots and pans, grandfather clocks, kitsch lamps, hideous teapots, and way too much junk to list here. The shop does have a name, which I have only just found out - La Botiga de Tot Amb Gr?cia - and it raises money for Acidh: the most worthy Associaci? Catalana d?Integraci? i Desenvolupament Hum? (The Catalan Association for Human Integration and Development http://www.acidh.org/). The headquarters and school for pupils with mental disabilities (is that the right pc way to say it?) is at Siracusa 53 in the heart of Gr?cia, just a little way down from the really ?cool? part of the neighbourhood. The junk shop itself is round the corner on Mil? i Fontanals, one of those Gr?cia streets with the largest number of establishments refreshingly untouched by anything even remotely resembling a designer. The shop is staffed by very sweet and fumbly elderly Catalans. They also welcome donations of your old stuff. ?But not encyclopedias, thank you very much,? says Antoni, a benevolently myopic looking gentleman in jeans and a checked shirt. ?No one wants them, so please don?t bother: you?ll only do your back in lugging them here.? Treasures acquired this time were a small sewing basket (5 euros) (I loathe sewing, and my old one had fallen to pieces after 25 years of non-use) and two scarves (one long flowing Hari Krishna orange, 3 euros, one purple-mauve-brown square,1 euro). To get there walk down Mil? i Fontanals on the right, and it?s between Puigmarti and Siracusa, just past no 51. Open 10- 13.30 and 17- 20 on weekdays, Saturdays 10 - 13.30 Enjoy!