Fall Barrie '23 Photos
The Barrie Flea Market continues to be a shadow of its former self. It continues to offer fewer vendors, with much less to find in the...
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Collecting Ontario licence plates for 39 years
THE
BACK
BUMPER
2CENTS ARCHIVES
First started as "My 2 Cents" in 1997, I have written posts numbering into the hundreds. New posts arrive continually. Find an article by clicking the tag cloud below, or selecting a category, doing a search (see magnifying glass below on the right), or just scroll down to see the articles in chronological order.
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- Jun 20
Goodbye Bonfield
Four years ago, Eric Vettoretti and I decided to try the first edition of the Bonfield Automotive Flea Market. It was a fairly remote...
93 views1 comment
- May 21
Stirling '23
This spring has been a tough one at work, and I’ve been feeling run-down at the end of the week. A nice day outside among old cars is...
88 views0 comments
- Sep 16, 2022
Barrie Bust / Country Collection
I write about the Barrie Automotive Flea Market every time I go there. But the way things are going, I might not write about it again...
168 views0 comments
- Jun 1, 2022
Lindsay '22
May ‘22 was a busy month for me as a plate collector, with no fewer than three out-of-town trips to gather metal rectangles. The previous...
128 views0 comments
- May 7, 2022
Acton & Stirling '22: Back in the Saddle
Thirty months. It sounds like a jail sentence. But that’s how long it’s been… Thirty long months since our last indoor swap meet in...
291 views0 comments
- Sep 14, 2021
No Food on the Plate in Barrie
I wrote a 2Cents post two years ago that says, “The trick to enjoying the Barrie Automotive Flea Market these days is to keep one’s...
140 views0 comments
- Sep 11, 2019
Downfall Barrie
I hate to say it, but the trick to enjoying the Barrie Automotive Flea Market these days is to keep one’s expectations low. If I make the...
197 views0 comments
- Aug 30, 2019
Leavings in London / Bargains in Bothwell
I was already thinking about taking my son on a road trip, when I suddenly received a phone call from a guy named John in London. He was...
132 views0 comments
- Jun 23, 2019
Bonfield of Opportunity
Eric Vettoretti and I made some last-minute travel plans at the end of June so we could try out the new Bonfield Automotive Flea Market,...
238 views0 comments
- Jun 15, 2019
Barrie, Orillia, and the Midland of Nowhere
I decided to go to the #Barrie Automotive Flea Market again this spring after a three-year hiatus. I've always gone to the fall edition...
123 views0 comments
- May 13, 2019
Lindsay to Stirling: "This weekend's not big enough for us both"
With the end of April comes the beginning of May. Or, put another way, first there’s the Acton weekend, and then there’s the #Lindsay /...
153 views0 comments
- Sep 15, 2018
Being a Boy in Barrie
15 years ago, or so, I brought my wife to the Barrie Automotive Flea Market. She figured it was just a weekend getaway of camping and...
169 views0 comments
- Jun 7, 2018
Lights-out in Lindsay (and everywhere else)
A mere five days after arriving home from our sojourn to Acton, Eric and I were at it again, although with a more mercenary mission, this...
146 views0 comments
- Sep 11, 2017
Not quite what the doctor ordered
It’s the first Friday after Labour Day. I’m tired. It’s been a frenetic week at work, but I’m finished there for the day, and I’ve...
181 views0 comments
- May 9, 2017
It never rains, but it pours
It was four years ago that the AACA moved their automotive flea market away from the town of #Stirling and into the city of #Lindsay, an...
114 views0 comments
- Sep 13, 2016
More flea, less auto in Barrie
My present weekend-after-Labour-Day ritual is to escape my city life—by driving for a few hours through the wilderness, so I can camp for...
56 views0 comments
- Jun 12, 2016
Stir it up
I’m in that phase of parenthood where the kids come along for the ride. Trouble is, it's a long drive for many of my hobby-related trips,...
21 views0 comments
- Oct 1, 2015
Stories for the sake of telling
I’ve been to the Barrie Automotive Flea Market a couple dozen times since I discovered it in the mid-1990s. The first time I was there...
15 views0 comments
- Jun 12, 2015
Field of dreams
For the first time, I’m writing a My 2 Cents article about a plate-collecting journey before it actually happens. That’s because changes...
31 views0 comments
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