What the Angels have in store this year...

...has got to be better than last.

Leather handbag in black. Belonged to... who?

Only one week to go before Angels The Costumiers opens its doors to fashion experts, fashion wannabes and even the local milkman if he wants to come. But I'm not going to start a countdown from now until 8.30am on February 6th when doors open to their annual vintage clothes sale. It's not that I'm not excited, I'm just realistic, and after last year, a little jaded.

I was one of the 5000 frill-seekers who queued for two hours to pile into a Wembley warehouse to rummage through rooms of smelly cardboard boxes for the first sale in the film and theatrical suppliers 160 year history. I'm glad I did, but it wasn't quite the historical moment I had hoped for. There was no sign of Ossie Clark or Bill Gibb, not even a whiff of Aquascutum. There was next to nothing but a couple of nondescript handbags and scraps of material left.

Having invested in a plastic bag worth 50 quid (you buy a bag for either 10, 20 or 50 and run around filling it. A bit like Supermarket Sweep, luckily without Dale and his tan, sadly without any bonus prizes), I ended up bargaining with the staff in desperation. I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy but they wouldn't do refunds. In the end, they gave me a 20 back and let me fill a 20 quid book bag instead.

I left disappointed and weighed down with books I still haven't even read a whole year on. My friend Sarah found a couple of bits, taking home this black leather handbag, by (we're not really sure) but positively reeks of vintage drama, having belonged to Greta Saachi in Beyond The Sea in erm, 2004. How I came to own it, I can't really remember, I can only imagine she was shutting me up with a consolation prize after having to listen to me on a train out of Wembley...

Susie Bubble's had a sneak preview and I'm VERY jealous. Because I just know there are gems to find. I just don't know if, like last year, I'll be lucky enough to find them.