madam do you want to buy a watch?

I am afraid it is junk spammy again that has spurred me on.

I recall when I was very small an image of a trilby wearing chap stopping my Mum in the street in Liverpool and saying 'Madam do you want to buy a watch?'
He opened his camel coat (thank goodness he wasn't a flasher) and had a display of watches hanging on the inside the coat.
Of course my mother dismissed him and we moved on quickly. I asked about it and was told he was a 'Spiv'.

Spiv's were many during & following the Second World War where chaps were out to earn a buck or 2, an underground economy where they could supply whatever was on demand... silk stockings, tobacco, sugar ... in fact any commodity that was in demand but in short supply.


Today the Spiv's provide a similar service but for counterfeit designer gear generally at a fraction of the genuine article price because of the consumer society we have become. They are alive and well and have mastered the art of the internet.
From Jodie Chang I received an email noted ' a Gift that will impress anyone'

I have replied in my usual manner