John Christie wasn't the only madman to come from the local area. Although the identity of another local serial killer was never really proved, the leading suspect knew Minky and used to come into our shop. The murders stopped when he committed suicide. Another murder that took place in Notting Hill involved somebody I personally knew, and yet another involved a person who was known to my girlfriend of the time. Charles Dickens called the area 'a plague spot’, and he may have had a point.

These days Portobello Road is renowned the world over for its Saturday antiques and collectables market, but when my family moved into No. 121, and Minky opened his junk and scrap business at N o. 86, there was only one actual antique shop in the street. It was just three doors up the road from Minky, and was owned by Mr and Mrs Mitchell. He was rather taciturn, spending his days waxing furniture or sitting outside his shop. She never seemed to speak to anybody. In fact, I knew the Mitchells for almost thirty years, and never once spoke with her and only occasionally with him. They were the reticent forerunners of a street that would come alive with colour and drama, amazing characters, dirty deeds and enormous fun, and a place in time that can never be repeated..."

NOTTING HILL'S PORTOBELLO ROAD can be now be ordered online. You can also order Alan Carter price Guide to Antiques & Collectables - 2012 - The Final Chapter online. Both books make will make an ideal Christmas present.

Now this fair is a brilliant event. It runs over two adjoining pavilions, one full of craft stuff, the other full of collectables and retro fashion. The collectables are put on display by about 200 dealers using hundreds of trestle tables. The place is always chock-a-block with people and it’s massive. I’d have no hesitation in saying the fair attracts more visitors by far than any other fair in Australia. I like going therebecause it’s always a lot of fun and the people are terrific.

For this fair I took along my long-suffering wife, June, and our recently appointed but quite bonkers, marketing director G. That’s his name, G, nothing else. He says his mother couldn’t be bothered remembering the names of all the kids she had so just used their initials, and his stuck at G.

Anyway, we’d set up a pretty nice looking stand according to G’s instructions (he can be a bit bossy), and were having a good time talking to collectors (some of whom seem to be as potty as G), when back came the two blokes with their books for signing - in a steamer trunk and two big suitcases! Their ‘couple’ of books turned into about 70, they’d both been collecting them for years and had full sets plus a load of spares. It took nearly half an hour to get the job done, but guess what – the very next person to come to the stand as I finished the signing was a young woman pulling a suitcase behind her. That too was full of books for signing, and she’d come from four hours away in the opposite direction to the two blokes. They’re determined collectors and good travellers, those West Australians!

While we were in WA we went to the worst Italian restaurant in the world, so bad it was funny, we also went to the best Indian restaurant in the world, had fish and chips in an Irish pub, and on the last night spent an amazing and very funny evening with our good friend, Price Guide photographer and dealer in unique items, Phill Russell. We watched a spectacular firework display from his boat, had dinner in a brewery (I even ate something), got locked out of the marina and lost wandering around Fremantle. Getting lost was a big feature of the whole trip, June was map reading. Also, we didn’t know that our apartment block had two entrances, both looking exactly the same, or that you couldn’t get to your apartment unless you went in the correct one. People like us wandering through the place asking, ‘Have you seen apartment 10, we can’t find it?’

Another feature was leaving bags in cars. You finally get to your apartment before June remembers she’s left a bag in the car, or you’re on the way from the car hire place to the airport in a taxi, when you get a call from the hire company saying they’ve found a bag in the car, so you go back to get it, the cab driver didn’t mind though, it turned a $15 fare into a $40 one!

And then! Back to reality, but more on that next week.