North woman sells thoughts on ebay

Jul 13 2008 by Ruari O Toole, Sunday Sun

SKINT Claire Wesley wants more than a penny for her thoughts . . . she’s asking for £60.

She is flogging her thoughts on internet auction site eBay in a bid to raise a week’s rent.

Claire, 21, who is originally from Ashington, Northumberland, now lives in a hostel in Benwell, which she describes as “the roughest bit of Newcastle”. She said: “I’m in a lot of debt, through no fault of my own. I still have bills to pay from my last house in Heaton and I’m on emergency tax at work.”

Her idea came after she spoke to a friend about what she could sell to help her through her rough patch.

Claire said: “I had nothing to sell, so one Friday I put down all the things that go through my head.

“It’s kind of a day in the life, and it follows me from getting up in the morning, through going to work and then to going out with my friends that night. It’s deep stuff.”

Claire, who moved to Scotland with her parents when she was young, returned to the North aged 15 to find work.

She said: “There wasn’t any work going up there which didn’t involve fish.”

Claire hopes that selling her thoughts will help keep a roof over her head.

She said: “I can’t go back to Scotland, it’s too far.

“I’ll probably end up dossing on sofas if I can’t keep up payments.”

However, the chances of her raising the £60 for a week’s rent by the end of the auction on Monday look slim. She has not attracted one bid yet.

Claire is not the first person from the region to put part of their life up for sale on the internet.

Last month, Darlington-born Ian Usher put his whole life on auction to make a clean break following a split with his wife.

Ian, who lives in Australia, sold his house, his belongings, a trial period at his job in a rug shop and contact with his friends for £192,000.