Car Boot Sale

Car Boot Sales are a lot of fun.  If you go often enough I'm sure you could find just about everything for you and home.

My sister and friend wanted to sell some items, so we got up very early Sunday morning, leaving at 6:00 AM, even so we waited in a long line of cars to get in.  The fee is 7 pounds sterling for the car boot at Woolpit, don't you just love the name of that little village.

We landed up with a spot basically in the middle of the field, not a bad spot.  The weather was gorgeous, but because it was so lovely everyone decided to sell, it was one of the first nice weekends after a terrible rainy summer.

Above is our set-up, nothing fancy.

Now what did I find.  I was in a very thrifty mood and with only one suitcase was very limited.  But I found a lovely Pandora style bracelet which turned out to be silver, I wasn't sure when I bought it for 50 pence, but you could hardly go wrong.  I also bought a little jam spoon for 10 pence.  Passed by a beautiful Japanese Tea Service for 4 pounds, but I just couldn't face the packing and hauling.

Especially if I had to go back to Heathrow on the bus.  As a couple of years ago I had a very nasty experience with a bus driver from Eastern Europe who was the rudest, nastiest person I have ever met.  Most of the bus drivers are nice and courteous and help you.  He seemed to have a giant chip on his shoulder, flung my luggage on the bus, so it skidded to the very back of those giant holds, so then he has to crawl to the back to get it out and when he does he threw it across the pavement.  I really should have reported him, but by then I was back in the States.  So no china.  In the end I did not have to catch the bus a friend of my sister's took me up to the airport. Phew!

In contrast to this man on another visit to the UK I rented a car at the airport and thought I will go home on the M4 and M11 and not get on the M25, big mistake, because somehow I landed up in Kensington in morning rush hour, totally lost.  I pull in at a petrol station and asked a gentlemen who was obviously from Eastern Europe, for directions, he was driving business van, he could not have been nicer.  He could see I was in a somewhat frazzled state, tired after an all night trip over and bumper to bumper driving.  I said if you can just direct me to the North Circular I will know where I am, he did better than that, he said follow me part of the way as I am going in that direction.  What a nice man.

In any case the car boot was fun, and I even ran into my uncle who happened to be there with his own stall.  So we sat and talked, had coffee and reminisced about my mum.  He's my mum's youngest half brother, only seven years older than me, so he often came on holiday with us, we would have such happy times.

Long before all the special camping gear.  Dad would make a prefab shed type thing which bolted together, it would lay in sections on the roof rack of the car. When we got there he would assemble it and the whole thing would be covered with a taupe.  We were always snug and warm with my dad on the job.  Plus plenty of big pots of tea.  I actually even brought home the huge brown enamel teapot my dad used to use.  Mostly for sentimental reasons, it was sitting in my sisters shed.

It's the little things that trigger memories and make us happy.

Christy