When I first heard of Shoreham Flyover car boot, I had the misconception that it was held under the flyover where you come off the A27 to get onto the A283! Well, it’s not far from there (on the A283 heading towards Steyning) but well enough away that you don’t hear any car traffic noise from the flyover. What you do get though is a different kind of flyover noise – light aircraft from the nearby Shoreham airport. We were treated to a display by bi-planes and tri-planes. Wow! And this in a stunning location where you’re surrounded by hills, almost like being at the bottom of a caldera.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Sales had been dwindling at our local Sunday car boot so it was time to move on and we decided on Shoreham Flyover for this week. I arrived sometime after 7am. There was an official directing buyers and sellers to their respective fields. He told me he’d be round later to collect the stall money (£10). Into the field, and then I was directed by another official into my space. The allocated parking was enough to put up two pasting tables plus two chairs by the side of my car and then another pasting table at the back of the car, but you get more space if you’re at either end of the row because then you can stall out at your front/back as well as at the side.

I’ve learnt to always mark out my pitch with tables/chairs/groundsheets first to prevent neighbouring sellers encroaching on my space which was just as well as one of my neighbours’ pitches was soon overflowing with customers going through her vinyl records. (Buyers aren’t supposed to arrive until 8am according to the website, but plenty do.) One even folded up my chair and put it against the table, much to my “excuse me!” annoyance and subsequent unfolding the chair and setting it down again. Once the vinyl collectors had paid up and disappeared, the neighbours brought out more and more stuff but at least my space was marked out.

The GOM (grumpy old man) had had a lie-in and arrived a bit later but discovered that buyers’ parking was charged at £1 per car. Note to self: we’ll go in the same car next time!

Now that I was stalled out and the GOM was there, I was able to “go for a wander”, one of the great advantages of having someone else with you when doing a car boot. I like buying as well as selling! It’s also instructive to be a customer sometimes and note what works and what doesn’t work on other people’s stalls.

The weather was wonderful, the setting amazing, plus we had the bonus of seeing the planes come over. What better way to spend a Sunday morning! (Oh, and takings were back up too!)