6.45 am and it’s an early start. Early compared to the time I got up during Lockdown anyway. Because today’s the day I’m going back to work!
7am and I’m on the road. I feel mounting excitement: I can’t wait to get back to selling my haberdashery and craft supplies! But my goodness, people seem to have forgotten how to drive! Why do people signal left when they mean right and signal right when they mean left? I turn off the A27 for Hayling Island and am behind a Landrover so large that I can’t see in front of it. It swerves all over the place, as if the driver is forever intending to turn right but thinks better of it and then nearly hitting the pavement. Brakes are slammed on for no apparent reason. Eventually he turns off left. Phew!
I arrive at Beachlands car boot sale on Hayling Island. It’s only 7.45, my usual arriving time for the past few years, since the gradual dropping off of footfall at car boot sales. But today the entrance is blocked: the car boot sale is full already!
Well, I’m here now so I pay for 2 hours’ parking. Sit on the pebbly beach for a while, drinking my morning coffee from my thermos. It’s warm and sunny with just the faintest hint of a breeze. Usually you can only see a faint outline of the Isle of Wight and that’s on a clear day but today it’s so clear that you can make out individual towns. Wow!
I have a wander around the car boot and say hello to some fellow traders. One says that he was here at 6am as he usually is but already there was a queue to get in. Just like the old days!
8am and the car boot is buzzing with buyers already. Perhaps people feel safer shopping outdoors. Is this the beginning of a renaissance that car boots and markets have needed?
I buy several plants from two different plant traders. Eventually I head home.
I’m planning to do Ford car boot sale tomorrow. Better get up earlier!