I’ve got several posts in Drafts mode since August. I always keep telling myself I’ll get around to it, but what got around is the peak period at work… So as usual I haven’t done my tags, I haven’t properly acknowledged the awards & recognitions passed on to KWK (thank you), I haven’t done what I wanted for this new domain. The list is endless.

That’s grovelling done.

Now you’re all familiar with garage sales, esp in the US. You get people to come to your house and sell them junk stuff. In England, they have car boot sales. People fill the boots (i.e. trunk) of their cars (some bring vans & lorries aka trucks) and take their goods to a big open space where they can sale their wares. Most car boot sales are on Sundays (dunno why) and some are really not worth a visit. Some are medium size and you can look-buy in 1 hour. Some are held in fields and can take you half-a-day to skim.

When I first saw the British’ penchance for Charity shops and car boot sales, I admit to being repulsed at the thought of using second hand goods. Up to now, I am still not big on buying second hand clothes but I do now and then and only for myself never for hubby or pogiBoy (and never shoes!).

Let me share with you what car boot sales are like, if you’ve never been…

You are advised to bring your own carrier bags and lots of coins from 10p, 20p, onwards. Some people go with just £20 allowance to make sure they don’t go overboard. And normally, we hunt for particular items and divide into “teams”. Mobile phones are essential in case one of us finds the item first and also for reminding others they only have “30 mins” left.

It’s a sport Nanay would be good at. You are expected to haggle. You should try not to spend more than £1 on any item. Of course you do find treasures that go beyond £20 but that’s not typical car boot item.

Some people look for collectibles like my friend in the picture below. I’d love to do the same but I’ve got nowhere to put crystals and figurines. Instead I go for practical pieces (for now!).

There are vendors offering factory rejects and last season stocks. These are good finds to fill those massive balikbayan boxes. In fact, every time we visit we’d see a lot of Pinoys lugging trolleys of goods they say they’ll send home. One even said she owns an ukay-ukay shop in Pinas so her trolley was filled with clothing items.

In bigger sites you can find almost anything you can think of. Sweets, fresh produce, plants, even pirated DVDs and CDs. Speaking of which, most of the pirated stuff were sold by Chinese before but nowadays the white guys have taken over the biz… hmm.

And because the sale starts from 7am onwards, food stalls are everywhere no matter how small the site is – you will find a tea shop. It’s perfect for hubby and pogiBoy when they’re beginning to slow me down! So hubby needs a small allowance, too. And pogiBoy understands that when we go these places he can choose one item and then that’s it – quiet na, no more pointing. See? Everybody’s happy.

On bigger sites, you’d have several food stalls distributed above-below-and-in-between the stalls. The smell of the fry-up wafts thru the air. Of course they make a killing as most people wouldn’t have had their breakfast yet. We Pinoys cheat. My friends get up early to eat their meal, I prepare our some baon to eat on the way & back. Remember sustenance is essential for any sport activity.

The site that we go to is very popular and is huge! It’s an empty field but the parking space will be filled by 9am. We normally leave the place between 10-11am and this is the sight that always greets us coming out of the place. These are cars that won’t fit in the parking lot anymore and this is only in the last portion of the road huh!

Car boot sales is so popular there are several members-only websites that actually records where and when some sites are open. Some people do take it seriously either in search of elusive pieces or are actually making a living as sellers. And look, babies are welcome, too.

Thankfully, I never had to “go” while in these sites. But pogiBoy…

During leaner periods we could only fill our car boot this much. But on better days, we’ve got stuff on our laps coming home. Hubby says next time we’ll be selling our junk.

So what items have I bought? A lot not counting pogiBoy’s takeaway toys. But I like these the best… 50p planter I’m using as a caddie.

Soap dish at 50p.

plus many more but I’m tired of uploading the pictures… :-)

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 8:29 am and is filed under british nga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.