13th September 2024

Here we are coming towards the end of the year and it’s been a wet one. We started and then closed and eventually started again. Much to the anger of everyone we had to stop as it was too wet.

Now, into September and we have a Thursday Car Boot as well. The weather has been ok for Thursdays but it’s going to take a bit longer to consider it a real success. During the kids holidays sellers numbers increased and we looked like a car boot (we’ve had decent numbers of sellers each week) but we’ve slowly but surely picked up more buyers. I think it needs another year and we’ll be up to good numbers of buyers too. This week we had the worest turn out fro sellers we’ve had and it’s hugely disappointing. The only good thing was that all midweek car boots had the same. I’m hoping that we get back to normal next Thursday although it could be our last Thursday this year. On Sundays numbers have been consistently good although we’ve had a few where the weather forecasts have been wrong and this has affected the numbers.

We do have shows on for the next 4 Sundays so we are expecting to finish with a flourish.

Something that has returned is the disappearance of signs which really angers me. This time it’s the roundabout before Tescos where you can get onto the A14. Signs are left alone on one side but taken on the other side. I’ve lost signs there every week for about 6 weeks now. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the roadworks that happen in the evening but, it’s really upsetting when I make and buy all the materials for the signs. I also had the wonderful verge cutter who decided to destroy all my signs but leave everyone elses. I an going to have to sit there one evening and hide and wait….. Anyway whoever wants to talk to mne or spend an evening putting out signs i’m still available on 07817539168 and still frequenting the pub on the way home…

15th May 2023

It's another 2 years since I've written... Terrible eh. Time is flying by and each year running a car boot seems to get harder and harder. We still get great numbers and the car boot has a great reputation (which it deserves) but this year we've had the worst weather i've seen. We are halfway through May and the fields still wet and we are lucky to be open for two weeks running. Hopefully this week will be dry as it's still soaking on the fields. 

I must read these blogs back as it's fascinating stuff. We get many sellers that are always at Stonham and when the weather warms up we get many that have been here when it’s warm. Many are going to us one week and Friday Street the next. Generally we get similar numbers to each other and I get a regular text from Oliver pretty much every week. I think they have more commercial sellers than us but they are literally the other side of Ipswich so quite a journey. Having said that we get sellers from Felixstowe, Norwich and all over the place. Before I started the Car Boot I went to Woolpit and Needham and enjoyed both but, i've not been to any since we started - which must be 13/14 years ago now. I'm not actually sure - I can't remember the actual dates. 

Something I do think about are some of the buyers/sellers that are no longer with us and the many people that have worked at the car boot. Stan being one who passed away probably over 3 years ago now maybe longer. We used to set up on a Saturday or Sunday and end the day with an ice cream and drink and talk about the day. I miss young Stan. We've also had a right selection of helpers. Ian from Woodfarm (who still sells) and an array of good and bad helpers. I did bump into Zack at Stonham the other day who was popping in for lunch with his dad. I have to say that Zack was the only person who helped me who wanted to pack up and go home as quickly as possible which was great. All the workers I get now want to amble along, let me do the majority of things and drag the day out so they earn more. We've also had an array of chefs at the car boot including Zack. The last one was another person who was very good and also wanted to pack up ASAP. He was particularly good but a bag of nerves and someone who hated it when it was quiet. That was Alex with the beard. A great chef and a real worker.  

Naturally we've been messed about by a few and had quite a few that worked for weeks at the most and realised how early it actually was to start. Presently we have two ladies in the food van who have been brilliant. We are still amazingly busy and this often means that we have long queues. It's bizarre to think that we used to cook everything to order whereas now we 50% cook a certain amount. This still means that we get stacked and used up supplies and spend hours catching up. I probably could do with a second van but, that will come. 

We do finally now have the right to be able to have plants at the car boot which is a relief. Soon we should have some of the big plant sellers at the Car Boot which will be great. That will make a big difference because I think many people go to Needham or Woolpit because they have plants whereas we didn't for years. This should push our numbers up again when it gets warmer and the fields dry out. 

I still put the signs out on a Friday night and i'm still waiting for someone to join me for an evening of digging holes and putting signs everywhere. I've reduced the number of signs but they've become bigger and heavier over the years as I've had to reinforce so many. The good thing is is that the random sign stealer has stopped doing that and I rarely lose any now except if the local edge trimmers destroy one but, even they tend to work round the signs which is great. When I finish my sign placing I tend to still pop into a pub on the way. I've slowly run out of places to drop into as so many pubs have closed or become houses. These days I pop into the retreat and have a couple in there before I get back to my last group advertising on Facebook to round off the week. Saturday is normally bookers (food) , tescos (bread) followed by putting up the stalls at 3pm at Stonham. That's another thing - we used to put them up Sunday morning before everyone arrived and that's because everyone turned up at 8am. Over the years and since covid people have got earlier and earlier. I now get to Stonham at 5am or earlier and there's nearly always at least 3+ cars waiting in line to get in. This has had an effect on the car boot because we used to be still there and open at 2.30pm whereas now everyone has started so early that it's ending by 1pm at the latest and sometime earlier. We literally were closed by 1pm last Sunday. Looks like we are expecting a good week of weather and i'm hoping that it will be the start of the dry season and pending water shortages and heatwave..... Anyway - i'll try to catch up soon rather than every 2 years x