The Last Car Boot Sale

Car Boot Sales!

I have promised Iron Man that this really is the last one.  It’s going to have to be as no loft means no hoarding.

This one has had to be hardcore though.  Alarm set for 3.45, leave by 4.30.  Never before have we been so committed.  The Kid had a sleepover and the attention seeking rabbit was left with enough supplies to see her through the morning.

There is no room for the 7.00 sellers these days.

You end up in the cow-shed and go home with everything you came with and 25p.

That’s enough to rock any marriage.

So here we are at Dunton in Essex and for the first time in weeks, I’m cold.  So cold that I’m tempted to start dressing myself in the very items I am selling.

This will probably be the closest I will get to a modelling career in brown leather boots and a Pom Pom scarf.

In fact, I’m glad to see it’s not just me that’s cold because there are people here shopping in their fleecy pyjamas.

I often wonder what possesses people to get up at such an ungodly hour to buy other people’s toot but wild horses couldn’t keep them away.  Just as well really.

We are rather departmental this time around and Iron Man could easily be cast as Mr Selfridge as he stands over the merchandise negotiating with purchasers that are interested in the giant inflatable champagne bottles.

As I sit in the car, I feel proud that he has stuck to his guns and held out for 50p per bottle. Especially after the effort of blowing them both up.

This is despite being offered 50p for two.

Sale agreed!  Inflatables Are Us!

Our Christmas section has been unveiled and as I have said before, it would rival Harrods.

The 3 sided tree is out in all its glory.  No shift so far.  People keep wanting to buy all three at a heavily discounted price.

I’ve had to impose a limit of one per customer.

No one needs 3 trees.

I can vouch for that because they have been sat in the loft for years.  I am doing these people a favour in not taking their money.

And as for the three sided tree – well, rooms will always have corners.

There will always be a need.

Trade is picking up slowly, very slowly.  As I sit in the car nursing my chilblains,  I can hear Iron Man engaging with more customers.  I think he may have cracked a joke too.  Time to investigate and the sun is out.

I am seriously wondering to myself though whether the days of the car boot are over.  It’s much quieter than it used to be.  Maybe we have chosen a good time to retire and bail out.

It has been a very long slog.

Lots of bartering and haggling and fun.

And lots of nice people stopping by.

Many satisfied customers.

And some unsatisfied.

I am never going to let you have something for £2 if I’ve asked for £10.  This is not the way to successfully negotiate a deal.

The charity shop will always win this one.

I will also never fail to be amazed at the ability of women with Size 7 feet that try and squeeze them into a size 5 and then want a discount because they are the wrong size.  Such are the antics of these places.   You can never have enough shoes of the wrong size at times like this.

It is these things that make the whole thing worthwhile when you have stood on your feet for 8 hours.

Of course we forgot the chairs.  And of course among the 22,000 stalls, we were unable to find a pair.  This is known as Sod’s Law.

The temperature warmed up nicely over the course of the morning and as we queue to leave at 1245 after 8 hours trading, I am a little charred.

In the boot of the car is more or less what we came with.  Including the trees!!

We have made £130 in sales which is not too be sniffed at but we could probably have both done an 8 hour stint in Poundland for more.

And with the car as full as when we arrived, we go home via St Francis Hospice Charity Shop laden down with goodies for them, so nothing is going to waste.

Best seller of the day goes to Barbie.  Her late entrance proved to be worthwhile.

Her authenticity was questioned and we thought we may have to get Ken involved but she held her ground.

I gave her new owners some wise advice.

It is not OK to bend a dolls legs and arms backwards.  EVER.   It is also not OK to imply that my goods are anything other than legit.  Do we look like we are the type to house fake Barbie’s.  No.  Thought not.

Do not even think about asking me to knock the price down.

People can be cruel sometimes.

I do hope we have done the right thing for her.

And the ex soft furnishings from The Kid’s old bedroom are on their way to Thailand with another satisfied customer.

Everyone is a winner.

I can honestly say that I will never do another Car Boot Sale in this lifetime.

Iron Man and I are at one on this.

We are done with this chapter of our lives.

Promise!

The marriage would not survive.

Nicky

 

 

 

 

A Week In My Inbox

I think my name has come up in the National Email Lottery this week.

I have won the Junk Mail Jackpot.

It’s fairly true to say that we all get a lot of rubbish in our inbox.  Mine tends to go straight to trash.  I’m sure yours does too.

Several have caught my eye this week though.

Some for their uncanny accuracy, others not so much.

Here’s what is on offer for me this week.

 

Jobs for Nicola

Who knew!  This is synchronicity at its best.  I did not sign up to ANY of these sites.

This is what they have in mind for me though :

Airline Assistant

What sort of assistance exactly?  Would that be in the air or on the ground I wonder?

Maybe my reverse parking skills are in demand!

Or perhaps I’ve been spotted waving table tennis bats in the air like a pro?

Put me forward for this one.

Part-time Packer

What a joke! When I pack, I really pack.  There is nothing part-time about it.  Anyone that knows me well will know that this is my Achilles Heel.

I have been known to spend inordinate amounts of time packing and preparing to pack.  This is not normal, I will be the first to admit.

You will not want me on your team.  Trust me.

Jobs at Pets at Home

I can only imagine word has spread about my spectacular rabbit handling skills.

Now I’m worried.

Saga Home Insurance

There comes a time in our lives when we start to receive these mailshots.

I do not know the precise point of qualification.

Whatever that may be it is wrong.

Wrong!  Wrong!  Wrong!

I DO NOT qualify.  Even if I did, I’m highly unlikely to buy anything EVER from something with Saga branding or any age related product.

Institute of Anti-Ageing

On the basis that I’m not saving any money on my home insurance, I’m pretty unlikely to be able to afford anything like this.

Neither will I be able to attend the Institute to find out how because it’s highly likely I’ll be touching my aircraft down somewhere (see above).

 

Questions About Pensions?

I have loads.  How long have you got?

Thought so!

Interesting though isn’t it.

As I say, this is not something I take seriously and would normally hit the delete button without a second glance.

Has anything interesting turned up in your junk this week?

Something completely unsolicited that has perhaps made you giggle?

Perhaps that something has been particularly spot on for some bizarre reason.

Do share!!

Nicky x

Introducing My Guest Blogger

Something a little different for this week.

I have a special little guest blogger who has written for me, my daughter Lily.

Lily is 9 years old and has expressed an interest in having a blog.

Like many children her age, she is very interested in young bloggers and vloggers – of which there are many.

Naturally she wants to have a go herself.

I suggested that she be my guest blogger and then we could go from there.

She knew what she wanted to write about and I left her to it.

She has written about her new rabbit, Willow.

As you may know, I am scared of animals so these have been exciting times in our little household.

I thought it would be a good idea for her to see how the whole thing comes together and she sat with me to ‘publish’ the post, so to speak.

As a parent, internet safety is key here but I think it is also important not to stifle a willingness to learn.

We have talked about staying safe online and she understands why this is important and how to stay safe.

Like all children, Lily is very adept at working her way around computer systems and negotiating technology with ease.

As a parent, it can be very difficult to get the right balance here.

I’m not going to prevent her from writing and being creative but what I can do is make sure it is done in a controlled environment.

She has written a fabulous piece below.

Nicky x

My Rabbit, Willow is a fun and friendly animal!  I play with her every day and enjoy every minute of it!  We’ve had her for nearly 3 weeks now, which is not a long time but I have already bonded with her lots and she has bonded with me as well.  She has her own cardboard castle which I am currently building as Rabbits love to play and chew cardboard!  On Thursday she ran so fast she was pushed up into the air and landed on the floor, as you might know mum does not like animals and did not want to get Willow in the first place, but as soon as I called her “mum she has jumped out the cage” she ran to Willows safety picked her up and put her in her cage (which is a big achievement!) Now you might think why didn’t I do it, well the reason was I was so in shock. Being a single child with no pet is sometimes boring, but now I have willow she has made it never boring and I can now say I have a pet!

 

What’s In The Box?

Who would ever have thought it?

We’ve only gone and done it!

I never thought the day would come that we, as a family, would become pet owners.

Part of the reason for this demise is that I am very afraid of animals.

However, needs must and The Kid has wanted a pet for some time.

Iron Man and I totally understand that.

My parents were never animal fans and as children we were also desperate to have pets.  More on this later.

Christmas was the turning point.   The Kid asked for a Rabbit.

We explained that it wasn’t just the Rabbit and that she needed to think of everything else that went with it.

She was happy that most of her gift from everyone would be a contribution towards the Rabbit and its Estate.

She even wrote to Father Christmas and said she didn’t want very much as she wanted to concentrate on the Rabbit.

Love her.

And so on the 9th January 2016, we welcomed the arrival of this little cutie.

Meet Willow.

Life as we know it will never be quite the same.

This week has been taken up with googling things like :

‘How do you get a rabbit to drink from a water bottle’?

‘Can you use Andrex Wipes on a rabbit’?

‘How do you cut a rabbits toes nails’?

There have been regular morning trips to the shed with Iron Man in his suit carrying The Kid to make sure Willow is OK.

Willow probably thought she was going to a wedding when the suit came out!

There are regular evening sessions of rabbit bonding.

There has been a complete play centre constructed of cardboard boxes.  This is known as ‘Willow’s Play Mayhem’.

I returned home from work one evening to find Willow’s head bobbing up through holes in the boxes ‘Whack-a-Rat’ style.

I have survived.

I have overheard the following comment in the house :

‘Give her some space Daddy’

I have found myself actively involved in congratulating Willow on using the litter tray.

I enjoyed reading the following :

Rabbits mostly sleep during the day. They often sleep with their eyes open so its hard to tell when they are sleeping. However a giveaway is that when they are sleeping rabbits often twitch, and their noses stop wiggling. Other rabbits will close their eyes and totally flake out, looking like they are dead.

Is there hope for me?

Will my cold heart turn to mush?

I should probably point out at this stage that this is not a first for me and that we did have a Rabbit in my family home after putting much pressure on our parents. It became a very, very large Rabbit and quite feisty.  So much so that all the ladies in the house were terrified of it.

It would regularly escape from its cage and we had to get the old lady next door to rescue it.  She was quite a dab hand at Rabbit handling it turned out.  Between her and my dad, there was generally some kind of a chase going on (generally them running away!).

I hope to do better this time.

What do we think then readers?

Will my inner Rabbit Whisperer finally be exposed or will I always be the photographer.

Too early to tell.

Nicky x