Thrifty folk in England are packing their cars with unwanted stuff and carting it off to flea markets, to sell from their trunks - or boots - as they're called over there. Tracey Hobson, organizer of a car boot sale in south London, sends this audio postcard.
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI's THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI's THE WORLD is the program audio.
LISA MULLINS: Across the ocean, cash-strapped folks in England are using their cars to help make ends meet. They pack their vehicles with unwanted stuff and then head to flea markets. It's kind of a twist on a tailgating party. People sell their reject pile right out of their trunks – or boots, as they're called there. Tracey Hobson runs a car-boot sale in south London and she sent us this audio postcard.
MALE SELLER: 50 pence each, please.
TRACEY HOBSON: My name's Tracey; I run the Battersea car-boot sale. We pack about a hundred cars, just over a hundred cars in here every Sunday afternoon. All kinds of stuff gets sold here. All different kinds of people from different walks of life come in here. First-timers, people who've never done a boot sale in their lives before, who are suddenly realizing, with the financial crisis as it is, that there is money to be made from their unwanted goods and they shouldn't be thrown in the landfill when they should be coming down, recycling and making a little bit of money along the way.
CHAS: Anything you like, it's all going cheap. There we are: children's – 1.99, leathers – 2.99, suedes – 2.99. Well, we're Chas and Dave. We do all vintage clothing, secondhand clothing, and things are going very well since the depression because things are tight with people.
HOBSON: We got a feller over here, gonna have a chat to him, find out what he's doing at a boot sale in a very nice Porsche.
MAN WITH PORSCHE: Well, because things have slowed down, and obviously money's tight and things; what I wanted to do was take some of the stuff that I've had, 'cause I've just moved. I wanted to re-use it and I need to buy some stuff for my son, so I wanted to sort of make the money turn over. If we all do this, we all sort of go out and trade...
HOBSON: Absolutely.
MAN WITH PORSCHE: We can make money and spend money, because the more money I make, I can go out and buy stuff in shops.
HOBSON: This is Johnny Stowe; we call him ‘Johnny Trainers' ‘cause he sells sports gear and all kinds of different stuff. He's busy; no recession here, I don't think.
JOHNNY TRAINERS: Hi, my name's Johnny. Basically, ex-property developer, all the bills came in, the interest rates stayed the same, I couldn't pay them, so I've gone out, found this stock, three ounces for a fiver, that's how I work. Four markets a week, it's not easy, the hands are dirty, the face is tired, it's a 5:30 start four days a week, but what's the best – what's the option? I'm not a rich man, but I'm a surviving man.
MULLINS: That's a snapshot of a booming car-boot sale from Tracey Hobson in south London.
transcript
