Backtracking a bit to last Sunday, when K and I did a car boot sale attached to a Vintage Car Show on the showground down in the village. A couple of showers came along to annoy, but overall it was dry. My "notes" of the day:
Grey clouds glower over the show site, but an opening of blue offers hope. "Enough blue to patch a sailor's trousers" mum always used to say and me, ever the optimist, hung onto that thought.
Welsh flags flap in the breeze: the red, green and white of Y ddraig goch - the Welsh dragon; the yellow cross on black of Dewi Sant (St David), and gone but never forgotten, Glyndwr's Banner with its lions rampant in red and yellow. Welsh memories are long and ever loyal.
At one end of the ringside, static engines set up a two-stroke chatter above Paul Anka singing "Diana". They are tended by men in overalls and caps and admired by enthusiasts. A bevy of old tractors form orderly lines nearby. Old grey Fergies, Fordsons, early Massey Fergusons, John Deeres, and many others which once worked the land.
Orderly lines of vintage and classic cars are also on display. Several minis, several Morris Minors, an E-type Jag, a scarlet and white South African Buick with "Please Don't Touch" on it, a blue Ford Popular, a Humber, and an absolutely splendid old Bugatti which looks fit for the London to Brighton race.
As we stand and watch the scene, swallows swoop low across the sward, little puffs of smoke from the statics spiral into the air and are whipped away by a strong breeze, the smell of frying onions and burgers wafts by, and the strains of "This Old House" and "In the Mood" set the tempo - for this IS a vintage show, with music to match. Better than the Welsh "pop" music playing first thing which, I must confess, always sounds very much the same (and rather boring) to my English ear!
A crow catches sight of itself in a mirror we have propped against a chair. It steps back in surprise, and so does the crow in the mirror. It squares its shoulders and marches forward - and so does its opposite until, thoroughly rattled, it flies off.
My photographs are from the Smallholders' Show up at Builth in 2007, as my camera wasn't working at the weekend (I'd pressed a wrong button!). Flags courtesy of the (Flags of the World) highlighted link for Glyndwr's Banner.
1 comment:
My husband loves vintage tractors. I would enjoy this type of sale as well--just wandering around to what was offered--far more interesting than a "mall" with the same old stuff and too many people.
Love the bit about the crow!
And--three cheers--you have a broadband connection today!
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