2001 Verses
1/6/01 Election Fever fails to grip the country!
I've got real fed-up with politics
Grown-up's shouting and getting their kicks
They get elected, they lie and they cheat
Once safely ensconced in their 'seat'
"We're for the people" they all whine
The same old story at election time
Do they think that we were born yesterday?
I vote we boot on Saturday!
8/6/01 Rain lashed down on the boot sale last week
Oh! to be near Baldock now that summer's here
Last Saturday the heavens opened
Made everyone disappear
They dashed across the field
Their footwear sprouting flames
They'd have won a Gold you know
At the Boot Sale Olympic Games!
16/6/01
Farmer Giles is away Saturday
Just when you thought he'd be making hay
Jo will be 'Hostess' this week
She owns heavy horses so watch your feet!
I can assume you'll all behave well
'Cos if you don't she'll give you hell!
She won't accept chocolates or the finest of clarets
You could always bribe her with a bag of carrots!
23/6/01
We've become an 'equestrian family'
Since my daughter got a horse
She grooms it and she feeds it
Which all takes cash of course!
On Saturdays we're at the boot sale
We buy apples by the ton!
The family lives in penury
Rosettes are 'boot sale' won!
30/6/01 Farmer Giles is back from his boating holiday in Belgium, only to discover that the weather has been as good at home!
Farmer Giles is back this week
Been abroad some sun to seek
If he'd stayed in old GB
He'd have been as brown as you and me
Jo ran the sales while he was away
With greater effect so they say
So Farmer Giles you've got the sack
Stay away and don't come back!
7/7/01 Whilst the weather has been hot, it's also been very humid. Everyone was looking forward to an overnight storm to settle the humidity.
I’ve spent all week in meetings
My brain is closing down
What I need is fresh air
Not the stale sort up in town
Can’t wait for Saturday morning
Find a bargain and beside
Eat a bacon roll whilst wandering
In the open countryside
14/7/01 The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament is over and the rain lashes down, knees are worn out through praying for some much needed sunshine.
We like to see happy faces
We like to see folk smile
We'd like to bask in sunshine
But we ain't seen it for a while
Wimbledon's gone and forgotten
No excuses now for rain
So let's press the Government Ministers
To import some sun from Spain!
21/7/01 Help! What can I put in the paper!
There comes a time when deadlines due
You mind goes blank you haven't a clue!
Then all of a sudden, you've stopped for coffee
It's the Royston Crow - Where's your copy?
You scratch your head to no avail
There must be a poem for the car boot sale
So before you all complain of shock
See you Saturday - Eight O'Clock!
28/7/01 Alistair Martin, who has sorted out my adverts at the Royston Crow newspaper for the last three years is leaving for pastures new and his departure couldn't be complete without a verse!
Alistair's leaving the Royston Crow
Why he's leaving none of us know
It's not the people that work with him
It's not as if the Crow is weedy and thin!
Every week without fail
It's...
"Where's the bleeding copy for that car boot sale?"
4/8/01 Both sellers and buyers are getting used to seeing an idiot with a camera walk around the boot field taking pictures, some now pose when I'm around hoping to be 'on the net'!
At the boot sale last Saturday morning
A day I can’t forget
Farmer Giles took my photograph
And now I’m on the net!
My mother in law has seen it!
My cousin in Canada too
At the boot sale it’s best to be smiling
The next photo could be of you!
11/8/01 The newspapers have a field day with reports that 47 farmers have received cheques of over a million pounds for compensation for Foot and Mouth disease (out of a total well in excess of 1500 farmers that had their animal slaughtered).
Old MacDonald received a cheque
Nowhere near a million pounds
His holding is now silent
Devoid of farmyard sounds
The big farmers get much money
Small farmers only grief
When foot and mouth comes calling
A cheque is scant relief.
18/8/01
We've come back from holiday
Mum and Dad and brother Ray
We've been soaking up that foreign sun
Drinks and nightclubs, we've had fun
We enjoyed our time it was fantastic
So easy to spend using plastic!
The credit card bill arrived today
Means a boot sale stall this Saturday!
26/8/01
Farmer Giles has his combine out
Golden grain pours from the spout
Rain clouds muster in the sky
He starts to panic I wonder why!
On Saturday morning he may look dirty
He's been doing harvest 'till one-thirty!
2/9/01
Tommy’s on the combine
Praying for no rain
Michael’s on the tractor
Bringing in the grain
Farmer Giles is in the grain store
He’ll have to have a bath
Because otherwise at the boot sale
Everyone will laugh
(or stay upwind of him!)
9/9/01 The newspapers are full this week of stories about asylum-seekers trying to cross the channel from France.
I had a dream the other night
When I was fast asleep
People rushing to cross the channel
Driven along like sheep
They swarmed through the gates and onto the track
Guards stood to no avail
And all because they wanted to visit
Farmer Giles's Car Boot Sale
16/9/01
My daughter helped me at the boot sale
For a share of the money I made
She set up the pasting table
With a tablecloth that wasn't frayed
She was an enthusiastic seller
Much better than her dear old Pa
We had to walk home to Royston
She'd even sold the car!
23/9/01 One picture from the atrocity in New York last week that will always be with me is the picture of the fireman climbing the stairs when all the others are escaping. We take their bravery for granted.
To All The Emergency Services
They walk towards danger when we run away
They answer our calls both at night and by day
Whether Moslem or Christian doesn't matter to them
They'd risk their lives and do it again
How do we thank them for the risks that they take?
Cost-cutting programmes, small savings to make
After events in America what have we learned?
To value them all; give them credit they've earned.
29/9/01
There's a boot sale I go to that's OK
You know the one down Baldock way
It's in a field next to the road
Nice green grass carefully mowed
But it's greatest asset I must say
Are the people I'll meet on Saturday.
6/10/01
One more week to go
Of the car boot sale
The season is nearly over
The forecast says wet with hail
At least when the season is over
The weather I shall not dread
Because it will not matter
As I shall be lying in bed!