Every Day Except Christmas

Happy day!

Thanking you!

Good luck, ladies!

I'll be good luck, ladies. Thanking you!

I'll be good luck!

Happy day! Happy day, sir!

Good luck, ladies!

Thanking you!

Good luck, sir! Thanking you!

Thanking you! Happy day!

I'll be good luck! Good luck, sir!

Take this.

Allez! Allez! Allez!

Here you go.

- Do you want the next lot? - Yes. Yes.

- Do you like radish? - Yeah.

- Have you got those lettuce in there? - Yeah.

- Not bad radish, are they? - No.

Lettuces for market for Covent Garden.

Lettuces in boxes, mushrooms in baskets, and the long boxes are for roses.

This goes on every night, and it goes on all over England.

These roses and mushrooms grow on a market garden in Sussex.

Brian and Dennis take the lorry up to London every night.

It's usually a couple of hours' loading before the last mushroom basket is aboard.

By the time they're ready to go, it's getting on for midnight.

That's the end of the news summary.

Now we say good night to listeners to the live programme.

If you're working through the night or if you have to be up,

well, we hope it'll be a quiet, uneventful time for you.

But if you're going to bed now, good night... and sleep well.

All through the night, through cities and country towns,

and down the long arterial roads, the lorries are coming to London,

with apples from Kent and Evesham, potatoes from Norfolk,

oranges and lemons from the western ports.

All these roads lead to Covent Garden.

The middle of the night is the beginning of a new day for the night workers in the market.

Sleep is over for them.

They've come in by car,

last trains and buses have brought them in to open up shop, to start work on their displays.

All round the market, the streets are stirring.

The lorries that have come in earlier in the night begin to unload.

Everything that comes to the Garden finishes its journey by lorry,

then by hand and head and trolley into the shops.

All night it's going to keep on coming...

..in sacks and crates and boxes.

22 large.

A lot of flowers have come in by air -

daffodils from the Channel Islands, anemones from France -

then come all the rest by trains and lorries from all over England.

Lincolnshire tulips, primroses and violets from the woods in Cornwall,

roses and chrysanthemums in long wooden boxes.

Oh, never mind. Stop there.

- How many this afternoon? - Four, eight, 12, 16... 22 and eight.

Allez! Allez! Allez! Ay! That's right.

This is the end of the journey.

The flowers have reached the address on the label. This is where Bill takes over.

Bill is one of the night men on the flower stands.

He comes up from across the river at midnight, or a bit after, to start his day's work.

Now the boxes must be got off the trolley and onto the shelves and checked and sorted.

All through the market, displays are starting to grow.

Some people believe in getting right down to it.

Others prefer to start with a cup of tea and a chat - the cheerful way.

You've got... Raynes Park's open. They've got a branch line.

Malden. Surbiton. Woking. All the mainline stations.

All the little stations aren't open. It's clear. The signals are green all the way through.

I'll tell you something else too that you don't bloody well know.

- What? - I don't expect Jim knows it.

- There's a record held by the Great Western... - Yeah.

- ..since 1904, that hasn't been beaten. - London to Exeter?

- No, you're not far out. - The Great Western?

- It's got a record. - Buggered if I know.

Well, wake up!

- All on the railway, are they? - Eh?

I mean to say, all your brothers are in it? All your brothers?

I'm the only one in the family who's not on the railway.

For Sid, the night has started quietly.

His big load is still on the way, mostly mushrooms coming up from Sussex.

At half-past one or two, with Dennis at the wheel,

Sid's mushrooms and a lot else as well pull into Covent Garden,

round the market and up the yard.

Come on! Come on! Straighten her up.

Come on! Come on!

Come on! Come on! Come on! Hold it!

Dennis and Brian are glad to get to work again.

The sooner their load is off and delivered, the sooner they can get home.

Go on. In here.

Now Sid can find out what sort of a job the night is going to bring.

Judging by the invoices, he'll be busy.

A busy night means 400 baskets or more, all to be checked and displayed.

- Morning. - Up against the post there.

How many's he got?

- Same count are they? - Yeah.

Right. That's your lot.

Half-past two and Sid gets down to the job.

Out in the yard, Dennis and Brian work steadily on towards bed,

packing their lettuces off round the market.

First the unloading and delivering, then the long job of sorting and setting out for sale.

How much you had in tonight, Brian?

- Not a lot. Only mush. - No? Nothing else?

No. Not a great deal. It was a better load last night.

- Got a ton of grape in there. - Yeah, put that in last night.

- No oranges? - No.

Danny's been idling about again?

That's nice.

We've had tons of sellers out there.

- Have you? - Yeah.

Now, what are you gonna do about today, after you've finished work?

Well, if you've got a break, I'll go with you.

It'll cost you exactly two quid.

All round the market, through the small hours, displays take shape and grow,

and still the flowers roll in.

Why don't you shut that row up?

- Why don't you turn your head? - Do you mind?!

- Morning, Patrick. - Hello.

- All right? - Yeah.

Thank you.

Half-past four in the morning and everything's ready.

Everything's set in the flower market.

Everything's here except the salesmen and the customers.

Another half-hour to go before buying begins.

Just one last load to get in.

Fancy a cup of tea, Bill? Come on.

Right.

How's that? Good?

Come on, George.

..the market.

It's a regular meeting place for some of them,

where they can sit down for a chat, a cigarette and a cup of tea - and maybe a bite to eat.

Not everyone you find in Albert's works in the market.

Some of them, you wonder where they come from.

They come in at two or three in the morning, have a bite to eat, talk for a bit, then they go,

and you wonder where.

I said to her, "I don't half talk dirty." She said, "See you later, duck."

Later.

- You're going bald. - Do you mind? Keep with us.

Come on, Horace!

Daylight brings traffic back to the market -

lorries from farms and shops, more vegetables to go out for sale.

Liven yourself up down there, mate.

These are the ordinary vegetables from the farms round London.

Cabbages and potatoes, and leeks and carrots, fresh out of the earth yesterday.

All round the courtyard, the stalls go up and the wares are laid out for inspection.

The farmers stand by.