A day in the life of a Christmas tree seller begins in darkness, I was told by a Ladbroke Grove market trader one bitter December afternoon.

"I get up at 4am and go to Nine Elms market in Vauxhall to buy anything I need for my stall. Then back to the market for 6.30am. Get the trees out of the buckets, then spend the day shouting 'Trees!'," said Eddie Cain, who turns his hand from selling fruit to Firs for the festive season, at the corner of Elgin Crescent and Ladbroke Grove.

Mr Cain, of Chamberlayne Road, Queen's Park, grew up among the barrows. His grandmother was Dolly Cain was one of the founders of Portobello Road market and many of her 13 children went on to take pitches.

"When she died, signs went up all round London saying 'Market mourns its queen'," he told me, pulling a giant tree from its wrapping so a well-heeled lady could examine it.

With a wife, Katy, and four young children - Alfie, 12, Henry, nine, Stanley, six, and Daisy, three - he can't afford to miss any opportunities on the market.

He had a break from the barrows in his younger days when he turned his hand to acting. But after 15 years treading the boards he decided, like many actors, that competition was just too fierce, so returned to Portobello Road.

My hanging around and scribbling in a notebook seemed to attract trade, I was told, as it was not long before the stallholder and his brother Richard had made their first sale of the day.

The well-heeled lady decided to take the tree. A price was agreed - just £19 - which surprised me as there have been reports this week on how the weakening pound has pushed up the price of exported Christmas trees.

"I need to go and buy some more plasters," Richard announced. The ends of his fingers were covered with bandages because he can't work with gloves, unlike Eddie who chivalrously offered me his pair when I explained my shorthand was slowed by the bite of the cold.

I declined. Watching him handling the cold, spiky trees, I felt his need was greater than mine.

Eddie's strong cry was doing the trick, it seemed, for another customer, Chris Kewbank, who lives in Notting Hill, pulled up to load a tree into his car.

"I buy my tree from Eddie every year," he told me. "It's always exactly the right shape for me. I've been buying these trees for 30 years."

Loyal customers are good news, as selling trees is always a gamble.

"We've got about 40 to sell. If we don't, we lose our money," said the father-of-four Eddie. "We had 60 trees two weeks ago, we've got 49 left. We've got to sell another 14 before we enter profit."

I turned to Eddie and asked: "What keeps you going in this cold?"

"Every day is a new day," he replied. "That's what keeps me here. You can't give up."