I will definitely be participating in CLASS’s latest research program, and have of course taken the opportunity to volunteer myself for any other research they are carrying out.
All the book lots for April, which I imaged on Sunday are now checked, edited and ready to go up. I have also prepared a draft of a press release about one of the lots, which has some local interest attached to it (see the Media attachments at the end of this post).
Yesterday I made sure that the council had a copy of my February wage slip, which was the last document they needed to see about my housing benefit.
On Friday night I took part in “A quiz with a difference” at St Michaels school in South Lynn, helping to raise funds for Unicef. I was part of a team with my parents and my aunt, and we came joint second (and it should have been second outright but we were bilked of half a point in the first round). The quiz was very enjoyable (all the more so for the complete absence of questions on pop music, which are my Achilles heel, only more vulnerable), although I was a trifle disquieted to be very obviously the youngest person present.
Yesterday saw the climax of this years Six Nations. England had a very impressive win in Rome, though not by enough to force Ireland to do any more than win in Paris. The game in Paris that brought the curtain down was an absolute nail biter, with the Irish just hanging on to end the illustrious career of Brian O’Driscoll in the manner that he deserved.
I will be participating in some research in Autistic Spectrum Conditions in the near future, having just received a letter from CLASS (Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service), not be confused with KLASS (King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society), inviting me to do so.
I have some photos for you as usual, this time in two sets. Firstly there are four pictures that relate to buildings in and around King’s Lynn, which will be accompanied by clues as to where they are, and then a collection of other pictures with no extras.
The building that provided this shot is one of the best known in town.This stonework can be seen high up on a building at the Minster end of St James’ StreetThis statue which sits atop its building was snapped across the width of Kings Staithe Square.This wall mounted coat of arms adorns a building in the Hardwick Industrial Estate.
First a coda to my last post: England did post a consolation victory in the final T20 at Bridgetown. The player of the match was the Barbados born Chris Jordan, 27 off nine balls and then two early wickets to set the Windies right back.
Having spent all of yesterday on the database, today was my first day on my new regime of database pre-lunch and other stuff post-lunch. The stock database now has up to lot 300 for the March sale, so a couple more mornings should do the trick in terms of getting the stock records in there. I will then have to fill in vendor details as fully as possible in both the stock and auction sections (hopefully I will find a way to automate this process), before then processing buyer details as appropriate.
After lunch I worked on imaging for the April main sale, doing all the lots that required camera work and starting on the scanning (I always try to ensure that anything I leave undone will be scanning work because this is quicker and easier than camera work). The individual highlight of the day imaging wise was a handsome clock with a roman numeral face. As you will see below there were a couple of other decent images…
this lot features the March saleThis postcard appealed.These prints are by John James Audobon
This clock is a fine specimen.Decent quality stamps image well.
For the first time in a long time I have had a day at James and Sons that did not involve any imaging, but owing to the nature of what I was doing I still have some images for use in this post – good images that I had not previously used in this context.
For most of today I have been updating the stock element of my database with stuff for the March sale, with a view to testing out this and the auction element, to see if my system can produce the desired results and a hope/ expectation of going live in all its glory for the April sale, which will make it more or less exactly one year from me starting at James and Sons to my system taking full control.
One of the fields I have in the section of the database is a photo gallery field (links to the images we have for for a particular item), and this is how I came across images today even though I was doing no imaging as such. My progress was slightly held up by having to do some emergency editing of images that had been transferred from a previous auction and revealed this fact rather too obviously, but I had still got to lot 181 by the end of the day, and will make much more rapid progress tomorrow.
I have a few other refinements to make to get the whole system ready, but the work I had already done was sufficient to amply impress the colleague with whom I discussed these developments.
Can England cap a positive day for me by at least salvaging some pride by winning the the third T20 against the West Indies, to bring about a series score of 2-1 against rather than 3-0? This remains the be seen. The World T20 gets under way shortly, with a playoff series to reduce eight associates to two to go into the main draw. One of these eight teams playing for the right to take on the big guns is … Afghanistan!
Here are today’s pictures…
Inside the boxOutside the box…… and finally a close up of the label
It was obvious right from the start that today was going to be a good one weather wise, but not even I was initially optimistic to imagine that it would be a day for sitting out in the sun.
However, the heat became obvious even while I was performing a couple of minor tasks. I needed to get some new washing up liquid and also to establish whether my mobile phone was finally beyond all assistance (it was, so I bought another cheap PAYG handset, and retained my existing number by putting the old SIM card into the new phone), and these tasks achieved I decided it was time for a walk and set out along the bank of the Great Ouse.
I continued on beyond the point at which I normally leave the river bank and beyond the A47 and Palm Paper, finally turning away from the water at Tail Sluice, walking through Saddlebow, and hitting the Nar Valley Way to head back into the centre of town. Having shed my jumper part way through the walk, I had lunch outside and spent the afternoon enjoying the sun (the jumper has just gone back on, as the sun is no longer a factor, and I am back inside).
I have some photographs from the walk, which are below…
Another successful day at James and Sons. For the first part of the day until just after lunch I was finishing a job started on Friday of transferring pre-existing descriptions, estimates and images for old stamp lots into the April T-Bid auction folder. All of the images needed editing, and one or two needed doing again from scratch, hence why it took me a total of close to six hours (including Friday’s work) to deal with 84 lots (about one tenth of the whole auction – hence why work on it starts this early).
Then I created a press release focussing on medals because we have some very special specimens going under the hammer at our next auction. I also created a message for bulk emailing to the entire mailing list and sent it to the person responsible for putting out such emails. I finished off by attending to some stuff that was going into the April main sale.
After a morning spent helping people at Learning Works and my first cold lunch of 2014 I finished of the process of getting a bootload of firewood from the woodshed at East Rudham to beside my aunt’s wood burner in King’s Lynn, before heading off to the Hardwick branch of Sainsbury’s for a grocery shop.
Having walked down to the Hardwick by way of the riverbank and Harding’s Pits I went back via a footpath that connects with the Walks at Tennyson Road.
I have a few photos for you,as usual…
I used this yesterday but have included it again as a lead up to…….Kings Lynn’s very own nomination for a pre-Columbus European visitor to the AmericasTaken in different light to yesterday’s effortThis tide monitor occupies the equivalent position to the clock face on the other tower of King’s Lynn MinsterThis one was taken yesterday but not used in that post.
After Saturday’s nice weather, Sunday was even better, with noticeable warmth in the sun even before 10 AM. I went out for a morning walk, leaving my flat at 9:40 and aiming to finish up a near circular walk at my aunt’s house at approximately 11 for the journey to my parents house in East Rudham for Sunday lunch. As one of the pictures makes clear my time keeping was up to its usual standards.
Shortly after arrival at East Rudham I stacked my aunt’s boot with some of my parents spare firewood (I will be transferring it from the car to my aunt’s flat later today). After an excellent lunch and a relaxed afternoon, I got back in time to listen to the first 20-20 international between England and the West Indies.
Sadly, this was not much of a contest, as the West Indies reached 170, and it was only some late resistance that got England to 143-9 in response. This is a warm -up series for the World 20-20 which will be taking place in Bangladesh, and the two teams playing this series are the holders (WI) and the previous winners (E).
As usual, I have plenty of pictures…
This shot of the clockface of King’s Lynn Minster near the end of the walk shows that my time keeping was good.Using all available resources to boost education.
Judge for yourself which of these pictures of the new shell cabinet at East Rudham is best.
On Thursday night I attended a public meeting on Racism, Resistance and Revolution, with the main speaker Brian Richardson, contributing editor to a book of that title. The meeting was excellent and it was enjoyable to meet with the Norwich comrades after a period of not attending meetings.
I used a trip to the library, where I borrowed six books, as a starting point for a nice circular walk taking in the Broadwalk, Harding’s Pits and a walk back along the river front. As you will see from the pictures I have from today (especially the last!) the weather in King’s Lynn is better than it has been for about six months.
Two sets of pictures today, first some from the public meeting…
…and these from today.
This was a direct view along the river front from Harding’s PitsYes, it really is nice enough to sit outside.This picture was taken from the position as the panoramic view.
Before getting to the main meat of what will be a substantial post, a coda to my last post, at the end of which I stated boldly that I reckoned England would win their ODI series against the West Indies. I was proved right, in spite of a fine innings by Denesh Ramdin, which reduced the margin to 25 runs (still one for every two overs if you think about it – quite comfortable in my book).
There was no post yesterday because I attended a public meeting in Norwich, which I will talk about in detail in tomorrow’s post. Yesterday and early today I did some finishing off work on the March imaging. I have also imaged some lots of for the April sale, and done some work on the April Time Bid sale.
Obviously I have a lot of images for this post, and will limit myself to commenting about one in particular, which is lot 393 in the March sale, and consist of two large metal dishes. These were two big to be photographed together, so I took two pictures and used my editing skills to splice them together as seamlessly as possible.
I hope you like these pictures:
This lot, which includes rare paperwork as well as these medals could fetch £2,000
Lot 393 – two pictures became one.
It took five attempts to create a usable image of this watchIt can be difficult to get a good close up of a badge on a cap.How would this pennant work against a fundamentally dark background? This is how!This cabinet was one of three similar lots, and I had not previously seen anything of this sort.
aspiblog 