I was needed in East Rudham yesterday to do some imaging for my father, and took the opportunity to visit the Rudham Village Fete that was running at the same time, and got some good photos. Then for an encore I went down to the east bank of the Great Ouse to watch the fireworks display that is a regular feature of Festival too. I have some fine pictures for you, especially of the fireworks…
Very little imaging to do today, but there was all involved quality items. I put out two press releases, one mainly targeting organisations with an interest in aviation history and focussing on the propeller, and a general press release about the auction taking place at Raynham Hall as a trial run for the big event (will soon be communicating these details on the appropriate facebook and twitter pages). Note for my newer followers/ those who have more recently liked my posts: I would be even more grateful if you could like the facebook page I have linked to above and/ or follow the twitter page.
Now for the images and links to the press releases…
PROPELLER IN NORFOLK AUCTION RAYNHAM HALL TO HOST JULY AUCTION
Even though my outside seating area was still in the shade this morning I could not resist sitting outside for my second cup of coffee of the day, and I got a couple of decent pictures while doing so.
My entire working day today was spent imaging for the dress rehearsal auction at Raynham Hall (aka James and Sons July sale), although tomorrow will be more varied, with some press releases to go out. Most of the imaging was of course done with the camera, but some items do genuinely work better done with the scanner, and there are couple of these among the pictures the accompany this post. I am going to start posting on the Great Auction facebook and twitter pages with some of these images and the suggestion that if anyone has similar items that they would like to donate to a really good cause, please get in contact with us.
I have just had an email from Phil Pell at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge confirming that we have a session booked for August 27th. The new feature (for me) of this particular research project as that it will entail spending time in an MRI scanner. As group leader of the King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society (KLASS) and as someone who wants Asperger’s Syndrome to be better understood by the world at large I always accept invitations to take part in research projects of this nature.
Now for the photos…
First up, before I get to the main meat of this post, a considered retrospective on the conclusion of the first test. While I give Moeen Ali full credit for his maiden test century and for taking England to within the proverbial hairs breadth (two possible balls remaining in the match when Anderson was finally out) of escaping from a match that they really surrendered in the second and third sessions of the penultimate day, I consider the final result to have been what England deserved.
Wimbledon is under way, and I spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday listening to the play. Andy Murray looked every inch the defending champion in winning his second round match with only two games going against him, and there were several other good matches. Alhtough I am normally studious in avoiding any mention of the f-game in this blog, I could not avoid hearing about Luis Suarez’s latest (alleged)Â felony yesterday. My only comment is: if he is guilty, then given the nature of the offence and his previous record, there can be only one punishment: A worldwide lifetime ban from the sport that made him a rich, spoilt brat.
The Great Auction facebook page continues to gain new likes.
As usual I have some fine pictures for you…
First up this morning was a meeting at Raynham Hall to discuss progress on the Great Centenary Charity Auction. Unfortunately our gracious host Lord Townshend was not able to participate owing to a mishap involving an overflowing bath and damage to a ceiling. In a stately home that dates back to the time of Queen Anne such matters are cause for extra angst as there are fewer people capable of performing the necessary repairs.
We have a rather spectacular lot no 12 in our July auction, which to remind you all takes place at the hall as a dress rehearsal for the Great Centenary Auction in September. We have a wooden aeroplane propeller dating from 1935, and with two inscriptions on its centrepiece. The full photo gallery I assembled is included in the added media. Although I have included a link to it, the website for the Great Centenary Auction is going to be out of action tomorrow and Thursday while it is redesigned. Our facebook and twitter pages are very much still up and running though, and visitors, follows and/ or likes would be most welcome.
The final day of the test match is going less ignominiously for England than I feared (ie it is still going on), but the damage was all done yesterday, first by poor tactics in the field and then by a disgraceful effort with the bat. If England do somehow wriggle free of the noose Sri Lanka can count themselves victims of an injustice.
Now for the promised photos…
With the parents back from their latest sojourn abroad I had Sunday lunch in East Rudham, and picked up some good rural photographs. Also in the added media you will see a pic that has gone out on the Great Auction facebook and twitter pages.
England in the course of approximately half a day threw away a test match they seemed to have in the bag. When Sri Lanka lost their seventh second innings wicket they were still under 200 to the good, and one would have backed England to make a successful chase. It was at that point that the wheels began to come off, as Alastair Cook went for the “strategy” of feeding the established batsman (Angelo Mathews) singles so as to attack the tailender. I have never been greatly enamoured of such a practice, believing that it is better to encourage your bowlers to look for wickets whoever is on strike, and the moment I became absolutely 100% dead set against it was in Australia in 2009 when I saw Mohammed Yousuf gift the home side a test match that Pakistan should have strolled by doing the same things. On that occasion Mike Hussey and Peter Siddle batted for more than a session together, and instead of a token run chase at the end Pakistan faced a target of 176 and collapsed, Yousuf compounding his failure as captain by surrendering his wicket to an awful shot at a critical time. On this occasion, Mathews destroyed England with a magnificent 160, Herath the tailender made 48 (actually with no pressure being applied to the senior partner, there ends up being less pressure on the junior), and Sri Lanka’s lead mushroomed to 350, more than enough to defend in the fourth innings a match at most test match venues. Cook then compounded has failings as captain by falling cheaply to initiate a collapse that ended in the last over of the day when night-watchman Plunkett was inexcusably caught at cover playing a loose drive to leave England right in the cart at 57-5 needing a mere 293 more for victory. The only worse response to a mini session at the end of a penultimate day that I can remember from England was in Trinidad in 1994, when chasing 194 for victory they were 40-8 at the close, and there were mitigating factors in the combined form of Ambrose, Walsh and murky light on that occasion. For more details about a defeat from the jaws of victory such as even England (all-time masters of this dubious art) have seldom engineered check out cricinfo.
Now for some photos…
The James and Sons June auction went swimmingly yesterday, and I used the opportunity of travelling to and from Norwich to bag some fine new photos. I am about to add a photo to the Great Centenary Auction facebook and twitter pages
Having gone in for what I imagined would be a short sessions on Wednesday to prepare some publicity materials for my employer and ended up spending half a day, and then spending some of the Thursday morning printing said publicity materials (a poster and a leaflet which is a smaller sized version of the poster), I have still done quite a lot of imaging for the July auction.
Tomorrow the June auction will take place at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich but I am taking this opportunity to put out a newsflash about the July auction: It will be happening at Raynham Hall as a dress rehearsal for the Great Centenary Auction, not Fakenham racecourse as previously advertised. Fortunately, as you will see from the selection of images I am displaying with this post, we have some very interesting stuff going in this auction.
A couple of the items I am putting up in the added media will only be available to those of you on a computer with Publisher installed on it, while all the rest is as normal:
A bus day today, largely taken up with imaging for the July sale. I will be back in Fakenham tomorrow morning to do an important press release for the Great Centenary Auction which will also of course go on the facebook and twitter pages.
As usual I have plenty of good pictures for you…
With the first Test Match of the summer in progress throughout, the Aegon championships at Queens reaching their conclusion and the final stages of the US Open golf the weekend was dominated by sport. Something going on Brazil, you say – sorry it entirely escaped my attention!
The Aegon final was a classic match, won eventually by Grigor Dimitrov after both he and Feliciano Lopez had let chances slip. That evening Gary Ballance completed his first test century, setting England up for an overnight declaration and a serious attempt at victory. The US Open had comparatively little tension – Martin Kaymer’s dominance of the tournament was too absolute for that.
Then came the final stages of the test match, with England straining every nerve and sinew for wickets, while Sri Lanka hung on by their finger nails, having long since abandoned any hope of anything better than a draw. The match finally ended in a draw, with England needing one wicket. I bracket this match with Old Trafford 2005 as a draw that had everything.
Don’t forget to check out www.greatcharity.org, www.facebook.com/GreatAuction and or www.twitter.com/great_auction
In amongst all this I still found time to add to my collection of fine pictures…
aspiblog 