A combination of great heat (and apparently tomorrow is due to be even hotter before the storms arrive just in time for the weekend) and a heavy workload made today at James and Sons a more than usually draining day. Still, we are more or less on track for the July auction, which will serve as a dress rehearsal for the Great Centenary Charity Auction in September and is therefore more than usually important.
Hello and welcome to the first in a series of posts, interspersed with my more regular posts that I will be producing about this year’s Marxism Festival.
Travelling down on the 11:56 train (one hour later than usual, as the start of the event was postponed to enable people to take part in Public Sector strikes) I arrived in very good time to deposit my heavier luggage and take my place at the first meeting, which in my case was on What is fascism?, with Jo Cardwell from Waltham Forest. I then took in Brian Richardson on Malcolm X, before attending the opening rally, in a jam packed Logan Hall. There were some wonderful contributions throughout. While the most enthusiastic reception was accorded to South African miner Makhanya Siphamandla that for Afghan asylum seeker Manjeet Kaur was barely any less enthusiastic.
Following the final rally it was time to hook up with the person I was going to be staying with (yes, this time I had actually had details of my accommodation in advance) to make arrangements. This was achieved with the aid of a borrowed mobile and without too much difficulty. Having established that we would have to travel back together each evening as there was only one key and no possibility of cutting a replacement due to the nature of the lock we headed straight back (I was not keen on hanging around with all my bags in tow.
The route we took that night involved the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines (the latter inescapable because the local station at the other end was Canning Town), although we did not use the Piccadilly again. Never mind the hideous eyesore of a development that bankrupted its developers, the true icon of that area is a building designed by Erno Goldfinger where the lift shafts are separate from the main building, and linked to each floor by passageways.
As usual I have plenty of photos…
Abstract art on one side of the Elvin HallAbstract art in the Elvin Hall
The Fight for Inclusive Education (wall art in Nunn Hall)
A bust of Mr Jeffery outside the hall named in his honour at the Institute of education.
This post is devoted entirely to the extremely scenic walk from Cerne Abbas (of chalk giant fame) back to the house in which we were staying. The viewing point for the giant is about 5 minutes walk from the centre of the village and is beautifully sited. From the viewing point I walked up to the tiny village of Minterne Parva before following a very overgrown footpath to Buckland Newton.
Buckland Newton is a pretty village though it is a sign of the times that the Gaggle of Geese pub has closed down. I left Buckland Newton on the road towards Alton Pancras, from whence a path led practically to where we were staying. However, I got too ambitious, and tried to save a bit on the route by taking another likely looking path before reaching Alton Pancras.
This led to a nerve jangling encounter with some bullocks and then a scramble down to the only visible road from the other side of the field when in spite of signs indicating its presence there was no evidence of the Wessex Ridgeway Path. I was badly off track, near the village of Brockhampton, 4 miles from Mappowder, which in turn was a good couple of miles from where I was aiming, but I no longer dared do other than follow the road.
Although the walk ended up being longer than I had intended it was mainly very enjoyable, and provided a vast haul of quality photos…
The famous giant in all its glory.
This house is visible from the heights between Minterne Parva and Buckland Newton
One of the gateposts of what used to be the Gaggle of Geese
Unlike Buckland Newton’s much plainer affair, Mappowder Church is genuine quite impressive.
I arrived early at James and Sons, expecting to be going to Raynham Hall, only to discover that the meeting had been cancelled, so I used the extra hour to good effect, getting lots of images done, checked and edited. I also created another advertising poster that I have subsequently sent out as a press release.
A 400 dpi scan of ten carefully selected coins to give those who wish it a closer look.Main image – tub full of Victorian pennies and halfpennies with some spread out in front of itA composite of both faces again.
A composite image showing both bfaces of the medallion
This gallery has two distinct halves, first highlights from today’s imaging and second photos that took yesterday while out and about enjoying the sunshine. The last image you will see is a combination of a panorama on the left and on the right, demonstrating the power of the zoom lens a close up shot of West Lynn church (just visible in the back centre of the panorama) from the same location.
Yesterday’s Eastern Daily Press contained a wonderful article about the Great Centenary Charity Auction which you can see for yourself via the following link: http://www.greatcharity.org/?p=96 on the revamped website to which I have thus far added four posts.
Also today, a massive social media blitz has got under way, and already our facebook page has new likes, and I am sure that our twitter site has new followers as well.
In and around these activities I have also been imaging for the rehearsal auction and as usual have some highlights for you…
After a constructive Great Centenary Auction organising meeting, and a tour of inspection of the area where the Raynham Hall auctions will take place (the rehearsal aka James and Sons July sale, and the big event in September), which latter took in some heavy lifting but also provided some photo opportunities as you will see, it was back to the shop and more imaging. Some of the pictures I am putting up will have been seen by users of Facebook and Twitter.
Although I missed much of the day’s action from Wimbledon I was back in time to listen to the closing stages of 19 year old Nick Kyrgios’ spectacular defeat of world no 1 Rafael Nadal. The last time a world no one was beaten by a teenager was nine years ago when Federer was beaten by Nadal.
Now for those pictures…
Yes – we have been assigned quarters in the stables.
A nuisance of pigeons – or perhaps the alliteration of a pestilence of pigeons.
This interesting window i situated in a position where the only person who regularly has the chance to see it is me.
Stock for the July auction.A stout ring like this on each section of door, a chain to link them and a stout padlock will sort out security.
On auction day(s) a marquee will be set up on this lawn.
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…
This little brass clock with visible mechanism and very battered carrying case appealed strongly.
Watches like this one caused me grief with the old camera – no probs with this one.
This Chinese tea set required security measures – each part of individually bubble-wrapped, then a top layer of bubble wrap to house it more safely in the very stout box I selected with care, and then black marker pen to indicate the lot number and most importantl;y the word FRAGILE!!
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…
As both sides of this item were interesting I decided to take two pictures and produce a composite image.I went for the secondary image for the purposes of this blog.
I always use the scanner for small stamp lots.
This flagpole, atop the Clifton House Tower is a popular perching placeI had not previously seen a bird perching on this wall.
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) 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.
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