aspiblog

The washing machine saga rolls on – the new repair people did show, but although they had two hinges with them neither was the right one, so they will be trying again. Still this has progressed further in six days than it got with the other lot in two months.

I sent another press release out today, because our March sale is going to feature an autographed edition of T S Eliot’s collected poems (four figure price tag expected) – see Media attachments at the end for more detail.

Looking forward to the auction on Saturday – I will be there come hell or high water (and the latter is more of a threat to a King’s Lynn based atheist!)

AUTOGRAPHED ELIOT BOOK TO GO UNDER THE HAMMER AT FAKENHAM AUCTIONEERS

No great dramas at James and Sons today, but I did get to send out an email about 17th century tokens (see attached media at end), and did a large amount of imaging, mainly with the camera this time as I was handling large lots which were not suitable for being scanned. Irritatingly some of them had lot numbers attached in such a way that I could not keep them out of shot, which given the rudimentary nature of the imaging software available at James and Sons means using paint to place a white rectangle over the offending item, which lengthens the editing process.

Something I intended to mention in yesterday’s post but did not have time for due to computer problems was the latest on Scottish independence. George Osborne’s attempt at intimidation by saying that an independent Scotland could not retain the pound appears to have been a spectacular own goal even by his standards. Certainly, if I was a Scot and had not already decided to vote yes, this little display would have provided all the convincing I required.

Media attachments below:

17th CENTURY TOKENS AT UPCOMING AUCTION

 

I have sent out another press release today for James and Sons (see media attachments at the end of this post). This was two point up that we have two auctions running at present, the one on 22 February and a “Time Bid” auction (online only, check out www.the-saleroom.com for details) which closes on the 19th of February. The image for this latter required a bit of technical work, as there was no single stand out lot, so a montage of some of the highlights was called for. A late adaptation was then needed when David decided he did not like one of the images that I had initially selected for the montage, and it being square it took two rectangular images to replace it adequately (The medal and the Colman’s Mustard postcard).

The Washing Machine Epic commenced in the run up to Christmas when a case of metal fatigue in a small sub-component meant that the door became detached from the hinge. Although I can still run the machine in its current state, I am still sufficiently unimpressed by the conduct of Mark 1 Appliance to state bluntly that they deserve no custom from anyone. My landlady has finally found another firm to do the repairs, and they are scheduled to happen on Monday afternoon (so, touching the nearest thing to wood that a 21st century public library contains, the saga will finally come to an end after a trifling two months!!)

Media attachments and images below:

TWO AUCTION ALERT

Why am I suddenly resuming this blog after ages in abeyance? Because I was alerted today to the fact that somebody new had signed up. This being the case I felt it appropriate to write something.

Having started on a 12 hour per week basis at James and Sons auctioneers (not to be confused with the vastly inferior James Beck auctioneers also of Fakenham) and not really put a foot wrong my hours were increased to 18 per week in mid January, enough for me to sign off Jobseekers Allowance.

As well as my main work as a Data Input Clerk I also do imaging, create text for bulk emails and send out press releases. Friday was a red letter day, when an article appeared in the Lynn News based on one of my press releases. This concerns a rare set of medals, badge and commemorative plaque issued to a King’s Lynn native, private Sydney Doy for service in WWI, which will be going under the hammer on the 22nd of of February at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, viewing from 8:30AM, sale starts at 10AM sharp. More detail, including images of all lots, can be found at www.jamesandsonsauctioneers.com.

I am also taking this opportunity to provide you with my own work (images, poster, the original press release, and an easy to read jpg of the Lynn News article. Sydney Doy Doy Poster

I have of course followed all the cricket through the winter. I will be kinder to the England men’s team than most have been lately by saying nothing about their efforts in this post. The women however retained their version of the Ashes. It was particularly satisfying that the runs which took them over the line were scored by veteran skipper Charlotte Edwards.

Congratulations to Michael Clarke for breathing life into a game that looked to be securely in its coffin courtesy of some inclement weather and a very slow pitch.

Thanks to his bold declaration, setting England 227 in 45 overs, the match was fully alive until the current bad light rule, with its blanket ban on the exercise of common sense, put paid to the match with four overs remaining.

The second part of the title refers to an area of land, well stocked with warning signs, which consists largely of reed bed and the remains of the odd boat, on which some Einstein of local/regional government has decided it would be sensible to build 300 new dwelling places!!!!

I have been out on a walk past this area today and taken a number of photographs which make the point quite nicely…

Things move slowly at James and Sons – still no yea or nay on an increase in my hours there. However, on Thursday the client database will be going live, and I will get to work on the stock database. After a weather assisted draw at Old Trafford settled the destiny of the ashes, England are responding well to having being dismissed for a smallish total on their first innings.

Returning to my coverage of my holiday, Wednesday saw a visit to Bolsover Castle and supper cooked by me.

Bolsover Castle is an extraordinary place, with the framework of an older very large castle surrounding the still intact new and much smaller castle. I will let those of the 150-odd photos I took that I have chosen to upload tell the rest of the story.

I have just completed the powerpoint section of my current IT course (a mere 97% in the final test). Having been out for an afternoon walk.

In my account of my eight days away we have arrived at my first full day in Derbyshire on the morning of which I took the pictures of High Hazels that appeared in my last post, before moving my stuff across to the main house, as the other house was no longer required, and going on a trip to Haddon Hall, one of many grand buildings in the vicinity. 

Haddon Hall was absolutely magnificent, helped by it being a belter of a day – even Hillington Square looks less ugly under a blue sky! After we returned we all sat down to lunch, the centrepiece of which was a superb oriental style salad. The afternoon was quietly spent reading and making use of one of the most successful cheap toys ever bought – a plastic cricket set which was near universally popular.

Bearing in mind that I took over 200 photos while at Haddon Hall any selection will be unrepresentative, but here they are…..

As I have three separate segments to this post, all of which have many photos associated with them, I will use the photos to mark the ends of each segment.

Yesterday was Norwich Pride, and it was by some way the largest we have yet had in that fine city. Normally our parade starts from Chapelfield Gardens and circles round the town to finish outside the forum, where various other events take place but this time there were so many of us that the police insisted that we start and finish in Chapelfield because we would not all fit in front of the forum. Before the parade I attended a Question Time type meeting in The Curve, two floors below the main body of the Forum (which was itself absolutely dominated by the event). Then it was over to Chapelfield Gardens (about 5 mins by the direct walking route) to get ready for the parade. As for the parade itself, pictures tell more than words….

 

 

 

 

The final day of Marxism is always a little stressful if you are from outside London because you have to pack, and have to put your heavy baggage in the baggage room when you get to the event, and retrieve it after the final rally. This was compounded when my early arrival was set at nought by the fact that the baggage room had not yet been unlocked. 

After enjoying Talat Ahmed’s meeting on Islamaphobia I had intended to go to Siobhan Brown’s meeting on After the horsemeat scandal: Capitalism & food, but she was ill, so rather than going full circle in terms of meeting venues (starting and finsihing at Nunn Hall), I went down to the Jeffery Hall for Colin Barker on What could a socialist revolution look like?

The Closing Rally featured a splendidly international panel of speakers: Maria Stylou from the SEK in Greece; Makhanya Siphamandla, one of the Marikana strikers (34 of whom we gunned down by the forces of the South African state for daring to go on strike); Eamonn McCann from Ireland; and wrapping things up Charlie Kimber, national secretary of our own party. The event finished as usual with the singing of The Internationale. Here are some more photos…

Having picked up my stuff from the baggage room I walked down to St Pancras International, from where I was catching a train to Chesterfield, the nearest station to where the gathering of the clans was taking place, based at 6 High Hazels, one of a series of holiday cottages associated with Hardwick Hall. 

I was able to buy some coriander for use in Wednesday’s supper for which I was on chef duty. The new Midland Mainline trains are quite luxurious, especially if you are used to the shuttle type trains that run the King’s Lynn to London line. After a minor mishap at the Chesterfield end (a mix up over timings) I finally got to High Hazels at about 7:30PM, and for the first time since the previous Wednesday had a proper supper. Although we were based at principally at number 6 High Hazels, there were so many of us for the first few nights that Number 4 was used for the overspill, and that is where I spent the first night of my stay in Derbyshire, before moving back to the main house the next day. A final selection of photos…

 

I have had a successful week at work, and my course continues to go well. I have arranged with David James to discuss a possible increase of my hours on Thursday morning (he needs someone to do press releases and related work, the question being can I convince him that this justifies giving me four full days work per week). At 9:00 I will be setting of for Norwich Pride.

On the Sunday morning I set off early again (in this case my chief concern being the possible length of wait for a bus), and arrived at the event with lots of time to spare. Not even inadvertently heading to the wrong room for my first meeting caused much of a problem. 

I thoroughly enjoyed all the meetings I attended on this day, which included three science based meetings. Paul McGarr was very good on Darwin, Engels & the evolution of modern humans. The chief point of disagreement between Darwin and Engels was on whether bipedalism or large brains came first (Engels thought bipedalism, Darwin large brains), on which matter Engels was ultimately proven correct. Jill Chanter’s meeting on genetics saw me using my IT skills, but unfortunately when the computer went into hibernation during the talk, it turned out to be password protected and therefore I could not retrieve that situation.

My third and fourth meetings of the day were very much campaign-based, featuring Sinead Kennedy, Mary Phillips and Marianne Owens on abortion rights, and then Karen Reissman and Louise Irvine on the NHS. For the evening I reverted to science, in the form of Amy Gilligan on Is Science Neutral? The answer is no – who pays the piper calls the tune. For the first time we (Trevor and I) got to our accommodation before midnight, and neither of us stayed awake long. Trevor was setting of early for an appointment in Lincolnshire where he lives, while the rest of us were all also leaving that accommodation on Monday morning, although two of our number were staying another night at a community centre as they were going to the After Party.

As usual I have some photos…

I am making rapid progress through the Powerpoint module of my online IT course, with every hope of finishing it.

Saturday at Marxism is always the busiest day, and this year was no exception. After Friday mornings experience I set off at 8:20 AM, and arrived with lots of time to spare. Both of my morning meetings were in ULU in rooms 3A and 3B. I started with Emma Davis on The Bolsheviks & the Russian Revolution and then switching focus from the past to the future went to Stuart Curlett on What could a future socialist society look like? Both these meetings featured lively discussions.

At lunchtime I partook once again of the Norwich Picnic, and enjoyed an open-air performance of Shelley’s classic poem “Mask of Anarchy”, his response to the Peterloo massacre. 

Immediately post-lunch I went to the meeting on Disabled people & the fight against austerity, which featured four speakers from the platform, and an inspiring set of contributions from the floor including one from me that was well received. This meeting was in Nunn Hall, and the room was well set up for the purpose.

My second meeting of the afternoon session was in the Jeffery Hall, three floors below the Nunn, and was on the subject of police cover ups, featuring speakers from the campaigns around Hillsborough and Orgreave, plus Gareth Peirce, a civil rights lawyer. 

During the long break between 5 and 7 I was able to catch up on the first ashes test match, and saw some splendid batting from Ian Bell and Stuart Broad (this partnership, and some great bowling by Jimmy Anderson would put England one up in the series, and set the stage for the hammering dished out by England at Lords). 

My final meeting of the day was on climate change, back at Nunn Hall. In the evening I spent time with the Norwich comrades before heading over to ULU where my room-mate was watching u-tube footage from Egypt. The last film was cut short because the licence only ran until 11PM, at which point Trevor and I got the bus home.

As usual I have some photos…