Tag: Horses

Overcoming Hurdles For The November Auction

An account of final preparations for James and Sons’ November auction.

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons’ November auction takes place at Fakenham Racecourse tomorrow, which combined with the somewhat stressed preliminaries led to the title of this post.

A CHANGE OF VENUE

Firstly, a miscommunication led to this auction being held in the Long Bar rather than the Prince of Wales Suite. Then when we arrived at the venue with the items for auction (as the picture below shows this was a very full van load) it was in state of disarray.

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This is a full van load.

The next hiccough was the necessity of running a long cable from a building with an internet connection into the Long Bar, which involved stretching it across a bit of road that was due to be used by caravans, but some metal supports of the type more usually used for putting up shelving came in handy to provide a secure guard for that bit of wiring…

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Here is one we made earlier!
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A close up of one section.

Also, the Long Bar has a very antiquated heater, which had clearly not been used in a long time.

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I had a picture to take to resolve a query and also located a lot that had not previously been imaged…

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This was the image used to resolve the query.
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This lot had not been imaged.

I also in odd quiet moments got some pictures from the Long Bar, and on the way back to the shop took a few pictures through the open window of the van…

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This horse turned its head at the key moment, so the white flash down the front of its head is not visible here.

BACK AT THE SHOP

Back at the shop I had some big stamp lots for our December auction (on the 14th) to attend to, and was then required to buy some paper (there is a stationer down the road who sells plain A4 at £17 for five reams).

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The box with the books in had fallen to the floor shedding some of its contents, so had to be dealth with as a matter of urgency.

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Auction Preparation

An account of setting up for the auction that will be taking place Tomorrow and Thursday at Fakenham Racecourse, and some pictures from yesterday at Fakenham races.

INTRODUCTION

Today was setup day for the James and Sons auction that is taking place at Fakenham Racecourse tomorrow and Thursday (lots 1-699 tomorrow and lots 700-1050 plus clear-up on Thursday).

TWO VAN LOADS

This auction being so large, it required two trips with the van  to get everything down to the racecourse. Then came the sorting out, and checking that everything was there. I also had some queries to resolve, which meant taking a few pictures before getting back to the shop, from where I could send the necessary emails. All is now set for tomorrow.

PICTURES

Although I had no opportunity to take pictures that I could use here while I was helping with the setup, I was at the racecourse yesterday for its primary purpose, and have some pictures from then…

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Hints of blue in the sky

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This shell is mounted on the wall behind the bar in Prince of Wales stand.

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God’s promise not to send another universal deluge (or the bridge of Bif-rost if you prefer Norse mythology) – yes a splendid rainbow.
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This one is colour-boosted

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This horse, Master Workman had my £2 on it and came second (rather better than my horses usually manage!)

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This was my choice for the last race, but the favourite, Kayf Grace (but for a spelling change a doubly cricketing name – Mohammed Kaif, current Indian international and W G Grace) demonstrated precisely the bookies had her at 6-1 ON as she won by almost the length of the home straight.

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The Hanse Festival

INTRODUCTION

For those who do not know the form with this blog, I will start with the bit that gives the post it’s title, I will also be sharing some good links and as part of the post there will be pictures…

THE HANSE FESTIVAL

I did not get to see much of the Hanse festival because of being busy with stuff for the Great Centenary Charity Auction, of which more in later posts. However, I got a few good pictures, and got to take part in a community breakfast outside the guildhall.

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The first of many pictures featuring the Kamper Kogge or aspects thereof.
The first of many pictures featuring the Kamper Kogge or aspects thereof.

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There was a very enjoyable concert in King’s Lynn Minster, featuring music from composers with Hanseatic associations (Handel, Telemann, Bach etc). As part of this, the group playing the music had been working with children at Whitefriars School, and had developed the catch line “Crazy composers making music for you and me” which added an extra element to the festivities. Here are some more photographs…

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LINKS

Just a few links today. First of all, following on from a piece about a music performance, here is something from Charlotte Hoather. Having devoted this post to a community celebration, the Hanse Festival, here is a piece from a community coming together in the effort to save their library, the folk of Hale, Greater Manchester. The Independent occasionally provides good stuff, and this piece about cavemen and gender equality is an example. Last and in the chief place is a link to a wonderful open letter to Katie Hopkins written by Kevin Healey.

CLOSING REMARKS

I hope to have all enjoyed this, and that you wlll share either the whole post or this bits that you have particularly enjoyed. My final remark comes in pictorial form:

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