Four Days

An account of the ,last four days, some pictures, some links, and a special science and nature section.

INTRODUCTION

This post, which comes with plenty of pictures and some cracking links, covers what I have been doing over the course of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Each of these days was very different in character from its predecessor. The links will be in two parts, a couple appearing between Wednesday and Thursday, and the remainder florming a special science and nature section at the end of the post.

TUESDAY

A day at James and Sons getting as many images done as possible before the catalogue for our next auction went online (here, for those who would like to see it). This day went fairly quietly and without any major incidents. Here are some general pictures…

My second set of images for this day consists of coins and small medallions…

1287 — There are a number of these tokens from the gigantic wheel at Earls Court – I am planning to feature the entire selection (eight lots) in a post on my London transport themed website, possibly linking to the present by means of another substantial wheel.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday I started the day by typing up the minutes from NAS West Norfolk’s last committee meeting (as branch secretary this is one of my regular tasks). The in the afternoon I attended a meeting of the West Norfolk Disability Forum, which came with a little extra pressure as the branch chair of NAS West Norfolk could not arrange childcare which left me as NAS West Norfolk’s sole representative at the meeting. I found the meeting disappointing – many things talked about but little sign of any real progress having been made.

INTERLUDE – A COUPLE OF LINKS

Most of my links will feature at the end of this post, but there are two I choose to share here to break things up a bit:

AUTISM AWARENESS CUP 2017

Following the success of last year’s inaugural Autism Awareness Cup, a second event is being staged this year, on June 4th at Ingoldisthorpe Social Club between 12 and 5PM. A facebook page for this event has been launched – please click the graphic below to visit, and if you are on facebook, like the page:

HEATHER HASTIE ON A TELEVANGELIST

Heather Hastie’s blog is always worth reading, and this post, about a chap by the name of Jim Bakker, is no exception.

THURSDAY – SPARKS FLY

I had just started work on Thursday morning when I looked at my computer and noticed that the power had gone (I was taking photographs, so all the computer was on ready for editing them later, I was not yet using it). It soon transpired that none of the computers or heaters had power (the lights being on a different circuit did). One of my colleagues tested a particular plug socket that was most likely to have caused the problem, and it proved right (fortunately although shaken he was not seriously hurt, though we were all worried at the time). We then used a long extension lead to connect to the only spare socket available, which brought things to life for a few moments, before (as it transpired), the extension lead proved unable to cope with the amount of power it was having to transmit.

dscn9401 — The plug socket that started it all after it had been proved to be faulty.

With no possibility of using the computers that day, the two people who were committed to remaining at work there for the day (the other person directly involved in the drama went back to working at his computer repair business) took as many photographs as possible, and it being fiendishly cold without any source of heat, gained permission to lock up a bit early. It was also in the course of this day that I took custody of a key to the shop.

Although editing and uploading them was for obvious reasons my first work activity of Friday, here are some pictures from Thursday…

This is lot 650, and the first of its kind I have ever seen – as a collection of cheese spread labels (not even real cheese!)

A collection of 15 pictures if old London – lot 706

For the Shakespearians among you, lot 725

896 — Match boxes, some whole and some in parts.

897 — This set and the next were kin old cigar boxes.

FRIDAY – CALM AFTER THE STORM

I arrived at work on Friday morning and was delighted to see that the electrician was just finishing up, and that discussion about having a serious look at the electrics at some lpoint in the future were taking place (much needed – looking back the only real surprise about Thursday’s incident was that it had taken so long for it to happen).

Nevertheless, the amount of new work I accomplished on Friday was somewhat reduced, first by having to finish Thursday’s work, then by having to a bulk upload of previously created images due to mishap oin the original uploading process which meant that most of the last thousand lots were showing with no images and finally by having to make a trip to the post office, where it took the person handling our parcels 40 minutes to do the job (at least three times as long as it should have). Here are some of the new images that I did mange to create and upload…

A SCIENCE AND NATURE SPECIAL

We start with two sides of a story that may or may not be one of the most significant achievements in science history – if the experiment can be successfully duplicated a Nobel prize is a certainty. Here, courtesy of www.independent.co.uk comes…

THE PRODUCTION OF METALLIC HYDROGEN?

First of all, the story of the claimed discovery, complete with video footage:

Please click the link below to read (and below that is the video)…

THE STORY

//players.brightcove.net/624246174001/82f79524-152c-485f-bcb0-09197a216c87_default/index.html?videoId=5298617758001For the other side of the story, raising questions about the conduct of the experiment and the speed with which this has gone to press click the link below:

The Counter Story

This then is still to be resolved, unlike the subject matter of my next link, which deals with…

THE EXTINCTION OF THE DINOSAURS

I have already shared a link to this piece, from space.com, but I consider it worth sharing again. To read this fascinating piece please click the graphic below:

Still dealing in the spectacular, we come to a post about…

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

The science blog rationalisingtheuniverse has produced a post about this phenomenon which you can read by clicking on the graphic below:

We finish with links to two pieces on a theme that is always relevant and still does not the kind of coverage it should…

PROTECTING NATURE

First in this section, a video with an accompanying petition, regarding a serious threat tko wildlife in Cromarty:

I end this post with a link to a 38 Degrees campaign, which I encourage you all to look at:

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR PARKS?

James and Sons First Ever Three Day Auction

An illustrated account of James and Sons’ first three day auction.

INTRODUCTION

On Monday, Tuesday and Yesterday my employers staged their first ever three-day auction, all three days of the sale taking place at our shop in Fakenham. This post describes the event.

DAY 1: COINS, BANKNOTES, BANKING EPHEMERA AND MILITARIA

There were a few technical issues early on, and we had to dispense with the live video because it just would not work. However, with close to 200 online bidders (this tally rose past 300 before the end of the auction on Wednesday) signed up before the sale started and a few people there in person it was not long before good things started happening. The first and biggest headline maker was…

LOT 22

This 1863 penny caused an internet dominated bidding battle which finally stopped at £1,200 (the estimate had been £250-300, and the bidding had started around that level). The successful bidder then telephoned in to clarify whether he could return the item if it turned out not to be as expected. This led to a tricky photographic assignment for yours truly. Looking at the pictures below can you see what is unusual about the dating on thkis coin?

coin-2 — I took a photo of the whole coin (for this I needed a larger image than I could get by scanning), and produced from that two full face pictures and two pictures focussing only the date.

THE REST OF THE COINS

Although nothing else approached lot 22 the coins did continue to sell fairly well. I will feature one more lot, which although it did not reach great heights was contested…

LOT 141

This was a Lima Tramways Inauguration token. Two people were interested, myself and an internet bidder. When the online bidder went to £20 over my £18 I conceded defeat (I had decided that I was not going beyond £20 and adhered to that decision). In addition to the obvious public transport connection, there is also a more obscure and tenuous cricket related connection: Lima was also the birthplace of Freddie Brown, who went on Jardine’s 1932-33 ashes tour without being picked for a test match and captained the touring party for the 1950-51 ashes. Here is the image gallery for this lot to commemorate my near miss:

141 — The main image for this lot consists of two 600dpi scans (one of each face) joined together.

141-a — I also keep the individual images so that interested parties can look at each individual face if they so desire.

THE BANKNOTES AND BANKING EPHEMERA

The banknotes fared well, while the experiment with banking ephemera (mainly but not entirely cheques) cannot yet be judged – more of the stuff will be going under the hammer at our next auction.

MILITARIA

The militaria was again largely successful. In a pattern of consistent successes there was one stand out, early in the section. The star of this second half of day one was…

LOT 309

This lot, a Free Polish Airforce pilots badge and RAF Dingley escape whistle with an estimate of £80-95 eventually sold for £320.

FINISHING THE FIRST DAY

After the end of the first day at lot 550 the stuff for that part of the sale had to be moved upstairs and the stuff for day two brought down into the shop. My involvement in this process and the fact the we had finished later than expected meant that I did not get any imaging done before going home.

INTERLUDE – ON IMAGING

This post has featured scanning and photography, so here is a brief guide to myt appraoch to imaging at work:

I scan the following items:

Coins – 600dpi, scan each face, brighten the images (this both improves the clarity of the image, and since I have also adopted the policy of using a white background, effectively eliminates the background) and join the two images together to create the master image). I can image up 20 single coin lots at a time in this way, and the scanner I use works fast even at high resolution.

Stamps – 300-400dpi according to the level of intricacy of the pattern. Small stamps usually have an automatic black background because of the holders that are used. Usually I image these lots four at a time, but occasionally if the stamps are particularly suitably placed in the holders I can do more.

Postcards – 200-300 dpi according to time considerations. When there has been a real hurry on I have got away with scanning postcards at 150dpi, but I do not recommend going this low. The bed of my scanner is big enough for four standard size postcards, and in general if I have more cards than that in a lot I photograph rather than scanning.

Banknotes and related items – 200dpi is usually right for these.

Small ephemera: Any printed item that is A4 or less in size can be scanned. These items can be done at 150dpi.

All items not in the above list are photographed, and for items in the above list the decision to scan is dependent on small size – I do not for example lay out the contents of a huge box of coins on the scanner bed and scan.

DAY 2: POSTCARDS, EPHEMERA, FILM POSTERS, CIGARETTE & LIEBIG CARDS

A slightly fractious start to the day, as it was still not possible to run the video. Also, due to the confusion caused by frantic attempts to find a way to run the video the first couple of lots went under the hammer without audio either.

THE POSTCARDS

There was no danger of any of these not selling because one of our regulars had left a block of bids on all of them, and some ended up going to other people.

EPHEMERA AND FILM POSTERS

These as might be expected were fairly quiet, although even they did not completely bomb – some decorated menus sold reasonably well.

THE CIGARETTE AND LIEBIG CARDS

The big news from these lots was that the majority actually sold. Near the end there was a very minor controversy concerning…

LOT 789

This was the second and last lot ion the catalogue that was of personal interest to me. I opened the bidding at £16, and as I as recording this information an internet bit for the same amount registered. James and Sons policy on the matter is clear – a room bid has privilege over an internet bid. I thus pressed the ‘room’ button on the console to disallow the internet bid. The item was then knocked down at £16. Just in case the unlucky internet bidder is reading this, they would have had to go to £22 to get the item, since I was adhering to the same policy that I had adopted with regard to lot 141 – I was prepared to go to but not beyond £20. As a further point please note that had I secured lot 141 I would not have bid on this item. When I have been through it in detail I will produce a full post about this item, but for the moment here are the official images:

789-a — Close focus on some of the cards.

THE SWAP OVER

The moving of items so that the setup was ready for day 3 was swiftly accomplished, and having done fewer lots and the auction having run more smoothly there was plenty of time for me to finish the day with some…

FEBRUARY IMAGING

The February auction will be another three day affair, but with an extra twist – days 1 and 2 will be at the shop again, but day 3 (A Wednesday again) will be at The Maids Head Hotel in Norwich. Here are some of the images I produced on Tuesday afternoon…

1102 — Please do not draw any conclusions from the fact that I have included images of third Reich coins in this post!

DAY 3: STAMPS, FIRST DAY COVERS AND POSTAL HISTORY

The day started with a wait outside the shop as the colleague who was opening up was delayed, continued with a quick trip to get a replacement strip bulb because one was shining a very ugly shade of pink but the setupo went smoothly, and the auction proceeded with no problems. These lots were not expected to generate bidding fireworks, but a reasonable number of them did actually sell.

There was no immediate need to transfer the stuff, so I was able to do other work, starting with…

SOME HIGH VALUE FEBRUARY IMAGING

These needed to be done first as some would be featuring in the print catalogue…

1043 — This is about the biggest coin lot that could be sensibly scanned.

1265 — I departed from usual policy with banknotes and scanned this one at 600 dpi because it is a very rare item.

After lunch and a quick trip to the stationer for a box of paper I did some more ordinary imaging…

690 — A repeat of my earlier disclaimer re images of stuff from the third Reich.

751 — This whole set of 25 lots of Liebig cards had to be imaged – I have selected a range rather than sharing all 25.

CONCLUSION

James and Sons’ first three day auction was definitely a success. The use of the shop as a venue massively reduces overhead costs, and the fact that we can only seat a few people there is no great disadvantage. February’s auction, on the 20th and 21st at the shop and then the 22nd at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich will provide an interesting comparison. I end this post with some pictures of the layout on the first two days of the January auction (day 3 did not warrant a picture):

dscn9172 — Most of the lots were laid on or under this table

dscn9173 — The small, high valued stuff such as coins was in this display cabinet.

dscn9176 — Day 2, followed by a couple of close ups (day three was not worth photographing).

A Demanding Week and a New Computer

My first post created using my new computer. It covers my work for James and Sons this week and includes solutions to the puzzle contained in my previous blog post.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this post, the first to be composed using my brand new Acer Chromebook 15, of which more later. As well as covering the events of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with a few pictures, and of course explaining the computer situation I will be providing an answer the puzzle that I included in my last post.

THE COMPUTER SITUATION

My old computer (and by computer standards it was a veritable Methusalah) had been struggling for some while when it finally decided to give up the ghost completely. My mother by way of an early Christmas present transferred the funds necessary to buy a replacement to my account, and I made the purchase today. All I am now waiting for is the arrival of the hard drive caddy that I ordered online which will enable me to connect the hard drive that I extracted from my old computer to this one and all will again be as it should be.

A HEAVY WORKLOAD AND HEAVY LIFTING

James and Sons had its last auction of this year on Wednesday (our next auction is taking place on January 18, 19 and 20 at our shop in Fakenham), and on either side of that I was getting as many images ready for January as I could. The auction we have just had took place in Norwich, and a shortage of people available to help combined with the fact that one of my colleagues was experiencing knee trouble meant that most of the heavy lifting had to be done by yours truly.

DAY 1: TUESDAY

Most of the work of loading the van had been accomplished on the Friday, but some still remained to be done. Additionally there were last minute queries to be resolved, work to be done for our next auction and a few other things. I made enough of a fuss about the extra expense of catching the very early bus to Norwich (a First Eastern Counties X1, which leaves at 5:30AM and on which a return costs £11 as opposed to the £5.50 it would have cost me if I could have caught the Stagecoach X29 which leaves at 6:28AM) that I was authorised to extract the bus fare from the till.

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY

I managed to catch the 5:30AM bus, and was the first James and Sons employee at the venue. Once the van arrived it was time to unload everything and get the place set up for the auction. After a few hitches, including requiring an emergency replacement for the computer which we had been using to run the auctioneer’s view screen we got underway on time at 10AM, and the sale proceeded fairly smoothly. The coins fared especially well, and much to my relief some of the larger boxes of stamps sold in the room, meaning that they did not have to go back on the van. The militaria also did well.

Once the van was loaded I was able to take my leave, and being in Norwich took the opportunity to visit Norwich Millennium Library before getting the bus home. In the end I arrived back at my flat a little under 14 hours after I had left it in the morning.

215-b — These old coins fared especially well, two of them (213 and 215 fro memory) going for £170 each after protracted online bidding battles.

DAY 3: THURSDAY

After unloading the sold goods from the van it was back to work on the January auction. The catalogue cover was ready by the end of the day, and the images were about 70% done, a near miracle in the circumstances. Here are some of the new images from yesterday…

597 — These postcards were needed for the catalogue cover, so with time pressing I scanned them at 150 DPI – and they looked superb on the printed page.

THE PUZZLE EXPLAINED

I asked you to take any three digit number, multiply by 7, then multiply the new answer by 11 and finally multiply that answer by 13. I then asked how your final answer compared to your original number. That final answer consists of two copies of your original number. The reason for this is that 7 x 11 x 13 = 1,001 – and that post beinbg my 1,001st on aspiblog was why I set that puzzle in it. As a bonus I asked what multipliers you would need to produce a similar effect with four digit numbers, and the answer to that is 73 and 137, because 73 x 137 = 10,001.

James and Sons November Auction

An account of James and Sons’ November auction

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons’ November auction took place yesterday at the Long Bar, Fakenham Racecourse. This post covers both yesterday and the aftermath today.

THE PRELIMINARIES

The setup was accopmplished on Tuesday, with more than a few hints of trouble ahead (see here for more details). There was a heavy frost in evidence when I set forth to catch the 6:28 bus to Fakenham (now that they have reduced the number of morning bus services I cannot get in early enough on an auction day on any other bus). The bus left on time, but only made it as far as Littleport Street (its first outward bound stop if anyone is there) before breaking down. The replacement bus took longer to arrive than it should have, given that the depot is only couple of miles away. This bus did make it to Fakenham, arriving at approximately 7:30, although it had no heating. The Long Bar is, for all its grand title, a wooden hut, and the heater would not work at first. When we did get it to work it pumped out smoke.

The IT setup did work however, and the auction started promptly.

dscn7682 — As well as posters and prints there are jockey’s silks on display at the Long Bar

THE AUCTION ITSELF

The auction started with coins, which fared very well. The coins were followed by banknotes, which sold phenomenally well. Then came the militaria, which was good in parts. After that came some aviation postcards. Lots 350-377 were toys, first toy cars, starting with the ‘Goldfinger’ Aston Martin DB5 in mint condition, and progressing through more toy cars, Hornby, Triang and a few dolls. After that we were into collector’s models – a few boxes of lead soldiers and a large quantity of model aeroplanes, which appropriately enough went sky high.

The stamp lots were patchy, and apart from a few bits of jewellery very little after lot 550 did anything of note, partly because the auctioneer was hurrying through things by that stage. A box of interesting beer mats went to me for £9.

Once the auction was concluded I was able to consume my sandwiches before helping with the clear up. I managed to get the 16:37 bus back, and this time I arrived in King’s Lynn in the same bus I had left Fakenham in! The only problem was the early evening traffic in Lynn (basically from Gaywood to King’s Lynn town centre was gridlocked).

TODAY

My only involvement with the aftermath of the auction was helping to unload to van – while three of my colleagues attended to the invoicing I was imaging some bulky stamp and cigarette card lots for our next auction on December 14, and in the process rendering the kitchen area navigable.

This was lot 268 – the last lot I imaged today.

Lot 478 – can you spot the ‘jewel in the dungheap’?

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.

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…

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

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

46-a — This was the image used to resolve the query.

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…

dscn7667 — 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).

261 — 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.

Midweek Mishmash

Pictures from the last few days, an important video and petition link.

INTRODUCTION

I have a variety of pictures and links to share with you.

IMAGES FOR THE NOVEMBER AUCTION

These images are from yesterday.

I took two lpictures of this fort, lot 419, onje with the drabridge down and one with it up. It also disassembles readuly, with a drawer in the base for putting the bits in when it is not in use.

Lot 598 – a selection of interesting beer mats – I made a display of the best ones, keeping the box with the rest inside it in shot.

NEW SEAT DESIGN CELEBRATES PIONEER AUTOBIOGRAPHER MARGERY KEMPE

Margery Kempe was born and raised in King’s Lynn (one of her former abodes was on the site now occupied by 117 High Street. For more about her check out this link. The seat design is for the Saturday Market Place, which happens to be pretty much on the doorstep of the formed abode of hers mentioned above. Here is a picture:

TIMES CARTOONIST NAILS IT

The picture below is The Times cartoonist’s take on our current Prime Minister:

A PHOTOGRAPHIC WALK

These are a staple of this blog, and I offer you these pictures from Monday:

CAMPAIGN FOR CLEANER AIR IN BRISTOL

Bristolians are campaigning over pollution levels in their city, and deserve wider support. Below is a video, followed by a link to a 38 Degrees petition:

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js#

Sign the petition

The September Auction and a Sneak Preview of Some October Items

An account of james and Sons’ September auction, with a spotlight on the October auction.

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons’ September auction took place this Wednesday at Fakenham Racecourse, while apart from on that day my recent work has mainly been focussed on the October auction (Wednesday 26th, Maids Head Hotel, Norwich.

THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION

I was not involved with setting this auction up on the Tuesday due to having other work to do back at base, but I did make a flying visit to the racecourse that day to resolve some queries that people had raised at the last minute about auction items (one potential customer wanted an image that had been missed and another wanted a detailed condition report on pair of vintage spectacles – the fact that both items sold to the customers who had made the inquiries was final proof that their queries had been resolved). That just left…

THE DAY OF THE AUCTION

My work day did not get off to the best of starts, because I fell victim to a recent timetable change and arrived at the racecourse a little later than I would have liked (I now have a copy of the timetable that will come into force from this Sunday). Fortunately there were no serious issues with the IT, and the auction started on time.

INADEQUATE COVER

With the auctioneer needing regular breaks from the rostrum, and the only person capable of substituting for him being also the only person who could substitute for my role on the rostrum I was at my post while the first 650 lots went under the hammer, finally getting to consume my sandwiches at 2:20PM, before resuming my post for the last 50 or so lots (the auction ended at lot 781). This, combined with the heavy lifting work at the end, made for an exhausting and stressful day.

THE TALE OF THE HAMMER

The auction began with banknotes and coins, which fared pretty well overall. Then there were a large number of stamp lots, which predictably enough did not attract huge attention (www.the-saleroom.com while good for many things are poor on stamps, and there were not many people there in the room). After that there were a variety of different items, some of which sold well. In among the medley of items in this middle and latter part of the auction was lot 461, four decorative plates produced by Coalport, all in their original boxes with paperwork. This might not sound like the kind of lot to catch the photographer’s eye, but the the images below may provide some explanation…

My opening bid of £12 proved sufficient to secure the items (I had prepared for the possibility of success by bringing a stout, empty, fabric bag with me to transport them).

The auction ended with some ‘Bradbury’ stamp pages, which may as well not have gone under the hammer at all since by then there was no one left in the room save staff.

Overall it was a successful sale.

THE CLEAR UP

While two of my colleagues took a few items to our storage unit near the village of Syderstone (principally the rostrum and the stools that we sit on behind it) I moved as much stuff as I could (almost all of it) over to the door so that it could be loaded straight on to the van once they were back. The van duly loaded it was time to head back into town, and thanks to my colleague dropping me on Oak Street I was just able to catch the 16:38 bus home. The bus to work yesterday morning was 20 minutes late leaving King’s Lynn, so by the time I arrived there were a mere five boxes of stuff left to carry in to the building, a task I accomplished in not much more time than it took the kettle to boil for my coffee.

SPOTLIGHT ON OCTOBER

Wednesday apart, since September 15 I have been engaged on a major project at work – describing and imaging a vast number of posters – a task that is not quite finished, but which is responsible for almost 250 lots so far. The first 230 or so of these lots were film posters, ranging in size from a colossal 40 inches by 30 to 16.5 inches by 16.5. Here are a few examples…

495 — This poster is definitely worth money.

551-a — This is an example of a double sided poster – one side facing inside, the other with mirror writing on it designed to show in a passing driver’s mirror.

Yesterday, after a few more film posters I finally got some variety…

698 — I particularly appreciated this poster and the next.

Cricket, Images and Links

A somewhat delayed account of Monday and Tuesday, with plenty of photos.

INTRODUCTION

A few brief commenst and some pictures.

AUGUST IMAGING

I havce made sure that nothing big has been left unimaged, with my flgiht out to Sweden now only three days distant. Here are a few imaghes from the last couple of days…

AN EMPHATIC ENGLAND WIN

Although for various reasons I did not catch much of the action in the second test match betwen England and Pakistan I congratulate England on responding in emphatic style to their defeat in the first match. While I consider the decision by Cook not to enforce the follow-on when looking at a first innings advantage of 391 to be bizarre, at least his team still managed to win. Possibly the most red-faced captain of all time over a decision not to invoke the follow-on was the Hon Freddie Calthorpe who in the final match of the 1929-30 series in the West Indies declined to do so with an advantage of 563 on the grounds that the match was scheduled to played to a finish. Unfortunately for him a combination of the weather and England’s return journey caused the match to be abandoned as a draw anyway. Six years earlier in a county game Calthorpe had suffered a different kind fo embarrassment when his Warwickshire side made 223 in their first innings, bowled out Hampshire for 15, and had them 177-6 after following on. Hampshire then made a spectacular recovery to reach 521 in that second innings, with Walter Livsey who had only reached even double figures three times in the course of the season before then making a century at no 10, and bowled a dispirited Warwickshire out for 158 in the second innings. Back to the present, and in the test match that finished yesterday evening Joe Root had the kind of match which had it been presented as fiction would undoubtedly have been laughed out of the publishers office – 254, 71 not out, four catches in the first Pakistan innings, and when given a bowl late in their second innings he picked up a wicket with his second ball!

SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

I conclude this post with a few non-work related pictures:

A Selection of Images

After my last post was pure text I suppose you c ould describes this one as compensating for the photographic deficit!

INTRODUCTION

As well as items that feature in James and Sons July Auction I have some pictures taken in my own time to share.

AUCTION LOTS

The images here are some of those I have produced since Thursday…

Now for some…

NON-AUCTION PICS

SNAILS

These snails were brought out by early monring rain yesterday.

Moving on to a rather more garecful creature beginning with s…

SWALLOW

These three pictures all come from the same original shot, edited differently. Swallows like flying low over the Nar outfall, although they still fly very fast, hence this being my first successful shot of one.

A MIXED BAG TO FINISH

DSCN6943 — The first of five pictures from the Five Greatest Warriors (Matthew Reilly) to appear here – this is Genghis Khan’s shield, depiciting the six temple shrines wherein a pillar has to be placed – by the time West gains possession of this item two of the pillars have been successfully placed.

DSCN6944 — Descriptions of all six vertices in the Word of Thoth, a language comprehensible only to the Siwan oracles

DSCN6915 — The first of two decorative plates in the window of the Salvation Army shop.

DSCN6970 — A bee – we need more of these!

Autism Awareness Cup Facebook Page

Introducing the Autsium Awareness Cup Facebook Page.

INTRODUCTION

First up, apologies to those among my readers who do not use facebook, although I do have some unrelated photos by way of compensation. Secondly, I will take this opportunity to congratulate Norfolk Country Council on being one of the local/ regional authorities to have given the disgraced legal firm Baker Small their marching orders. Some of you may recall that a few days I ago a put up a post about the inaugural Autism Awareness Cup, and this post is a brief follow-up.

THE AUTISM AWARENESS CUP PAGE

This is a fully public facebook page for which I provide a full URL: https://www.facebook.com/AutismAwarenessCup/ and a screen dump showing the page header:

So far five teams have entered, using European Championship/ World Cup themed names. I am happy report given current circumstances that no one has been tasteless enough to opt for Russia.

PHOTOGRAPHS

These windows are a feature of the building in which I am posting this – King’s Lynn Public Library

	A Comprehensive Win… on England’s Innings Victor…
	Phoenix Flop –… on Phoenix Reduced to Ashes
	Nikolas Perčić on A Succession of Blunders
	Thomas on A Study in Contrasts
	cindy knoke on A Study in Contrasts