A while back I visited the website of an auction firm in Falkirk and signed up to get the catalogue for its weekly sales by email. So now I get this lovely weekly dip into People's Stuff. The regular sale is Wednesday evenings, so because I work nights I never get to go. But one of these weeks I'm going to take a Wednesday off specifically so I can.
This week's catalogue is a real gem. There's the usual torrent of "Misc Including Carlton etc" and "China Table Lamp", and "sign of the times" lots - "2 Radiograms £20-£30" and "Sel of Records & Videos £8-£12" (and I really want to know the difference between "Box of Misc" and "Box of Odds"). There are also comical mysteries: "Coq Au Van. £6-£10", "Enamel Bread Bin & Contents £10-£15", "Lark Yukelleli. £10-£15".
But a weird dissonance gathers as you read through. For example:
287 Moorland Fish Vase. £ 20.00 — £ 30.00
288 Murano Glass Vase. £ 25.00 — £ 40.00
289 Lorna Bailey Startled Cat. £ 20.00 — £ 30.00
290 Selection of Coronation Street Stars Autographs. £ 30.00 — £ 50.00
291 Nazi Cup Saucer & Spoon. £ 15.00 — £ 20.00
292 Bretby Honey Box & Cover. £ 15.00 — £ 30.00
293 2 Golf Club Heads. £ 10.00 — £ 20.00
Woah! Nazi cup saucer and spoon? There's Nazi stuff sprinkled throughout the catalogue, mostly medals and badges. I googled Lorna Bailey and found she designs the most vile, garish ceramics imaginable. I started to get a woozy vision of a Colonel Bufferish character ("Masonic Apron Sash Jewel etc. £25-£40")surrounded by stamp albums, military paraphenalia and golfing kit. His wife channels her repressed rage into a vast collection of china cats, dogs, rabbits, birds and pigs. Their house is crammed with furniture - "6 Tier Open Bookcase" and "Mahogany Corner Cabinet".
I like to think he's the one who popped his clogs and she's moving to the south of France with the proceeds from the sale.
27 March 2006
23 March 2006
:: back by popular demand
OK, it was just Mog. But hey, at least I have A Reader.
Um, so, what have I been doing? My knees have been pretty good lately so I've been going on longer walks - on Sunday, for example, I went to the Pentlands and ended up hiking for about three or four hours.
That's Carnethy Hill from Turnhouse Hill. In the olden days I would have kept on going over Carnethy and down the Old Kirk Road and walked back past the two reservoirs. But this time I felt a bit too knackered, so I cut straight down the hill. It looked easy from the top, ha ha! But it was incredibly steep and boggy too, so it was actually quite arduous. Plus because it's sheep country Bertie has to be on the lead. By this stage he was getting frustrated - "Come on, it's downhill! Shake a leg!" - and kept tugging on the lead. In the end I let him off, and he went crazy, zinging back and forth through the heather looking for the sheep. Luckily I managed to get him back on the lead before we got to them (they were at the bottom of the hill near the burn).
There was still a bit of snow around but it was pretty slushy. There's been a lot of snow around this winter (you can't really call it spring yet!) but very little in my neck of the woods. There was one decent fall at the beginning of this month but it only lasted a couple of days. There was another fall last week - see above for the remnants - but it lasted even less than that. And yesterday it snowed again but didn't lie.
Bertie loved the big snowfall - all the dogs did.
In between breaks in the weather I managed to plant some garlic, but haven't done any other gardening. One of the lavender bushes out the front has died - I guess I should have protected it from the frost. Everything else looks ok though. Hungry rabbits have kept the back lawn neatly trimmed. There are healthy buds on all the fruit bushes.
I realise from looking back that I haven't finished telling about the redecorating. It's a typical tale. Dumb move number one was getting the double bed before painting the small bedroom - that meant there was nowhere to put the furniture. Duh. Cue a week of edging around piles of stuff. Anyhoo, once I had the room stripped I started right in with the left-over paint from my own bedroom, a nice blue. Just to see how that would look, you know. And it did look ok, but after a wall and a half it became apparent that I didn't have nearly enough paint. The finish on the existing paint was a strange semi-gloss and the blue went on very unevenly. It was a B&Q own brand, so off I went for some more. Why I thought they would have any I don't know. They didn't. And I couldn't be bothered driving to the other branches to see if they had any, so I spent another hour dithering over colour chips and samples before choosing something called Cafe Au Lait or Caramel or Light Mud or something. You get the picture. Dull.
Home again I got busy with the roller. Next day I was back at B&Q for another bucket. Paint paint paint. Every time I thought I was finished I'd see another patchy patch. It was gruesome. And such a horrible colour! What was I thinking? Why not a nice fresh yellow? I threw everything back in, made the bed, put up the curtains and it still looked horrible. But I can't be bothered to do it again so it'll just have to stay like that.
The only other DIY I've done since then is to put doors on one of my bookshelves in the dining room, thus creating a cupboard for liquor and teatowels. How posh am I!
The city council is doing some redecorating though - they're fixing up the Ferry Glen walk. The glen is a beautiful little chunk of steeply-sloping woodland with a stream plunging down at one end. It did have a path through it but it's been neglected over the years and has mostly been washed away. For the past couple of weeks the sound of chainsaws has been loud as workmen clear out dead and sickly trees, chip them and spread the chips as mulch. They've had heavy machinery in too, widening the path and laying gravel and hard core. It's nearly finished.
There are still some trees waiting to be cut down. I'm going to miss some of them!
Um, so, what have I been doing? My knees have been pretty good lately so I've been going on longer walks - on Sunday, for example, I went to the Pentlands and ended up hiking for about three or four hours.
That's Carnethy Hill from Turnhouse Hill. In the olden days I would have kept on going over Carnethy and down the Old Kirk Road and walked back past the two reservoirs. But this time I felt a bit too knackered, so I cut straight down the hill. It looked easy from the top, ha ha! But it was incredibly steep and boggy too, so it was actually quite arduous. Plus because it's sheep country Bertie has to be on the lead. By this stage he was getting frustrated - "Come on, it's downhill! Shake a leg!" - and kept tugging on the lead. In the end I let him off, and he went crazy, zinging back and forth through the heather looking for the sheep. Luckily I managed to get him back on the lead before we got to them (they were at the bottom of the hill near the burn).
There was still a bit of snow around but it was pretty slushy. There's been a lot of snow around this winter (you can't really call it spring yet!) but very little in my neck of the woods. There was one decent fall at the beginning of this month but it only lasted a couple of days. There was another fall last week - see above for the remnants - but it lasted even less than that. And yesterday it snowed again but didn't lie.
Bertie loved the big snowfall - all the dogs did.
In between breaks in the weather I managed to plant some garlic, but haven't done any other gardening. One of the lavender bushes out the front has died - I guess I should have protected it from the frost. Everything else looks ok though. Hungry rabbits have kept the back lawn neatly trimmed. There are healthy buds on all the fruit bushes.
I realise from looking back that I haven't finished telling about the redecorating. It's a typical tale. Dumb move number one was getting the double bed before painting the small bedroom - that meant there was nowhere to put the furniture. Duh. Cue a week of edging around piles of stuff. Anyhoo, once I had the room stripped I started right in with the left-over paint from my own bedroom, a nice blue. Just to see how that would look, you know. And it did look ok, but after a wall and a half it became apparent that I didn't have nearly enough paint. The finish on the existing paint was a strange semi-gloss and the blue went on very unevenly. It was a B&Q own brand, so off I went for some more. Why I thought they would have any I don't know. They didn't. And I couldn't be bothered driving to the other branches to see if they had any, so I spent another hour dithering over colour chips and samples before choosing something called Cafe Au Lait or Caramel or Light Mud or something. You get the picture. Dull.
Home again I got busy with the roller. Next day I was back at B&Q for another bucket. Paint paint paint. Every time I thought I was finished I'd see another patchy patch. It was gruesome. And such a horrible colour! What was I thinking? Why not a nice fresh yellow? I threw everything back in, made the bed, put up the curtains and it still looked horrible. But I can't be bothered to do it again so it'll just have to stay like that.
The only other DIY I've done since then is to put doors on one of my bookshelves in the dining room, thus creating a cupboard for liquor and teatowels. How posh am I!
The city council is doing some redecorating though - they're fixing up the Ferry Glen walk. The glen is a beautiful little chunk of steeply-sloping woodland with a stream plunging down at one end. It did have a path through it but it's been neglected over the years and has mostly been washed away. For the past couple of weeks the sound of chainsaws has been loud as workmen clear out dead and sickly trees, chip them and spread the chips as mulch. They've had heavy machinery in too, widening the path and laying gravel and hard core. It's nearly finished.
There are still some trees waiting to be cut down. I'm going to miss some of them!
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