The Antiquer was helping out at an auction on the weekend. His friend Initials in the Tree was the auctioneer. We went along out of interest. We were only supposed to be there for half an hour but ended up staying for about five, charmed by the strange and unexplored world of auctions.
The auctioning was all done out in a courtyard filled with sunlight - that, combined with five hours exposure, is what turned me a miserable shade of rhubarb.
It was as though we'd been invited to a gathering of someone's extended family. Initials in the Tree was a whizz at the auctioning and had some great lines, though The Antiquer tells me they are all old standards. The rocking horse that is "cheap to feed", the camp oven that "looks pretty straight to me", and the mirror held up to the crowd while we're told, "there it is, working away".
However, one that was new to The Antiquer was thrown out when IitT was harassed by a rather odd couple in the crowd. "Don't tell me how to do my job, sir," he said. "I don't come into your work and tell you how to sweep up."
We bought an art deco painting and a yellow whiskey jug. Grumpy mocked me for the jug purchase but when we got it home and I cleaned it he said, "I hate to admit it, but that thing wasn't such a bad buy after all."
And The Antiquer says, "Don't forget to mention the heavily-powdered ladies with bottles of lavender water in their purses."
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