Michael Perlis presents: Eileen Writes Part 6 (Today she’s Antique Shopping!)

Eileen Wright tells us about what people do on a rare sunny day. This time, no food or wine! I promise the next article will more than make up for it, but now you can read about, in keeping with last week’s theme, “a day in the life”.
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I have been trying to fit in with the regulars the last few days.  First and foremost, when the weather is clear one drops everything, cancels all plans and attends to the garden and yard work.  Take in the fact: the northern part of England averages 60° in the summer, receive an average rainfall of fifteen days per month, and an average of only 120 hours of sun a month.  It is challenging to find a day that is sunny and dry enough to garden.  In order to” earn my keep” I offered to help clip the hedges while my friend and her husband mowed the lawn and weeded.  Mind you, the night before I was given a speech about being careful of the wire when trimming the hedges; two people before me had cut the wire which put a quick halt to the gardening plans.  I wasn’t about to damage the wire; I had broken my friends camera the previous year (the replacement was $300) and I was not about to travel down that road again!  Well, I kept my promise, for twenty minutes, ouch (although, cheaper than a camera).  Only a small percentage of the hedging task was complete.  There were many words that flew out of my mouth at that point in time.  I just wanted to jump into the car and run down to the local home store to replace the electrical sheers.  Unfortunately, I cannot drive on the opposite side of the road and a quick jaunt down the road is at least one hour and most importantly, my friend did not want to stop working (the weather could change at the drop of a hat).  I was determined not to let this perfect day pass by without accomplishing my task.  As I paced around the yard, there standing against the wall of the garage, was a pair of manual clippers; I grabbed them with a smile on my face proclaiming the night would not fall until the hedge was perfect.  Well, a two hour job turned into a seven hour job but, those hedges were perfectly straight without a twig out of place.  On the other hand, my arms are killing me today.

As I woke up this morning the sky was black and the rain was falling, I was so ecstatic I had finished the gardening the day before!  Today was a day to sit back and enjoy the auction.  The local auction house, “Warren & Wignall”, have a weekly live auction of local estates.  Beautiful hand carved wardrobes and tables of mahogany, French period chairs, antique jewelry, silver tea sets, and many items that are essentially English in nature.  I had met two gentlemen that buy items at the auction house only to turn around and ship the items to America and New Zealand.  I was stunned to find that some of the beautiful pieces of furniture would not even sell for five dollars.  The attached picture of the antique sideboard and mirror sold for $248, I was speechless.  I won four bids and will be packing my bags with copper pots, antique jewelry, silver utensils, and platters – my total expenditures $60; cost to get them home is to be determined, look on my husband’s face when he picks me up, priceless?