Today was my L’toft china auction – formerly Russell’s, of course.  He was the expert and the auctioneer, I knew what I was talking about and did the admin – and rather more, such as the photography – but it was absolutely his professional thing, not mine.  So to organise an auction was quite a lot to take on – and I employed a professional to conduct the sale, obviously – and I’m glad I went ahead.  It went well, many people were so pleased that it was starting up again and I’ve had so many kind comments.  It will not have made me vast amounts of money, but enough to be worth doing, and I have the satisfaction of having earned it too.  Russell never paid me – he didn’t need to, we shared what we had, of course – and I worked for his benefit… that is, he always said that he couldn’t have managed the sales without me, but I was clearly and (of course) willingly promoting him, I didn’t want to make much of myself and was just a worker.

Adrenalin was working well, evidently, because I remembered everyone’s name – all except one, whose I might have known, but clients love it when you remember them, they feel like more than just customers.  When I wrote a name down to register them, I saw them notice it and relax their shoulders, or smile when I greeted them by name.

The auctioneer is lovely, really good at her job, with a good line in humour – she’s a regular on BBC antique programmes that end in an auction, such as Flog It – and I’m immensely grateful to her for helping me – she’s a partner in her own auction firm, so it’s much appreciated.

I must rapidly get my act together in the morning, to let people know what has sold and what they have bought – there were a number of commission bids – and I may get a phone call from my nice reporter, so I must think what I’ll say.  So now I will go and have a lovely long bath and hope to sleep.