The Home Straight Is In Sight

Our time at Instanta is rapidly drawing to a close and the finishing line is almost in view as today marks the last day of our penultimate month of work. With just over four weeks to go this will possibly be my last conventional blog as I intend to devote the next few weeks to those people and businesses that have meant so much to us in our twenty odd years in this industry and some of the good, the bad and the ugly happenings during that time. In the meantime we'll stick with the usual mix of trivia and Instanta news that has been the hallmark of this blog for the last couple of years.

Tomorrow Marion and I are off down to the NEC for the Antiques For Everyone fair. I've mentioned it before but it really is a super fair and the only one that we go out of our way to visit. It does exactly what it says on the label and you can go and buy something for £1 or something for £100,000 and I love it for that. I also love the comfortable layout of wide aisles and the bright stands and the huge variety of things on display ranging from postcards and ephemera to grand paintings and sculptures. The fair is vetted by a committee so you won't find a hidden treasure but you also won't buy a fake. On Sunday I'll be popping out to a new antiques fair at Scarisbrick Village Hall where there will probably be a dozen dealers and maybe only half a dozen genuine antiques between them but the chance of finding a hidden gem will strangely be much higher. I hope that when we retire we'll get more chances to go antique hunting.

Craig is busily working on the figures for the end of October and I am pleased to say that we are, once again, up on the same month last year and there is no sign of a double dip recession here at the moment. I won't say on here who is top of the sales league but it has been a tight run race and we might have a photo finish.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the office we've got some new screens on trial. These are designed to keep noise down and allow people to concentrate on their work without too many distractions but I could see them coming into use for some new office games. We could have an Instanta ping pong tournament for example. Any other suggestions on a postcard please.

Jimmy Carr was extremely funny at Southport Theatre last night. The politically correct side of me says that I shouldn't be laughing at some of his material which could be described as misogynist but the women in the audience appeared to be genuinely amused and Marion was laughing along heartily so I suppose that's the crux of the matter. If we can accept that jokes about violence or being abusive to women are simply that - jokes, then it is funny but if we feel that the comedian is in any way condoning the actions that he ridicules then he may be overstepping the mark. Not a show for the faint hearted and I couldn't repeat any of Jimmy's jokes. Oh yes there was one. What have Alexander the Great and Winnie the Pooh got in common? - same middle name.

 

Now that Marion and I have a lot of free time on our hands perhaps we could go and renew our marriage vows in some exotic location. Or maybe not after watching this. I have put the expurgated version on here but if you search YouTube for Maldives Wedding you will find the full uncensored (and much worse) 14 minute version.

A New Machine For The Future

Here's our new SAFAN CNC press brake arriving at Instanta. Our metalwork has been excellent over the past years but we always reached something of a production bottleneck when it came to the cut and punched metal being folded as our old press brake was pretty unsophisticated. With this new machine we can guarantee more accuracy, make neater and sharper folds and speed up the production lines. We chose this model after a comprehensive survey by Operations Director Dave Wilson and Gavin Ford which involved a huge amount of research and even a visit to the Dutch factory where the press brake was built. In keeping with our environmental management system we have gone for this machine on its green credentials. Being electric it is much greener than the hydraulic alternatives which produce volumes of waste oil and use energy when not in use. I look forward to seeing it up and running and to seeing the improvements in the boilers which though probably not visible to the customer will certainly be noticed by our assembly team.

Did you read about the Roman helmet found by a young metal detector user? Being a detectorist myself I always love to see fabulous things turning up and live in hope that I might find something like this myself one day. I used to go out with my brother Peter pretty often but since he retired and spends much of his time abroad we don't get as many opportunities. Perhaps we'll get more chances when I retire and after my hip operation has been carried out (now planned for early December). This helmet sold yesterday for £2 million. It was found at a site that has no real Roman connections other than a nearby Roman road and is in an area where we spent many holidays in our childhood. Perhaps it will encourage farmers to be more ready to grant permission to detector users as the farmer has benefited to the tune of £1 million. I think that the very best item that we ever found would not pay for the cost of a new detector.

And whilst on the topic of treasure, I emailed John Sandon of Antiques Roadshow and  head of ceramics at Bonhams' Bond St with details of the bowl that I highlighted on yesterday's blog. John is one of the most charming people I have ever dealt with and he kindly confirmed that I had got my age estimate for the piece right although I had suggested that it was manufactured at the Liverpool Gilbody factory whereas John knew straight away that it was made by the nearby Chaffers pottery. So the bowl is now on it's way to Bonhams for their December specialist sale with John's initial thought on price at the £600-800 level subject to him seeing it. It's not £2million but it's better than a kick in the teeth.

I enjoyed Paul's show "A League Of Their Own" last night. Jimmy Carr was a great guest and was extremely game in allowing himself to be immersed in a bath of near freezing water in the final round. We're going to see Jimmy when he comes to Southport Theatre when he appears here in a few weeks. I bought four tickets but somehow can't find anyone to take the spare two. It seems that he isn't as popular up here as I imagined. I've still got a couple of friends who are getting back to me but we may end up having to return them. It's a pity. I think he's an extremely funny guy.

I'll finish today with one of the odious Jeremy Kyle's interviewees turning nasty on Kyle this morning. It's a great pity that it wasn't something heavier that he threw.