Today I had planned on going to an antique auction in Woburn with my parents as we used to go every month years back, when it was held on a Thursday. The auctioneer years ago was Charlie Ross who has since found fame on a number of antique television shows, including Bargain Hunt.
I picked up my parents at 9am, dropped Sophie off at work and we drove over to Woburn via the M1. We parked easily and arrived at the auction rooms just before 10am. I had hoped that the auction wouldn't start for a little while as we wanted to view the objects on sale, but as we were registering and getting our bidding card I could hear the auctioneer start up.
Sadly, it wasn't Charlie Ross, but that didn't surprise me in the slightest! I bought my parents a coffee and we went upstairs to find the saleroom packed, with nowhere to sit or even stand comfortably. My parents didn't look very happy at all and after about half an hour we decided to leave as we couldn't see the lots on sale so there was no point bidding for them! When we used to go, the viewing would start at about 10am, with the sale commencing at midday, but obviously the format had changed.
We took a longish route back to the M1 and decided to head for the garden centre at Hardingstone where my Dad promised to buy us lunch. The restaurant wasn't serving meals until 12pm so we sat and had a coffee and a chat. At 12pm Dad got up to order us some sandwiches, only to be told they weren't serving sandwiches, toasties or wraps! We gave up and went back to Mum and Dad's house where we had delicious sarnies and cake. It was a lot cheaper and much nicer!
In the afternoon, Keith went to see his football team play and I curled up on the sofa to watch some TV. Mike was about in the house and I didn't see much of him at all, but at least I had his company! Just before Keith came home I popped over to see Sue as we were out with her and Paul and two of their friends to a "Wine Bluff" evening in the village hall. They were going to drive down to the village but Keith and I had decided, weather permitting, to walk down and back. Sue was doing some planting in her garden, which looked fabulous after all the work had been done on it.
Picking up Sophie, I drove through wind and rain and thought twice about our decision to walk to the village! However, when we set out at 7pm the rain had eased a bit so we went for it, but I didn't realise how dark the walk was! Thankfully, I had a torch on my phone!
The evening was very good but extremely noisy to begin with! The idea was that we tasted six different wines and three different people would give us the description of the wine, but only one person was giving us the correct information. We were given a glass of Cava as we came in and on the table were a selection of cold meats, olives and feta cheese, accompanied by crackers and butter. There were eight of us on our table - Keith and I, Sue and Paul, their friends Richard and Julie and Keith's drinking partner, John and his wife, Sue. We called ourselves "Spitz".
We had three white wines to start and we guessed them all correctly, which was brilliant, even though one of them was a white Rioja which I hardly ever drink. We were neck and neck with another table called "Bin Ends" so the competition was fierce!
Our run of luck came to an end with a bottle of Romanian Pinot Noir and although I had initially guessed it was that grape from the very light colour, two others on the table said they thought it was a Gamay grape. When one of the people giving the description said it was a Beaujolais, and another said it was the Pinot Noir, it was difficult to decide! We eventually went with the Gamay grape and got it wrong! Grrr! I should have trusted my first instincts!
We got the next red wrong - it was a Carignan from France and we thought it was a Cabernet Sauvignon, but we did redeem ourselves with the last wine, a very tannic and unpleasant Rioja. This meant that we had tied for first place with two other tables so we had to drink a deciding wine, a fruity red that reminded me of something... We had hardly any wine to try - no more than a mouthful and we were asked to name the country - so I went for Australia thinking it was a Shiraz. Unfortunately, it was a Malbec from France so we lost, but it had been a fun night and I was pleased we'd done so well.
After the wines we had some pate and cheeses with loads more French bread and John bought a bottle of the Carignan for us to drink. The noise level had increased again, and as it was now past 11pm, Keith and I headed for home. The walk back was dark (obviously) and a bit rainy towards the end but neither of us felt like we'd had a drink as I guessed we'd had no more than three small glasses!
Sophie was waiting up for us and after a chat, it was off to bed!
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