Determined to deny themselves what little joy there is at the beginning of a New Year, my friends strut round, thrust forth imaginary chests and start talking about the health benefits of non-drinking.
What makes January especially intolerable is the fact that I have to pull together an auction in double-quick time. December is a month which is consistently difficult to find instruments in, and in January people are either being achingly virtuous or on the phone to their divorce lawyers after one Christmas too many with the in-laws.
Stuck in the office a week ago, I turned around to look at the shelves and actually realised that against all the odds, we have managed to pull together quite a nifty auction. We have a Paolo Antonio Testore, a fantastically interesting Sartory violin bow and a lovely Forster school cello. In fact, pots of stuff. For a fleeting second I was cheered up immensely by this, until, with despairing clarity, it descended on me that I had to catalogue all of this. 190 lots.
So it has been a gruelling start to the New Year, late nights, early mornings (thank goodness the children are back at school), and nobody to share a drink with. Still, there is always February to look forward to. Dark nights, low temperatures and an AA sale in the pipeline.
