'The whole episode was a bizarre ending to an otherwise routine sales shift'

After a period of festive hibernation I’m back on the sales reporting beat. Christmas and New Years is a strange time for a sales correspondent because, well, there aren’t any sales.

There are no buyers to chase for quotes, no bids to spot and no reports to write. I felt an emptiness that no amount of Bargain Hunt reruns could fill. Auctions just aren’t the same when it’s miscellaneous tat being sold, rather than baby racehorses.

I tried asking my wife how she felt trade was going on Christmas morning but she just stared at me blankly. Admittedly the situation wasn’t helped by postal strikes preventing delivery of the present I’d hastily ordered for her on the morning of December 24th. Bloody postal strikes.