Who am I?

Off to the Midlands last weekend for a family party.  During the journey we realised that there must be some serious identity  problems amongst the residents of West Mercia - plainly something in the air means that they are incapable of remembering their own names or initials.  At least two cars in every three sported a number plates spelling out these important personal details!  It was, in the correct sense of the word, remarkable (and incidentally revealed how proportionately fewer people in the south east tend to indulge in this bit of harmless - though expensive - fun these days).

En route to the party I had planned to drop in on the posh auction house in Stourbridge, Fieldings.  Twice a year they hold a sale of Clarice Cliff works and, as I have a couple of vases, I wanted them  evaluated for the forthcoming sale  at the end of October.  Will of Fieldings (whom you might have seen on the Antiques Roadshow) enthused about one of them and we ended up spending a very jolly half hour talking about Clarice Cliff, the Eames brothers, and bent plywood chairs.  A pleasant encounter ended with a serendiptitious twist when it emerged that Will lives in the same road as the relatives whose party we were going to.   Weird.