Update...

Just a quick post today.  Kasabian are playing a gig in Glasgow tonight, which I will be attending with treenahasthaal.  She's had a pretty hard time of things recently (understatement...) so hopefully Kasabian will be able to help her rediscover her inner Maenad, and we'll end up bouncing around the aisles singing endless 'Lalalala' refrains to such soul-stirring anthems as Club Foot, Empire, Fire and Velociraptor. 

I actually got my Christmas shopping done yesterday - I've got just about everything, with the exception of part of J's present, and today I took a trip down to my regular antique dealer to see what he had in the way of Charlotte Rhead.  The answer was 'none', unfortunately...

He has three pieces of Beswick for a very nice price, including the magnificent Spirit of Earth, which is a lovely study of a heavy horse.  Unfortunately, it's in its plain white, imitation-Parian ware form, which I'm not overly keen on.  Beswick also made Spirit of Earth in a variety of normal horse colours, and I think that's what I'd rather add to my collection.  The rest of the Beswick items are also examples of the imitation-Parian ware Spirit of range, and while they're much prettier in the clay than they are on the page of a catalogue,  they really don't float my boat.

The other option was Anita Harris.  There are four or five pieces that really caught my eye, including one big mega-vase that's really gorgeous.  J was angling for the mega-vase, which I hadn't even considered until he opened his big mouth...  Then once he'd swayed me in its general direction, he pointed out that our house really wasn't big enough to display it in, and what was the point of investing in a modern ceramic anyway?? 

In the end, I was swaying like a weather cock in a gusty tempest, so I returned empty-handed. Which was probably just as well, really.

The vase saga will be continued, in due course...