Weekend work

John Koch painting (New York, 1909-1978), "The Plasterers", 1967, oil on canvas, 40 x 49-7/8 in

Sold For USD210,000

I feel I should be getting plastered, or at least supervising someone plastering, in a small area around an airconditioner in my bedroom, but the joy of a flat free of staff and tradesmen over the weekend is too much to pass up. Last week I arranged for the six-monthly maintenance of all the airconditioners in the flat, which always requires at least one follow up visit to restore one of more of the machines to its more quiet mode of operation. I truly do not know what the technicians do, but invariably a rattle or vibration manifests itself after the so-called maintenance. And it's not that there is more money involved, or that that they are unwilling to return. Sometimes I leave my maid to supervise the return visit, because I am not able to do so myself, but this usually results in a third visit and the excercise this time around was no exception. Actually, they will have to come again, because the aircon in the kitchen which sounded like a demented cat at times, now has another noise that irritates fragile nerves. Such are the tribulations of an idle life.

I was trawling through my database of auction items and came across this rather excellent picture by John Koch, which caught my fancy briefly last year. The price tag rather put off any thought of serious indulgence.