The Spice of Life

So, a week of press agency work finishes with a couple of jobs this morning. Having had a man up a rope, five girls in red basques, fishnets and heels, penguins in the rain and a minister from the Scottish Government, the week ended with grouse and meteorites.
For the Glorious Twelfth I was at a photocall for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. They had lined up some chefs at the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School and a keeper from a borders estate brought up two brace. There was a man from Harrods there too, waiting to fly two birds down to London to serve people later today. (They may already have been eaten as I type this.) There was another photographer there and once again he seemed very friendly - so far I seem to have lots of good experiences when dealing with other photographers in the 'press pack'. This other photog took charge and moved everyone from the rather unappealing location down on Queen Street to a much better spot on George Street where this was taken. After the street shots (probably the 'money shots' if any of them are to make money) we went back to see the chefs making some grouse based dishes.
After that it was down to the auctioneers to take pictures of a meteorite, or more specifically, half a meteorite. In one of the more tenuous pieces of media fluffing this was billed as 'the other half of a meteorite that was bought by Michael Jackson'. There were about eight photogs there, plus a TV cameraman, and we took turns to take pictures of the chunk of meteorite being held and looked at by members of the staff at the auction house. I also took picture of another piece, while waiting my turn. That was the Hambleton meteorite - a much more sizeable chunk of rock, that is said to be the rarest and most scientifically interesting meteorite ever found in the UK. Tests indicated it has been on earth for about 220 years, leading to speculation hat it was associated with The Great Meteor of August 18th 1783. It is a pallasite, making it very rare as they represent about 1% of meteorites. Strange that we were all supposed to be more interested in the ever so tenuous 'Michael Jackson' lot. Even more so in that it is estimated at only £250-350, while the more impressive Hambleton lot is dow at £12,000 - £18,000.