Paul Withers Tool Sale in Stockinbingal Saturday, April 17, 2010

Friday before the sale, seven of us on the bar. We were the only customers for the night.	Ron Talbot took some pictures of the tables and the sellers before the crowd hit the room	Ron Talbot took some pictures of the tables and the sellers before the crowd hit the room	the venue	a free Plumb Champion axe for anybody who can understand James

After a 2,400 km round-trip I arrived back home in one piece on Sunday night . My 10 year old Falcon wagon never missed a beat, this after more than 30 trips to the Melbourne and Sydney tool sales. Not even a plague of locusts between Parkes and Stock could slow it down.

I can tell you that this was not my worst sale - thanks largely to the spirited buying from two of my best customers. Both of them have put at least one of my daughters through Grammar school and they didn't let me down in Stock, either.   I even managed to sell tools to some new faces. All told I guess we had about 30 people through the door. I don't know  whether that is good or bad, I never expected more than 10 so it must be good. Paul Withers on the other hand, expected 100, that would make it a pretty bad sale. However, before you jump to conclusions and tell me that you told me so: I sold more tools than I sold at my last Melbourne tool sale where the cream of the tool collector's cream holds court and several hundred eager tool beavers flood through the gates. It's all a matter of scale and attitude.

I'm sorry that not more of you that live a lot closer could make it. Even if you have seen all the tools in the world and need another Stanley plane like a hole in the head  - you still missed out on a memorable experience. There simply is no other hotel in Australia like the one we stayed in. This surly must be Australia's worst run hotel - if not I hereby officially nominate it and I'm sure everybody that stayed there will agree.

Ben,  Henrietta and their son James are the owners and they run this place like Faulty Towers in Vietnamese and Philipino. They are the nicest people you could ever meet but they simply haven't got a clue how to run a hotel. The opening hours are sporadic at best. Officially the hotel opens at 2 pm and shuts around eight but that is subject to change depending on who shows up. Recently the family took a 4 week break from running the pub without guests and the doors stayed shut most of the time. Sadly, the locals have more or less put out a blanket-boycott on the pub - largely due to the non-opening hours, the refusal of Ben or Henrietta to cook and severe language problems that make even the most basic bar chat virtually impossible. 

On Friday night the public bar was ours for most of the evening. One other guest, Skye, showed up just in time to take a snapshot of the seven happy tool campers, that was the grand sum of people movements for the night.  We more or less forced Ben to cook us a meal. He started at 4pm and when there was no meal by 7pm Paul stormed into the kitchen to get things moving. Turns out Ben had lost his wallet earlier that evening and spent most of the time looking for it whilst cooking chicken on rice. Steak was promised for the following night but somehow it turned into a sort of curry on rice that tasted like the meal from the night before with more spices.

Enough of the negatives. At least the pub has beer on tap and I managed to buy the last bottle of white. The rooms were clean and the shower was working. At $ 25 a night you can't really complain about the soft beds.  What Ben and Henrietta lack in managing skills they more than make up in generous hospitality. They more or less let us run the upstairs where we cooked our own breakfast.

So there it is. I'm glad I went and I'll definitely go again if there is another sale. As the other Bingel famously asked: where the bloody hell are you? Paul distributed a lot of flyers and spent a lot of effort on the sale. I feel sorry for him that it didn't turn out as planned but these things never do. I don't think Paul will throw in the towel yet. Before I left he told me that the next sale will be held in September. Maybe we'll have to make you an offer you can't refuse..... ? An auction, a Stanley 1 as door price .... ?  A free Plumb Champion axe for anybody who can understand what James the bartender says ..... ? I'll keep you posted.

 I'll leave you with the picture of the grand old hotel and the lonesome figure of Paul next to the door. The picture was taken months earlier but somehow it reflects the mood of the sale more than words can describe.