SIX weeks have passed since my last day at the office. The closest that I have come to a social life in that time has been a (socially distanced) chat with neighbour Norman Williamson, who was dropping back a harrow. Yes, Storming Norman is now Tractor Ted and, while I might worry that he might not be the best man to take it that handy on the hard ground, we are all in less of a hurry these days which is not only good news for the machinery but also means that we both have plenty of time for a chat.

It is a harrowing time in more ways than one for the breeze-up vendors, of which Norman is among the very best. Goffs is due to host its (first ever) breeze-up sale at the end of June which will be the amalgamation of the two sales that were due to be held last week by Goffs UK in Doncaster and next weekend by Arqana in Deauville. It was at the 2018 Arqana sale that Norman sold War Of Will, winner of last year’s Preakness Stakes, and the only European breeze-up graduate to ever win a leg of the American Triple Crown.

Another flagship horse in 2019 for the Arqana Sale was the Prix de Diane winner Channel, also from our neck of the woods, as she was bred by Pat O’Kelly’s Kilcarn Stud and sold for just €18,000 after failing to make a modest reserve at the 2017 Orby Sale. I had initially wondered if Channel was a misspelt version of the Parisian fashion house but Arqana’s Freddy Powell tells me that her owner was in the Channel Tunnel when he needed a name so she might well have been called Tunnel instead.

Much as I am looking forward to renewing my working relationship with our Arqana colleagues – I was a guest auctioneer there for some years – my attention was caught by a quote in last week’s Sunday Times by a French lady, Maia Mazaurette: “We are the only country in the world where the majority don’t find it immoral to cheat on their partners.”

Thankfully, this did not require me to warn Goffs UK boss Tim Kent of some impending treachery because the piece was headlined “Frisky French aroused by tips to sex up lockdown”. The article duly led into the subject of online orgies, which seem to be almost as popular these days as online bloodstock auctions.

Having been canvassed by every online sale provider in the English-speaking world these last few weeks, I much enjoyed one presentation this week where I was presented with an example of a “completely virtual” auction trade. This is when all the details about the lot, any pre-sale information and all the bidding is communicated online. This all happened at a pedigree goat sale, no less, in South Africa and saw one particular animal trade for approximately $10,000 to a bidder in Thailand.

All sales depend on racing and all racing depends on government, though this did not prevent two of the top trainers in the Britain calling for the immediate removal of BHE chief executive Nick Rust. A strange thing to do considering that he has already resigned and is working out his notice.

It was also an unsatisfactory story in so many ways, not least because the whole thing seems to have arisen from leaked emails, the written equivalent of a hacked telephone call, and hardly meriting the inference that this was a public demand by the individuals involved.

A more important issue is whether racing can risk being seen as barging its way to the front of the queue like Kate Winslet’s rich fiancé in Titanic with the lifeboats. If you remember him, that is enough to suggest that we should support the combined national effort and minimise any potentially accusative legacy issues for the sport in years to come.

THIS week saw the disturbing actions of writers Gemma O’Doherty and John Waters in Dublin. Challenging the constitutional validity of the government lockdown, O’Doherty’s now viral exchange with a Garda smacked of Trumpish narcissism and is the most odious bit of grandstanding.

Strange how easy it is to jump from people unhappy about British racing being run by a man working out his notice to people unhappy that Ireland is being run by somebody who has technically completed his notice. It must be great to have somebody in charge of things who is still within their contracted period of employment.

Like the President of the United States.