And the sun comes up like thunder

Knowing my fascination for the ancient Orient, and the romance (as long as you weren't actually involved in any way) of shipwrecks, Neddy gave me a lovely birthday present – a China bowl. Yes, really a China (capital C) bowl, not a china bowl. It is a piece of the cargo of the ‘Tek Sing’ - a Chinese junk, 60m long and 10m wide, carrying 1,600 passengers and over 200 crew, from China to Java in 1822. She never completed her voyage, and foundered on a reef with the loss of most of those on board. Her wreck was discovered in 1999, lying at 17 fathoms, and her valuable cargo of porcelain recovered. This bowl is a beautiful thing, and I am truly thrilled with it.

I have decided where I need the shelves constructed to display it safely ...