Sacks of flesh and blood line the road between the crowd’s feet as the bidding continues. Some stay to watch the auction unfolding, having already acquired their Christmas dinner while others continue to bid making long term provisions for their freezers. The prices are more than fair – an entire turkey or a loin of pork can be had for £20 and quality cuts disappear for what must be not far above their cost price.
The auction ends with a ritual of coin tossing – the butcher tosses a coin for heads or tails while the punters bet him for the meat. The rules of this game are simple: if you guess heads or tails correctly you take home the said piece of meat for free, if you guess incorrectly, you must pay the butcher his asking price. The crowed cheers for each correct guess and booes for each wrong one. One elderly lady is unlucky in her guess but in true christmas spirit Lawrence decides to give her the turkey anyway. The crowd approves.
