Friday 30 December 2016

Glass half full


This is a Christmas day photo. The glass is an over-sized version of one which is typically under half the size and made and engraved in England around the late eighteenth century.

This one somehow found its way to America, then it was sold to me by a friend and sent back again. I kept it for a while, then gave it to Step-Daughter, who is always compaining about the little (but pretty) glasses we use every day in our compact but... oh, you know.

She prefers the 250ml pub-issue ones for her Sauvignon Blanc - she likes a full plate in front of her too. Three such glasses is one bottle of wine, so I suppose she can say, "But I only had four glasses of wine!" and feel better than me saying, "I had ten glasses last night - no wonder I feel like shit."

A few weeks after I gave her the glass, I went to their house and found it being used to keep tooth-brushes in, so I threatened to take it away. Nothing ruins antique glasses more quickly than staining them with hard water, unless it is dropping them on hard floors.

Now here comes the metaphor.

Before Christmas, my glass was half empty. I had a call last night telling me that the man who has let me down so many times and so badly over the last few years, has finally let down my clients to the extent that they have given up on him (as I did two years ago) and I am now taking on the very good sculptural work which he - for some crazy reason - refused to complete within the three years they have been waiting for it, just as I predicted. They gave him until Christmas but he never got back or even answered phone calls about it.

Ironically, his unreliability has - for once - not let me down.

27 comments:

  1. Spot the crap wooden honey-dripper which fell out of a cracker...

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  2. We had indoor fireworks in our crackers .... plus mini cheese grater, star biscuit cutters , green and blacks chocolates and some buttons !!!! I think a wooden honey dripper is pretty good !!
    I'm with Step daughter .... I like a large glass for my Sauvignon blanc but yours are very pretty and have a lot of history. I like to think who would have drunk from it. XXXX

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    1. H.I. gave me a box of indoor fireworks - which I forgot to take to the Levels. I try not to think who has drunk out of it, but I have a vivid imagination...

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    2. If you had a honey stick in your crackers them are fucking post crackers!

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    3. Last year's were from the Pound Shop. Guess how much they cost?

      Them were real post crackers.

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  3. I never noticed the honey dripper until you mentioned it. I was focussed on the light through that beautiful glass.

    Glad to hear that your 2017 professional diary is beginning to fill up nicely.

    Happy New Year!

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    1. And you! I think 2017 is pretty much covered now. Phew...

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  4. Happy new year to you and your family.

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  5. That glass is a perfect piece of art excellent photo. Also, very generous of you to give it away.
    A toast to you, Tom; Happy New year, may your 2017 be full of good things.
    Greetings Maria x

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  6. You must have had posh crackers. I got a plastic frog out of mine.

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  7. The universe sent a little smile. Good for it and good job for you. Folks who don't meet their commitments mental problems. I've most often observed them as depressed, but other things, too.

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    1. That is indeed true, especially in his case. I can't say any more.

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  8. Tom, your first comment mystified me for a minute until I remembered what a "cracker" is. At first I thought you were talking in some weird code!

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    1. A cracker is many things, but in this case it's something you pull until something falls out of it.

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  9. Glad to hear you're solvent once again. Happy New Year!

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  10. Once when visiting Simon Fletcher, he placed two large antique glasses on the table, then poured half a bottle into each one. No messing with Mr Fletcher.

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