I had been in a charity shop, looking at a large collection of drinking glasses which had obviously been donated by one collector with dubious taste. About two of them were quite exciting, and one I almost bought quite cheaply until I saw a small chip on the rim, bringing its value down to the asking price in the shop, so I left it.
I left the place and went somewhere else, but on walking back past I stopped and began staring into the window, wondering if I should, after all, go back in and buy it anyway.
I heard someone shouting abuse from the other side of the road and thought nothing of it. It happens all the time. There are plenty of mentally ill people walking the streets, especially now.
Then the dishevelled madman bellowed, "YOU! You with the wine glass!". I looked round to see that it was me he was shouting at. He carried on hurling abuse, staring me in the eyes and gesticulating accusatively before walking on, occasionally stopping to turn around to continue the rant. I could not make out any of the other words.
The only reason I initially looked at him was because I had the image of a glass in my head and I knew that his abuse was directed at me. He seemed to be able to see what was inside my thoughts, even though I had no wine glass in my hand.
Well, he was wrong. It was a 1790 ale glass - exactly like the above - that I was thinking of at the time.
P.S. I know the owner of the above glass, at least by reputation.
ReplyDeleteWhat was on display in the window? Glasses. Only trying to help out the savant.
ReplyDeleteThe glass pictured seems to have some small flaws, including a dent on the rim. Understandable in a 200 year old piece of glass. Can't a small nick be filed away on a glass rim.
There were no wine glasses in the window. What looks like a dent in this glass is just a slightly thicker bit made when the bubble of semi-molten glass was cut with shears to form the rim. You can file away small nicks from glasses, but this is easily spotted by an expert and counted as a repair.
DeleteIdiot savant? Nah, more likely just an idiot.
ReplyDeleteVery weitf but I love the glass.
ReplyDeleteIt was made for the strong beer that households would brew themselves.
DeleteI experienced something very similar when I was in Berlin. A German woman came over to ask me if I was ok having witnessed the episode and understood what the man was saying, of course. She refused to repeat it to me as she said it was so shocking. I was quite shaken by it and can still picture the man now.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to happen to me about once a year, but it happens to someone every day in town. I once had someone come up to me in Waitrose to ask me to fight him. He was an extreme one.
DeletePeople like that may be mentally ill, although I don't usually engage long enough with them to find out as I find it rather threatening to be abused. The most disturbing thing that ever happened to me was when I stopped in the wrong bit of LA in the USA to go to a laundrette, there was a woman who got furious because she thought I was looking the wrong way at her washing powder.
ReplyDeleteNever look the wrong way at washing powder.
DeleteYour experience is strange.
ReplyDeleteAs to buying antiques which are chipped (even only a little bit) I don’t after I once did against the advice of an expert - does not seem nice about me but I could not overlook the chip.
A chip will knock 80% off the value of a good glass.
DeleteI was once bellowed at by a man outside our local Co-op. He started by telling an unfunny rude joke as I walked past and then began shouting when I didn't laugh. It's hard to know how to react in a way that defuses the situation.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Co-op staff, who were very apologetic, he had recently been moved into the area as part of some kind of social scheme and had been a menace every day since, accosting customers and being vulgar especially to women. Horrible.
Scare in the community.
DeleteWhat an uncanny experience. It does remind me of an (ex) friend, whom when on a manic episode became quite psychic. I say ex, because I ended up having to protect myself from her destructive behaviour.
ReplyDeleteThat portrayal of the cackling soothsayer is based on historical fact. It happens.
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