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Songfacts 'Show and Tell '


Kevin

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Remember 'show and tell ' in primary school ? You'd bring something in from your house and tell the class a little something about it . So , in this thread you simply either describe something you have in your house and talk about it ( what it is/ means to you / etc. ) or, for you more talented folk who can post images , do it and follow the same .

I have a 4 by 6 foot Turkish wool carpet in my living room , cinnamon and burbandy colored , that we bought in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul . What is the most memorable about it was the negotiating process that was 'required ' to purchase one properly .

In Turkey , and I believe in other Arab or Middle Eastern countries that produce them as well , the proper behavior is to sit down in a show room , enjoy a cup of tea and haggle with the sales man as he shows you various carpets and describes their attributes . This can be a long drawn out affair and for Westerners unused to the practice , or having limited time ( we were on holiday , afterall ) , this can all seem rather pointless and silly . However , my wife was keen , so I eventually joined in 'the game ' and soon hours went by as we haggled and pshawed certain items and the prices -but not in the quick and disrespectful way I thought occurred in Mexico , but with the 'style' of feigned profesionals admiring works of art ! After numerous snacks , cups of tea , silly compliments , small and 'serious' talk , we settled on this item in our livingroom .

Of itself ; it isn't much ( though a bit 'pricey'--and , of course, I'm sure the seller got the best of us in the end ) , but the memory of the fun of that lost afternoon and of all the people involved make it as priceless to us as anything we might see in ,say , Buckingham Palace . It also struck me of a now lost stylish way of doing business that has largely been lost now in our consumption -oriented and busy society , where clerks rarely even bat an eye even when customers are considering purchases near or over thousands of dollars . "Charge that ?" ... We make it so easy for them and rarely appreciate what we buy , even ... But perhaps , afterall , it was just the 'spell' of Istanbul ?

:cool:

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Kevin, my parents were in Istanbul last year (my dad plays hockey and they were on a European tour thing) and I remember them telling me about the carpet sellers! They were forced into a room and given a long, drawn out speech on the rugs and carpets, they said there was no escaping! The salesman had the entire team cornered! :laughing:

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And they are absolutely correct, Katie, and I can still recall it myself , clearly ! :laughing: (yet wincing ) It WAS annoying , to say the least , being pestered almost constantly . However, like any tourist destination where there is a popular ' must buy ' commodity , there are tons of pests trying to sell what seems to be that particular item ( or more likely a replica ) . Fortunately , our hotel guided us to a place that didn't need to employ such tactics, and it wasn't the same -- but I share your parents's mirth/ chagrin in all that . :laughing:

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Touche , and spot on ... but I don't recall constantly grabbing locals and asking them where things were / what time it was / if they wanted to buy MY watch or how do I say 'whatever' in their language , or the like , either ...

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That could very well be . I guess my feeling is that tourism is a well developed enough industry in most countries , now , that even small shopkeepers should be slightly aware that Western tourists usually don't appreciate the HEAVY ' COME IN ,sir ...YOU LIKE THIS ? I give you SPECIAL PRICE , Come , PLEASE ! Look ! ... ( arm around you gently, yet forcibly coaxing you into his shop ) routine -- at every shop walking down a street . :P Save it for the locals who do apparently understand and appreciate it . I mean I'm not asking for special treatment , or to lose the local 'flavour' of business , but just a happy 'medium' . I'd prefer to be ignored than cajoled into looking at something ( playing on my sense of good manner not to immediately tell him to get lost , but to try to make some accomodation ) .

Shop -Keeper : Looks after the shop , one would assume ; the sidewalks are for pedestrians ...

Anyway , tell us about something you have , anyone ?

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I have an intact small crab shell, legs and all.

My husband's grandparents used to own a home on Shelter Island, NY and he grew up spending his summers there. Well, when we started dating seriously, he started taking me there on summer weekends.

One weekend, while I was looking for seashells, I found a tiny crab. I thought it was alive, since it was intact, so I poked it. Nothing. I picked it up gingerly and examined it. Nothing inside. Usually the seagulls drop the crabs on rocks to eat them, so you only find fragments of crab shells. I had no idea how this tiny little crab shell was still so intact, and I still don't, but I saved it.

It's in a jewelry box made out of sea shells on my dresser.

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I have a show and tell story to tell...I use to teach pre-school. Every Wednesday was show and tell. I brought in my pictures of the ship we were on for our cruise to show to my class....I was explaining to them this was a very big ship, not a little ship...

Then one little boy piped up and said " My mommy called me a little sh*t this morning! :grin:

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We have a cool dragon made from stuff that looks like dough, and he is on a piece of driftwood with orange glass eyes. He's really cool and I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him when we were in Bath on a weekend break a while ago.

He was marked down insanely though, from £47 to £12, and then had been marker penned to £7 - I really wanted him, even if he was a reject one - the defect was so small and added to his character (one of his back scales was slightly bent, like he had been touched before he set properly.

It was early in the morning though and we had a full day ahead of us seeing Bath in the limited time we had, so we couldn't buy him then and I was so nervous that someone would snap him up, but he was still there at 6pm!

He sits and watches over us from our CD shelf in his own clay dragony way :)

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we have a piece of the berlin wall at home, i don't know where we got it from but i have a good story about the fall of the wall (one that isn't hoff-related). my uncle is a computer consultant and he was in berlin for a meeting the night the wall fell. they got word in the meeting-room of what was happening so he and another guy went down to check it out. he described to me in detail what was going on, the incredible atmosphere and how dozens of people were chipping off bits of the wall to keep as a memento. they decided that they had to do something to mark such a momentous occasion so they used the precursor to the internet (i don't know what it was called!) and sent a message to every computer on the system saying 'this is MB (i don't want to type his name) and CC on 11th november 1989 at the fall of the berlin wall.' he said that every few years he gets an email asking if he is the MB who sent that message!

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I had a genuine piece, retrieved by me a year after the fall. I went to East Berlin (as was) on a college trip, and spent a week in what used to be a Stazi (secret police) building. I shared a cell with a chain-smoking alcoholic who developed spectacular sh*ts during the trip. The funniest moment was seeing a big steroid shotputter of a nurse fight her way through the smoke and soiled underpants, pull down his kecks and stab him with a 6" needle. I don't think it had anything to do with his illness, more a misguided sense of fun on her part!

I digress. The chunk of concrete and spraypaint lived in my loft until I moved house. I threw it away.

Regards

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I have an original 1939 copy of Gone With The Wind, the Motion Picture Edition. It's the complete novel, illustrated throughout with stills from the movie itself. A lovely hardcover book, with a ribbon marker.

I also have a drum made by a very freespirit friend. He makes Native American drums in the authentic fashion. It stands about 4 feet high, with stretched buffalo hide for the drumhead. He sands, stains, and dyes the wood to bring out whatever "natural pictures" are in the wood. Mine has a sun, moon, eagle in flight, and a lovely naked lady, about 2 feet high, riding a sea turtle. It's beautiful, and one of my prized possesions. It used to be in the old photograph thread.

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