"A Great Day Out"

“A Great Day Out”

On Thursday 5th August,the day before my 64th birthday,my family decided I needed my annual outing to Carlisle , which is a small English City about 40 miles just over the Scottish border.
Now the main reason for the long trip, was that they knew from bitter experience ,shock and boredom, that it is the home of my nearest and favourite Peterson e-tailer, Brucciani.
As some of you may know, I have mobility problems and I do not get out very often for long day trips in the car.However the family bought me a portable mobility scooter which packs easily into our Landrover utility vehicle.This has opened up a whole new dimension to my quality of life.I have gained a great deal of independence now.
My wife and daughter -in -law decided to leave me at Brucciani's while they went shopping.Well I have to tell you guys that was an experience to relish.No, not getting rid of the ladies!
I was met by the shop owner Chris Corrieri, who gave up valuable time, to spend a couple of hours with me, talking non-stop Peterson talk.Chris took me through to the back of the shop which is a general store, newsagent and tobacconist.It was like going back in time to the Edwardian period of the 1900's.He has magnificent displays of pipes,mainly Peterson in stock.The elderly lady who assists behind the shop counter was smiling broadly at my facial expression and verbal expletives! I thought I had gone to heaven!!Chris took me through the various stock pipes he has on display,it was wonderful. However the best was yet to come.He ducked beneath the counter and brought out three long dark green wooden boxes,very similar to gun boxes, and placed these on a table.He said that these samples had just arrived from Gawith Hoggarth, the main UK distributor of Peterson pipes.
He opened the boxes to a sharp intake of breath from me, I had never seen such gorgeous pipes as these, they were one off, Pete high grades .He was told that he could select just a few for sale in his shop,the others were to be distributed to the other main UK retailers for Petersons. Each would be asked to choose a couple of these treasures for 'special customer' sales. Well I was on the point of asking for tissues to wipe away the drool!! I had never seen anything like the quality of Petes like those before me ,each one had outstanding silverwork and beautiful birdseye on the bowls. Not a fill or bowl stain in sight.Some of the spigots had the most beautiful Celtic scroll silverwork,absolutely gorgeous craftsmanship. A memorable example was a silver spigot Sherlock Holmes 'Lestrade XL23.it was outstanding.I dread to think what a complete Sherlock Holmes set done to that quality would cost!!
True to form, I had forgotten to take my camera and scolded myself for the mistake.However when the Ladies returned to pick me up, they obliged by taking some shots with their mobile telephones.Unfortunately the photos do not show the Celtic scroll detail very well.They are OK,better than nothing.Enjoy.