We'll break a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne!

Sometimes you see something and you just have to have it.  But sometimes, it's not that simple.  A few days ago Halldis Thune was wondering around the Arcade looking for blue and white china.  She found the perfect piece in a large cup which bore the famous lyrics to Auld Lang Syne on the rim. 

Unfortunately, the piece had lost it's price tag and though we tried, we couldn't get hold of the stallholder to put a price on it.  So, Halldis had to leave without the one item she really wanted.  A few days passed and the stallholder was reached and a price ticket was placed on the item and the item was returned to it's unit.  That day, just minutes after it had been returned to the unit, a customer had a minor trip and knocked the cup off the shelf and it smashed on the floor.  Well, accidents do happen, so the poor old cup ended up in the bin and I thought nothing more of it.

Until, that is, the very next day when Halldis came back in for another browse.  She asked me if I had found out the price of the cup because she would really love to buy it.  I informed her of the series of events which led to it ending up in the bin.    She was so disappointed that she could have bought it and saved it from it's untimely demise if only she had come in the day before.  She was so upset that she asked me if I would show her the broken pieces - and it just so happened I hadn't emptied the bin yet and the pieces were all there.  She said she would like to take them home to Norway and stick them back together to add to her collection of blue and white.  I was more than happy to let her have them for nothing, in exchange for such a good story!

She absolutely loved the Arcade and although she would have been happier to take the cup away in one piece, she was delighted to have it even though it had been smashed.