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[Winston Smith]

The last time I heard of an Egyptian around here, he'd made the news by being beaten to death in Gateshead!

[Tone Dumb Greg]

The last time I heard of an Egyptian around here, he'd made the news by being beaten to death in Gateshead!

Serve him right for monkeying around. Or is it a different monkey (I thought that one was a Frenchie). Vicious lot out your way.

[Winston Smith]

That was Hartlepool Greg, and they hanged him. This was just a couple of years ago, sadly. Just another poor b****r who thought he'd reached the "Promised Land"!

[Julian S]

I'm sure many of us have stories about the perils of travelling with our instruments. I have offered to play mine to the security staff to prove it wasn't containing anything dodgy - fortunately they declined !(I practice 'Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines', and 'Coming in in a Wing and a Prayer' regularly). And I'm wondering whether you have recorded the Egyptian National Anthem on your box, Winston...if so please share !
Seriously, having a photo of the box on departure sounds a good idea - some kind of proof of ownership in lieu of receipts. I'm just hoping that sanity prevails, because I think that dealing with the potential difficulties of instrument transit and importation will be amongst the least of our problems. Sorry if people think I'm straying into dangerous political waters. Interesting times in the worst kind of way.

Julian

[byteofthecherry]

Had a really strange one..last week there was a nice purple preciosa Bb/Eb(some of you must have been watching) on the devils junkyard..seller was a well known german one for instruments..g_mu6 in Sindelfingen and the pricing was US$..did my usual..watched..waited..then 'sniped' at the last moment...big banner came up..'your bid cannot be accepted for tax reasons'..that was it..and no one else bid either, its just disappeared and not in my didn't win list(which figures)

*Update*...Suddenly yesterday the preciosa posting appeared again..bidding time ten days..so i posted the starting bid as a test of acceptance..all OK..accepted...then an hour later I get a message saying congrats I've won...Scam I thought..went through all my eBay stuff carefully(I use a dedicated laptop purely for all money/buying stuff, nothing else) all seemed to check out.

 I messaged the German seller asking was it a scam..he got back very quickly and said he had trouble with his EBay site last week and it was O.K..so I paid him and now await the arrival of a what appears very nice preciosa, I suspect its club & original 435 tuning..so shall I send it to microbot for 'modernising'..??..or keep it original. I've just bought H.Handcarts Bb/Eb lilli so have that key..

[Winston Smith]

I always like to try to find the silver lining which comes with every cloud!

If Brexit is a disaster, and it does usher in a melodeon importing period where they become unaffordable, it may well encourage our indigenous melodeon entrepreneurs to get cracking.
 
I mean, where is the Italian or German, or French manufacturer whose melodeons can command a £16000+ price on the second hand market? One of Mr Brigg's did a while ago, as I'm sure you all remember. Our very own Mr Wesson's offerings were lovely, as is this one (to look at, at least):

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E-Beharrell-button-accordion/223692619448

which seems to be anther hand-made jobbie, from Hornsey. Theo had another locally hand-made 1 row for sale a while ago too.

Then there are the Pariselle workshops, these could possibly be widened somehow in their appeal, to provide some sort of production for retail. And, of course, some of our other highly skilled fettlers might well be tempted into going into production? From what I read of Mr Microbot, he's probably well able to turn out some innovative corkers even now! And these are without even mentioning those here in GB who are getting their designs made up abroad.
I hope that, as a country, we aren't afraid of the challenge to relearn some of our forgotten skills with which were able to forge an Empire?

[Lester]

indigenous melodeon entrepreneurs to get cracking.

Unfortunately a lot of the parts in their boxes are Italian

[Helena Handcart]

I always like to try to find the silver lining which comes with every cloud!

If Brexit is a disaster...

If/when that happens I suspect buying more  melodeons may be well down our list of priorities.

[Winston Smith]

"Unfortunately a lot of the parts in their boxes are Italian"

Didn't ice cream used to be a delicacy from Italy? It's now available worldwide.

I suppose that using Italian parts is currently the most convenient and economic way to go about it, but I'm sure that there are engineering people in Great Britain who could just as easily mass produce such bits and bobs at affordable prices, if there was a market for them. If (as it seems via YouTube) the Ruskies can hand-make reeds and brackets and bellows etc with rudimentary tooling, can't we match that with our super-duper technology?

"If/when that happens"

Again, my silver lining hopes for, and therefore imagines, a new order arising in such a circumstance; where productive and socially beneficial work will be amply rewarded but holding the country to ransom could well be outlawed! But that's another story which isn't mainly about melodeons, isn't it?

[mselic]

Didn't ice cream used to be a delicacy from Italy? It's now available worldwide

I don’t think I’m out of line here by suggesting that ice cream may have more universal appeal than accordions...

[Lester]

Didn't ice cream used to be a delicacy from Italy? It's now available worldwide

I don’t think I’m out of line here by suggesting that ice cream may have more universal appeal than accordions...

And

The history of ice creams probably began around 500 BC in the Achaemenid Empire of Iran (Persia) with ice combined with flavors to produce summertime treats.

[Theo]

[[ADMIN]]

History of ice cream?  Well off topic, and the subject has been well aired, so ltd stop here.