I've just reactivated my GO presence after an about two year hiatus; it is easy, very easy, to slip into hiatus here - for reasons which will soon be apparent - and it's pleasant to again be at least electronically in the fraternity.
For between the world of precious stone and the place where I now live – in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada (qv) a notably blue collar town smack in the middle of the poorest, least populated, least sophisticated region of an already not particularly remarkable country - there is a gulf of no small size. I thought it might be fun to tell an occasional real life gem story, mostly wry, and names changed to protect the guilty, from this context.
To give you an introductory perspective, in a back area of one of the malls here there used to be a watch and jewellery repair chap of Eastern European provenance; diminuitive, stooped & gnomish, with a koala bear nose surmounted by the thickest coke bottle eyeglasses I've ever seen. When I knew him he was already quite old and is now no longer with us. When you had a difficult job you brought it to Mr. Gourok. He’d look at it and if it wasn’t doable he’d say with a delightful economy of words “No I cannot do ziss.” End of the discussion. I’d heard it said several times that he scared people.
I introduced myself with of course, some show-and-tell pieces. He peered at them, turned them around, looked from all angles and said, “Verry nize, verry nize - you study in Pforzheim?” I said, “No, self-taught,” which got me a further verry-nize.
Some weeks later I dropped by with my case of faceted stones and opals. Again he peered and pondered. I suggested that perhaps he might like to buy some. He looked at me, silently, quizzically, and after sufficient pause said, “Stones? Here in Moncton, stones?” Another pause ensued. “Here, in Moncton, venn zey ask me for stones, zey ask me for haematite.” He surveyed me with questioning eyes to assess whether I was fully understanding the larger meaning of what he was saying; and having satisfied himself of that, he said one more time, as if to hammer it down for all eternity, “zey ask me for haematite.”
So there’s a little picture of the milieu from which I’ll be making the occasional odd contribution. Not much Tiffany ambiance here; flea markets, cigarette smoke, poor people: which might be slightly virgin ground for GO, and could be fun.
Cheers all, Hans Durstling Moncton Canada Ecclesisates 10:19
Post subject: Re: Tales From the Hinterlands (Introduction)
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 11:20 am
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 2:04 pm Posts: 623 Location: Southern OK/North TX
Hans Durstling wrote:
......Not much Tiffany ambiance here; flea markets, cigarette smoke, poor people: which might be slightly virgin ground for GO, and could be fun......... Ecclesisates 10:19
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