Saturday 2 July 2011

Window Licking

It was Tish at Un Femme d'Un Certain Age who said that the French phrase for shopping (as in looking) meant 'window licking'. 

It reminded me of a conversation we overheard on the bus from the ferry to the Central train station in Amsterdam.  Our fellow passengers were a very rowdy bunch of young men who were anticipating their first ever visit to the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam (where the girls stand in booths protected by very thick glass doors).  They were teasing one of their mates that licking the window was all he would manage.  I couldn't understand most of the conversation, but later Bob told me he was ashamed of them.  Bill thought they were rather 'sweet' - one of them kept exclaiming about all the trees.  It's sort of a joke - Middlesborough is a grim industrial area.  But it is not the subject of this post.

Instead, I wanted to show you the architectural salvage place that we often pass.  Bill would never go in and tease himself, but I finally talked him into it one day.  I knew it would be wonderful.















Wasn't that fun?  I quite fancy replacing a few of the wooden door knobs in this house with glass.  Grandma and Grandpa's house had glass knobs and they were lovely.  I'm sure they ended up in someone's salvage yard.  As I recall, we often spent Sunday afternoons in Penn Square Mall, just window shopping; that's what we used to call 'shopping' as opposed to 'buying'. 

I love, love, love looking through old stuff like this.  And the best part is, it costs nothing to lick - I mean, look.

3 comments:

Pauline Wiles said...

Beautiful stuff...
I don't know where I'd go near here for something similar, but that's probably as well. I can't imagine my hubby being very pleased if I spent good money on old treasures like these!

Anonymous said...

oh, the tub on wheels is just too wonderful. I have half a mind to cover a door with door knobs of all different types, but to place the knob that actually opens the door in an odd position. My husband, the carpenter, assures me that this is humanly possible, but first I must collect the vintage knobs!

Shelley said...

Pauline - You live near SanFrancisco, do you not? It is one of the oldest settled parts of the US, not to mention being coastal. I'm sure you could find treasure if you really wanted it! But if hubby wouldn't approve, perhaps best not.

Terry - Sounds a great idea! Sort of like a hall of mirrors only a door of knobs! After glass knobs, ones made of porcelain are my next favourite! Get collecting!