This is one of those I-can’t-believe-I’ve-just-done-that posts. If the email in my tray is accurate, I’ve just agreed to buy the David Schulz Copeland low D. Is this the ultimate act of whistling faith?
Those of you who live ‘up over’ seem to regard these little tinny things as expensive. Well, you have no idea how expensive they are to us ‘down under’. (Sorry if the imagery is a bit inappropriate for a family program. It’s just that our Prime Minister has been acting very submissively of late and it gets to us … Yes George, no George, of course subsidies to whistling farmers are completely in the spirit of free trade George.) But I digress. To imagine what a Copeland low D costs in $A after postage, bribes to officials etc., just take the $US figure and double it. Now you’re close. And we don’t get any larger redundancy packages than you do.
It’s been an exciting few days, even for Wombat. First I ordered a Grinter low F. Then I sent off for my first two Burkes—a high C and a low G. Then I got news that my custom made Stratazouki (mouldy fygge trad guys don’t ask) is just about ready for production. Then I hear that a high-end anglo concertina of the kind I was after is available now and I won’t have to wait the two years I’d been expecting to wait. Now this. Oh, and I’m also supposed to be looking for a house to buy.
Displacement, do I hear you say? Nah, just the right priorities.
Now for the really funny bit. After I received the email from David saying that I was the lucky winner of the Copeland low D, I look back at the thread to check the price I’d agreed to and …the original message was gone. Can anybody remember what David was asking? Please don’t take the opportunity to rib me about this, folks, remember what I said about the exchange rate and have mercy on a poor furry little marsupial who’s quite loveable when he isn’t being sarcastic. Chris, that means YOU!
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-09-27 04:51 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-09-27 04:53 ]
The great thing about these purchases Wombat is that if you don’t like or decide you can’t afford, just put 'em back up for sale. Doc Jones has owned just about every whistle there is and sold on till he owned the ones he liked best.
Nick: thanks for that; I’ll memorise it for my next chat with bank manager, accountant etc. And no, ARL sunday week; AFL tomorrow. The bears against the pies. ARL finalists yet to be decided of course. (For those who weren’t aware, Nick and I are communicating in secret Australian traveller’s language. And, no, we’re not going to tell you what we’re talking about. You’d just better hope that it’s not you we’re talking about.)
Jens: You’d better be careful. Wombats bite, wombats scratch and some fart a lot, although not this one. Just ask 'enders. I bit a large ugly piece out of his carefully worked-out theory of harmony before I offered him a beer. Now if you’d like to offer to pay David for me with your smarty two-shoes Euros I’ll forget you ever crossed me. Deal?
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-09-27 06:44 ]
Now if you’d like to offer to pay David for me with your smarty two-shoes Euros I’ll forget you ever crossed me. Deal?
I’m from Denmark. We don’t use no stinkin’ euros!
You’d better be careful. Wombats bite, wombats scratch and some fart a lot, although not this one.
Oy! Crikey! It’s a wombat. Ain’t he a cute lil darling? (Jens the Wombat Hunter throws himself on the wombat, pinning it to the ground.) Look, he’s trying to bite me! Ain’t he sweet?!
On another note, I think - but can’t swear to it - that David’s price was $350.
[ This Message was edited by: Jens_Hoppe on 2002-09-27 06:54 ]
On 2002-09-27 04:49, Wombat wrote:
was the lucky winner of the Copeland low D, I look back at the thread to check the price I’d agreed to and …the original message was gone. Can anybody remember what David was asking?
Wombat: David would know best, of course, but I’m pretty sure he was asking $350. I remember this, because I was thinking of buying it, but $350 was more than I sold my copeland low D for ($300, some time ago), and decided I’d wait until I could get one for closer to $300.
On 2002-09-27 06:03, nickt wrote:
The great thing about these purchases Wombat is that if you don’t like or decide you can’t afford, just put 'em back up for sale. Doc Jones has owned just about every whistle there is and sold on till he owned the ones he liked best.
True enough. This philosophy is useful for pacifying wives and bankers (no, no, honey I’m not going to keep them ALL. I’m just trying them.)
The variable I didn’t reckon on was the separation anxiety. I’m now starting to re-buy some of the whistles I sold. :roll:
WhOA is Me!
Doc
I Whistle, Therefore I Am.
[ This Message was edited by: Doc Jones on 2002-09-27 08:30 ]
On 2002-09-27 06:42, Wombat wrote:
Nick: thanks for that; I’ll memorise it for my next chat with bank manager, accountant etc. And no, ARL sunday week; AFL tomorrow. The bears against the pies. ARL finalists yet to be decided of course. (For those who weren’t aware, Nick and I are communicating in secret Australian traveller’s language. And, no, we’re not going to tell you what we’re talking about. You’d just better hope that it’s not you we’re talking about.)
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-09-27 06:44 ]
Wot?! No swans? Well then, what tiny weeny interest I had in aerial ping pong just went out the window. Just as long as the bloody kiwis don’t win in Sydney on Sunday or we’ll never hear the end of it (ARL).
On 2002-09-27 04:49, Wombat wrote:
To imagine what a Copeland low D costs in $A after postage, bribes to officials etc., just take the $US figure and double it. Now you’re close.
We’re in the same boat Wombat. Our Canadian dollar is the same as the AUS$, we too have to basically double the price in US to figure out what it will cost us in Canadian funds. Never mind Customs charges when it crosses into Canada. It would work well for us if we could buy/sell between Australia & Canada!! Enjoy your Copeland!!
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Oy! Crikey! It’s a wombat. Ain’t he a cute lil darling? (Jens the Wombat Hunter throws himself on the wombat, pinning it to the ground.) Look, he’s trying to bite me! Ain’t he sweet?!
[/quote]
Wombats are big and not very cute…you are most likely wrestling a drop bear! Mike
You’ve sold a Copeland Low D and now you want to buy one back? I’m curious about the story… ? I just know I could never sell mine, even if Saddam was asking for it in exchange for my mother!
Thanks well-wishers and all who agreed on the price—that’s what I thought it was. Thanks Jens. My point wasn’t so much that you use Euros but that you can afford them? Am I wrong about that too? You are of course right; I had no idea that Denmark had forsaken the joys of the Euro. By the same token Mike is quite right about wombats. Let me elaborate a little. Imagine a Staffordshire terrier that doesn’t much like you. Now imagine that the dog’s legs reach down only about half as far as they appear to and that the beast is standing on stilts. Now remove the stilts. That’s what you’d be wrestling. The beast of course, not the stilts. Still I think we have the makings of a deal. I overestimate euros; you underestimate wombats. Fair swap I think? Trouble is, it doesn’t go far towards the price of the Copeland.
You’ve sold a Copeland Low D and now you want to buy one back? I’m curious about the story… ? I just know I could never sell mine, even if Saddam was asking for it in exchange for my mother!
Pretty simple, AZ.
I’m a computer programmer in Houston. Because of the tech/internet bubble bursting, 9/11 job cuts, Enron, and the Compaq-HP merger layoffs, I’ve spent the better part of 9 months out of the last 24 unemployed. As an example of how these things hurt the houston IT market, in 2000, there were in the neighborhood of 170 jobs available on monster.com that matched my qualifications. When i was laid off the Friday before Xmas, 2001, there weren’t any, and only 3 or 4 became available over the course of a couple weeks. Scary.
At one point, I had to make the hard decisions between what I really wanted to keep, and what would put dinner on the table. Copeland whistles have a high resale value, and at the time I hadn’t had it long enough to really get used to the air requirements (I’m very used to the Chieftain low D I’ve been playin for years). So, it got sold. If I’d have been single, I’d have probably made different choices (finding roomies, moving in with friends or family, etc) and kept the Copeland. But I’m a bit older now, with a wife and child, and ultimately, they count for much more than a bit of well-tuned brass.
That said, I really did like the sound, and now that I’m making good money again, I’ve begun acquiring a few new high-end whistles (though this time I’ve gotten burkes, and am seriously considering a busman to replace my weasel).
Greg
[ This Message was edited by: Wandering_Whistler on 2002-09-27 11:58 ]
On 2002-09-27 12:14, ChrisLaughlin wrote:
LOL
Don’t worry. I’m just teasing!
Best,
Chris
I think I knew that all along Chris. But I couldn’t resist seeing if you’d take the bait when I started this thread. Actually, most of the humour in this situation had been used up by the time you joined in I fear.
cheers.
I understand perfectly. When I left for Ireland in march and came back here in june I was pretty much in the same situation as you. The thought of selling a whistle never crossed my mind, principaly because I don’t have many high end whistles, and the ones I have are mostly in different keys, so they’re “vital”, and also because I don’t have a family depending on me (and have RSP as backup plan). If I had a child, you can be sure that he would be a priority above any instrument I’d own, so what you said makes sens! (to me…)
Mike