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My friends, take hold of my hand and let’s journey back to a time many moons ago when the mighty Bernina 830 was a new and current model.
A chap walked in off the street and into my fathers store and he asked to be shown the very best sewing machine on sale. The man explained that he wished to buy a birthday present for his dear lady wife.
My father lead the chap over to the 830 and began to proudly explain its merits. The man cut dad short pulled out his cheque book and asked, ‘How much is it and can you deliver one to my address at 3pm next Thursday’. His wife would then be out of the house paying a visit to her mother.
Dad did as he was bade and dutifully delivered the 830.
The months and years slipped by and the chap popped in every so often to buy an extra foot or attachment when a birthday or Christmas arrived. One year he even bought a rather smart cabinet for his wife’s 830. He and his wife, he told my father, now had a family and his wife made all the clothes for their two young girls on the 830.
A few years ago the chap appeared once more now an old and quite frail man. He remembered my father, now semi retired himself. They spoke, as old men do, about old times and when they were young and how they once bestrode the world with vigour and love. As if to remind each other that those golden days were real, and not just some hazy half forgotten dream.
The man went on to explain how time had stolen his wife’s once sharp faculties and she now spent her days in an old folks home.
She could no longer sew.
The chap asked my father to call and collect the still mighty Bernina 830, the cabinet and all the many attachments he’d bought over those years. My father asked the chap how much he wanted in return. ‘Not one penny’, replied the man. That Bernina, he explained, had clothed his family and given his wife so much pleasure over so many years. His only request was that the 830 should go to a good home.
They shook hands and the chap departed.
A few days later we collected the 830 and the cabinet and we placed it in our store for sale.
That mighty 830 and cabinet is the one you see in my post.
Not long after, a very smart lady and her daughter walked into our store and were both very taken by the 830. I explained the merits of the 830 to the lady who could have easily afforded any machine in our store. The daughter, a college fashion student, had previously used the Bernina 830 in her classes and, having seen our 830 sat snugly in the cabinet, looked as though she had just fallen deeply in love.
The mother presented her credit card and the sale was made.
I like to think the daughter will find someone decent, kind and caring and the story will begin all over again.
