random act of generosity

I rarely use picture framers, but awhile back an artist we know had told me about the framer he uses for his exhibitions. I had an old picture which I bought years ago at a market in England -  a drawing of flowers - whose mount was falling apart.

So a few weeks ago, I dropped it in to the recommended framer, an oldish bearded guy whose studio is set back from the street in a pretty courtyard. Then I forgot about it.

The other night I got a badly flat tyre - it was pouring with rain, so instead of walking as usual to collect Olle  from a class, I drove - and drove over a bottle. Bad luck.

After changing the tyre yesterday, I took the car to the local tyre place and they said the flat tyre couldn't be repaired and in fact I needed two new tyres. Sigh.

While I was waiting, I decided to walk round to the framer's studio, in the next street. He was sitting at his desk. He found my picture and found the invoice - as he handed me the picture, which had been re-mounted and glass added, he looked at the invoice and said "That's $50" - then he screwed it up and said, "No, that's too much - it's on the house".

I had to pay $130 to the tyre place, but the 'gift' of $50 more than made up for that.