Today I heard a trilling sound from the street below which I recognized instantly and which took me right back to my childhood - shades of Proust´s madelaine!
The sound is made on some sort of whistle and is the call sign of a knife grinder. It must be over 60 years since I last heard it and I was amazed when I rushed to the the window to see that it was indeed a knife sharpener down on the street touting his services.
They use a disc-shaped whetstone attached to a modified bicycle contraption which they wheel from place to place. When they spin the pedals the whetstone turns. I remember standing in the street gazing in awe at the sparks which flew everywhere.
He didn´t seem to be getting any business today but I had a nostalgic trip down memory lane as his trilling faded away into the distance.
How wonderful to see the knife sharpener. It reminded me of the street traders we used to have here, chair repairers and sellers of everything seasonal.
ReplyDeleteWe had chair repairers too, they used to weave the cane seats, and a man called door-to-door with a donkey and cart selling fresh vegetables. Small world!
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