Ready to set the beat
Unexpected question of the day: Dad, could you buy me a metronome? Answer: Sure, how soon do you need one? And off we go on another shopping expedition. Big city evening.
Now, I could have decided to make such a timely purchase via eBay, but my own experience has been that nothing makes the day seem longer than waiting for the postal truck. Or, worse, driving out to the courier depot because they don’t really ever deliver anything. I know the way. So, we decided to use that old-fashioned method of going to a store.
I did some quick “informed consumer” things like Googling up a comparison of models and Skyping a local store about availability. Even with all my up-to-date methods, the person at the other end of the call (obviously a poker player) would not give me a price (the trump card). So, me Mom and son #3 went for a ride down the highway.
The store is hidden in a small industrial park and has an invisible sign (putting the two out of three letters in a dark mauve colour is about as camouflaged as a store can be). Great music store, with far more personnel than customers. No bags left to carry my purchase, though. Happily, modern metronomes are about as big as my alarm clock; much easier to conceal in a coat pocket than the wooden monsters of my youth. Much louder, too.
One of the store employees would have gladly sold me a tuba if I’d been game, and the guy in the drum section had lots of cymbals but thrones were in short supply. No matter. I was just looking, thank you. The Frank Zappa as in-store music made for an interesting environment.
Armed with our new purchase, we had a delicious family supper at Extreme Pita. Anybody that offers hummous, feta cheese and two kinds of olives has the lock on my preferences. We also paid a visit to a high-end stereo store; again, just looking, if anyone had asked. This store doesn’t talk to people that don’t “look rich”. Audio snobbery.
So, Friday is closed. Tick. Tick. Tick. TICK.
