Stop me before I shop again!

Please, somebody stop me before I shop again!

I am not a shopper at heart. I buy clothes when I need them, I have maybe 8 pair of shoes — 14 if you count sandals — and 4 handbags including an evening one for dress-up. There’s only one thing that makes my heart go pitty-pat. It’s dishes. Dang, I LOVE dishes! I have two sets of china and four sets of everyday dishes. I have a Beleek tea service of teapot, cups, saucers, creamer & sugar bowl stashed away and in the other cupboard the most beautiful gold and white coffee service of Royal Worcester that I never use — it’s up in a high cupboard where it won’t get bumped or broken and. One of these days, I’ll get it all down and start using it. I will.

BUT, specifically, it’s wine glasses. Crystal ones.  Yesterday I had some things to drop off at Opportunity Village Thrift Store https://www.opportunityvillage.org  and thought I’d just take a peek and see if those gold-rimmed wine glasses I’d donated had sold. I had no intention of buying anything. Really. I guess lots of people are donating wine glasses because there are now three shelves of them. And right there at the back of the top shelf was — I was pretty sure — a crystal wine glass. I reached over the others and carefully lifted it up. I gave it a finger flick and a lovely, pure tone sailed out. The lady behind me turned around.

“That sounded beautiful,” she said.

“Yes, it did, didn’t it.” I wasn’t about to tell her it was crystal. I held it up to the light and sure enough — right there on the bottom it said Riedel. I did a quick scan, spotted three more and picked them up casually lest someone else notice what I was doing and start their own search.

The lady moved over and picked up a large glass and flicked it. It emitted a dull “thunk.” She glanced at me and shrugged, setting it down and moving off. Glass vs. crystal — no contest. Okay, I don’t need — or have room for — anymore wine glasses. This was just plain silly. I hadn’t planned to do any shopping, so didn’t have a basket, and now four delicate, large glasses were danging from my fingers. “Enough!” I told myself and resolutely turned away.

At the check-out, I discovered it was 50% off Senior Discount Day. Used to be Sunday, now it’s Saturday. And the glasses were marked 99 cents.  I got four for $1.96. It would have been a crime to walk out without them, don’t you think?

After I washed and found a place for them on the bookshelf (because the cupboard is full — eat your heart out, Old Mother Hubbard), I looked up Riedel on-line. The Bordeaux glasses retail for $54.90 — that’s for drinking Cabernet Sauvignon. The Burgundy (Pinot Noir) glasses are $58.90.

If you’re not familiar with Riedel, that’s the company a decade or so ago that convinced the world that wine tastes different in different shaped glasses. To prove their point, they created a whole line of glasses so you wouldn’t have to drink your Chateau Margaux (Bordeaux) from a Burgundy glass. (Heaven forfend!) And they also have special glasses for Grand Cru wines so I suppose you have a choice of two glasses for that Grand Cru Bordeaux.

That was yesterday. Today while I was passing Opportunity Village, I just had to stop and take one more quick look because, of course, yesterday I didn’t do a thorough search. I found two more Riedel glasses and although it was no longer senior discount day and I had to pay full price (99 cents), how could I not? As I did a final check, I spotted a shelf at the end of the aisle that held some “specialty glassware.” It was ordinary stuff, marked an outrageous $5.99. Really? Should I tell them at check-out? Hah! Not a chance! 

I smugly trotted up to the register, plunked down my $2.00 and walked out with $100 worth of crystal. Pretty good weekend’s shopping.

I think I’ll go open a bottle of Syrah and see if it really tastes any different out of a glass that sells for 4 times the cost of the wine.  I’ll be sure to let you know.