{"id":2100,"date":"2024-07-04T11:54:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T11:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2100"},"modified":"2024-07-04T11:54:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T11:54:43","slug":"reserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/reserved\/2100\/","title":{"rendered":"Reserved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I do love a vintage store, but this smell is like something from Hell. At least I am out of the rain though \u2013 Britain, am I right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surrounding me are a litany of supposedly real leather briefcases and a couple of wooden chairs. I wouldn\u2019t mind a fancy briefcase but where would I wear it? It feels like the flash and suave look of a well-made briefcase died after the second world war. Oh well, I\u2019m not here for me anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In the distance, behind a small, dark wood desk, sits an elderly man with round framed glasses eyeing me suspiciously. I give a small nod and try to act naturally as I leaf through a collection of old comics I\u2019m not interested in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we all panic that people think we are shoplifters when we aren\u2019t going to steal anything? What\u2019s going to happen? I\u2019ve even worked retail \u2013 I know<\/em> they can\u2019t do anything unless I leave the store with something and yet fear washes over me whenever I get that \u2018are you a shoplifter?\u2019 look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t even know where to start here; what do you get for a retiring professor that you barely know and barely like? I walk past the jewellery section even though it whispers my name seductively; that\u2019s probably going to be a no, unless there are cufflinks but is that too extravagant for Mr. Callan? Probably \u2013 he only taught me for one term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No to the cufflinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe a fountain pen? They have quite the selection here. Decent price, makes sense as he\u2019s a professor, can\u2019t have too many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sold!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I scan the shelves in front of me trying to find a pen without the label \u2018reserved\u2019 on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Excuse me?\u2019 I call over to the vintage man, \u2018All of these are reserved?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He doesn\u2019t even look up as he shouts back \u2013 \u2018If it says reserved then it\u2019s not for sale.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay\u2026 so fountain pen is out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, there seem to be some nice leather pocketbook covers. I am sure people can always find room for those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pfft\u2026 \u00a385. Good luck, Mr. Callan<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, it\u2019s reserved anyway. I skim through the rest of the covers and notice they too, are reserved. Considering I am the only customer here on a Saturday afternoon it seems this shop is rather popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I traipse the aisles one after the other passing dolls in rocking chairs and cheap paintings in expensive frames; and upon every item rests a small, delicately written \u2018Reserved\u2019 sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to ask the man again; I have that modern fear of \u2018being a pain\u2019, so I trudge on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reserved\u2026 reserved, reserved\u2026. <\/em>And so, on it goes, mocking me. It\u2019s starting to feel like a prank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then out of the corner of my eye I spy what must be a mirage; a sign that says, \u2018For Sale\u2019. It sits next to a small silver ring with a pink stone. \u00a312. Certainly reasonable \u2013 and just my size. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess Mr. Callan is having chocolate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t even know where to start here; what do you get for a retiring professor that you barely know and barely like? I walk past the jewellery section even though it whispers my name seductively; that\u2019s probably going to be a no, unless there are cufflinks but is that too extravagant for Mr. Callan? Probably \u2013 he only taught me for one term. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1129,1327],"tags":[114,124,510,427,8,161,607,116,1051,13,1324,1323,1326,1325,71],"class_list":["post-2100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1129","category-july-2024-for-sale","tag-but","tag-do","tag-even","tag-going","tag-he","tag-here","tag-know","tag-like","tag-look","tag-me","tag-pen","tag-reserved","tag-store","tag-vintage","tag-well"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sbrNJE-reserved","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2102,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100\/revisions\/2102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}