an unexpected gift

An old friend of mine paid me a visit at work today, and said she'd brought me a present. She was carrying a large, oblong, cardboard box wrapped in a binliner. When I finally managed to unwrap it all - look what I found inside!

Anyway, at lunchtime, I went off to the shop and bought a new set of strings for it, and then as soon as I got home, I put a new bridge and the new strings on it. I've already had a good fiddle with it (pun intended), but the new strings are still stretching, so it goes out of tune pretty quickly, but it should settle down in a few days. It's got a beautiful tone and resonance, and sounds much nicer than my present instrument. Apparently it's over 80 years old and has been in Gill's family all that time. Her brother inherited it from an uncle, and then it was passed to Gill. She's not played it for over thirty years, and it's been stuffed in her loft. She won't accept a penny for it; she says she's just pleased that someone will play it. I am very chuffed, and feel honoured that she chose to pass it on to me.