Beware!

Country: Spain

Manufactory: Lladro

Date of establishment: 1994

Sculptor: Julio Fernández

Size (cm): 33*40

Porcelain Story

This porcelain composition, purchased by me on one of the American sites, well conveys our condition during our first trip to the USA. In Atlantic City, we found ourselves in the midst of a massive snow storm. Despite all the fears caused by the alarming warnings of the rescue services, we were still lucky at first. At the Atlantic City bus station, where we ran with suitcases in our hands (after all, taxis in the city no longer worked!), We were lucky enough to get on the only bus that went to New York.

You know, in old American films, they often showed such long silver buses that looked like powerful locomotives, usually driven by incredibly overweight black women drivers? Everything was exactly like in the movies.

The bus, almost in pitch snowy haze, rushed forward along uncleaned intercity roads, along the sides of which a huge number of cars that had flown off the road stuck out. In some places, rescuers appeared, with shovels deftly shoveling people in trouble out of tall snowdrifts ...

Our dark-skinned Amazon raced without fear or reproach, stopping every 20 minutes just to de-ice the windshields and mirrors.

In New York, where we arrived late in the evening, a stunning picture appeared before our eyes. There was no traffic on the streets at all. Along Broadway (which at this time of the day is usually impossible to squeeze through the crowds of idly wandering tourists), as if enjoying the fantastic improbability of the situation, famously glided ... skiers! Snowdrifts reached the windows of the second floor. And even in this surreal nightmare, we (with suitcases in our hands!) first managed to get into the miraculously still working subway, and then catch the last train bound for Boston.

It is hard to imagine the happiness of the travelers, exhausted by this madness, who finally took the last empty seats in the last car of the last train leaving the station ... But we were really happy. True, our happiness did not last long. After a few hours of slow driving, our train stopped in an open field. The alarmed conductors tried to calm the passengers as best they could. Buffets were emptied instantly. But soon, in some unimaginable way, rescuers delivered hot coffee and buns to the snow-covered train. And there were enough for everyone!

After 8 or 9 hours, traffic on the railway was restored. And we safely continued on our way to the beautiful city of Boston. I should note that the figurine presented to your attention is one of almost a thousand porcelain items found in different years on specialized American Internet sites. For a long time, the United States was (and perhaps still is) the world's largest market for antique and modern European porcelain. So, despite its very conditional relationship to the story told, this composition certainly has a direct relationship to America.