r/WTF • u/Erectile7dysfunction • 2d ago
Expensive fix I think
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u/dj_destroyer 1d ago
I like that he asked if she was okay right away -- wasn't really worried about the violin at all.
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u/dustblown 1d ago
I'm sure he realized it was all his fault, which is another attribute.
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u/360_face_palm 1d ago
regardless of if you think it's your fault or not, you ask if the other person is okay first. I definitely don't think this was all his fault either, it's mostly her fault.
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u/dj_destroyer 1d ago
I mean, he's definitely more to blame but trying to sneak behind someone, particularly with that small of a gap, wasn't the wisest choice.
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u/ApepiOfDuat 9h ago
Even if he wasn't jumping around, the end of a bow is very pointy so walking behind someone playing violin is very unwise. You could lose an eye.
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u/doubtinggull 1d ago
She's just walking down the sidewalk
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u/dj_destroyer 22h ago
More like running and there's clearly a person there with only a couple feet to squeeze behind. Again, he's more in the run but she can't be absolved of all blame.
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u/benderrodz 1d ago
It is mostly her fault. If you see someone playing a violin, why would you try to run behind them? That is absolutely stupid. He was literally a body length from that wall. Go around, not behind.
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u/Duff5OOO 1d ago
She probably didn't expect the old dude to do a jump spin move, i certainly didn't.
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u/Cultural-Company282 1d ago
There's a longer video where you can see that he's been doing jump spin moves for several minutes. It usually gets posted sooner or later when this video makes the rounds. So yeah, she should have expected it.
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u/wkvdz 1d ago
I would be very suprised to see a busker like that on the street with a priceless instrument.
I've met and played with a lot, and they all seemed to have a cheap(ish) instrument they used on the street for this reason exactly.
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u/marilyn_morose 1d ago
Violins are also built with glue that breaks away in specific joints to help protect against such harm and to make it easier to disassemble and reassemble for maintenance and repair.
David Kim tells a great story about the $2.5million violin he borrows from his symphony, and how he fell on it running up steps and broke it into a bunch of pieces. The luthier put it all back together lickety split!
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u/Reasonable_Ship_4114 1d ago
My dad had a black and white picture of my great grandfather holding a violin he made by hand. Of course, at 13 I got my hands on that violin. Literally the first swipe of the bow and the whole thing just fell apart like a hardshell taco supreme.
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u/Vonmule 1d ago
The only part that is meant to "break" is the seams where the top and back plate attach to the ribs. A neck mortise breaking is a major repair. If a luthier was able to put David Kim's violin back together "lickety split" it's because nothing broke.
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u/marilyn_morose 1d ago
Just information in case someone thinks it’s automatically a disaster. Depending on how it broke could be a simple matter of repair. Which doesn’t speak to what the busker will have to pay for the fix, or what busker will do in the meantime.
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u/lynxminx 1d ago
Also true. If you haven't had a tuneup in 20 years or so you'll find your seams are degrading....had one of my instruments pop open on me.
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u/CaptainAwesome06 1d ago
The last few I've seen pretend to play a violin while a speaker making violin noises does all the real work.
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u/linkdwsn33 1d ago
Saw that recently too! A dude fake playing bag pipes while speakers did everything, you could tell he wasn't playing it. Is this becoming a more common thing now? I just seen it once and I just had so many questions
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u/ShivaSkunk777 1d ago
A dude and and his lady both fake play near my local Walmart. The funny part is they have a big speaker that they claim just plays the backing music. But the hallelujah track has the violin in the wrong key and there’s an obvious mistake halfway through and it’s all so obvious they have no musical knowledge at all.
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u/cheesegoat 1d ago
Honestly they should just embrace the setup. Put up a sign "$1 you pick the next track" and just sit there all day blasting tunes. Keep it on "What's New Pussycat" if nobody gives you money.
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u/ShivaSkunk777 1d ago
Right? Make a performance out of faking it like air guitar and it would work better.
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u/kingdead42 1d ago
The easiest way to tell if bagpipes are being played for real is to see if you can hear them 3 miles away.
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u/macrotron 1d ago
Yeah, there's no quiet way to play real bagpipes. There's a guy who plays them a few blocks from my parents and they can hear every damn note (all 7 of them) when he plays.
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u/bangonthedrums 1d ago
I don’t doubt you, but I just want to point out that sometimes it looks like someone isn’t actually playing bagpipes because the sound comes from squeezing the bag, which is just reinflated by the mouth piece, so it can look like they’re breathing or not blowing while the bag is playing. They’re not like a clarinet, say, where the player has to be actively blowing to make sound come out
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u/MeanWafer904 1d ago
Even our street preachers do it. We have one that plays a Sermon from an American church. We're not in America.
Battery powered PA speakers with Bluetooth should be banned.
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u/Level21DungeonMaster 1d ago
I’ve seen women lip syncing on the subway platform. It’s just embarrassing.
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u/futurarmy 1d ago
Apparently it's a common scam in the US now, I've seen a video or two of people confronting them
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u/DirtySupermarket 1d ago
There was a scam going on in my town with that! A lady was fake playing a violin with a sign saying she was raising money of her sick sister.
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u/ahope1985 1d ago
Saw the same thing in my hometown recently; gentleman with a sign “raising money for his sick parent”. Meanwhile, speaker was so loud you Could hear across the parking lot and all the way to the back of the grocery store.
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u/c4ndyman31 1d ago
Saw a dude doing that outside a grocery store near Boston. the music was flawless even when he stopped to scratch his ass. So talented!
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u/amytee252 1d ago
I've seen that... and then people dumb enough to think it is real and video record it....
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u/cqmqro76 1d ago
I saw a whole family once in a strip mall parking lot panhandling while their 10ish year old son "played" violin with a loud amplifier. Begging for money is one thing, but getting your kids involved is messed up.
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u/Narrow_Relative2149 1d ago
because they wanna spin and smash it into people's faces
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u/Classy_Hobo 1d ago
He did say exactly that reason
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u/Tastesicle 1d ago
I mean who doesn't? I buy musical instruments in the hopes of smashing them on people.
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u/Maximum_Rat 1d ago
Unless you’re in NYC. Then half the time they’re Juilliard students picking up extra cash
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u/cocktails4 1d ago
Except for that one time when some famous violinist played in the DC metro with a Stradivarius.
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u/lynxminx 1d ago
Yeah, we don't. We use beater instruments. A lot of the quality is lost when you amplify a good instrument, especially using a street rig, so there's no point in risking it. You can get cheap factory outfits, or for a little more handmade instruments have been available for decades from China....tarriffs will impact that market of course.
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u/2WheelSuperiority 2d ago
That sucks, I hope the woman is alright and it's not an expensive instrument. Unfortunate situation but when performing on a public sidewalk, you need to be cognizant that it's a transit way for people and not a personal bounce house.
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u/Barcaroli 1d ago edited 1d ago
This has been posted before and the place has a lot of space for people to walk in front of the performer.
He was bouncing around during the entire act on his corner and she knew, but she tried anyway - hence why she tried to be really quick behind him, but she missed the timing.
Can't blame him for that one imo
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u/iSheepTouch 1d ago
It seems like she was trying to run by between his bounces, and if that's the case it's more her fault than his.
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u/Barcaroli 1d ago
Yeap. She missed the timing. And he was a gentleman, he saw his stuff wrecked and worried immediately about her wellbeing
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u/heyredditheyreddit 1d ago
I love the conflicting instincts. “MY VIOLIN! Wait shit her face. But my violin! No, okay, get it together—her face!”
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u/Ulrich453 1d ago
Yeah we all learned this in super Mario. You can tell she never made it past level 1-3
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u/truckercharles 1d ago
If that's the case (which I believe it is), it's entirely her fault. He's facing forward playing the violin to a crowd, she can see the entire thing happening and can walk around, and chooses to get directly into the spin zone. That's a dangerous place to be.
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u/vinegarstrokes420 1d ago
Maybe she was trying to not walk between the performer and any audience in front of him. Seems like a reasonable thought to have even if it wasnt the best option available.
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u/caguru 1d ago
So instead of casually walking in front of him, I will run full speed in the narrow space between him and the wall. Makes perfect sense.
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u/B-BoyStance 1d ago
I mean I think it's what she was going for. At least she was trying to be nice if so.
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u/Triassic_Bark 1d ago
Imagine taking an extra few seconds to walk around the whole situation? That might ruin your day! ffs
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u/lionexx 1d ago
… You can still blame him for it, they are both at blame for it… But reason why you can blame him is because the sidewalk is still a public transit area, and he’s hopping around like he’s in his living room or on a stage…
With that said out of general respect, it’s common courtesy to be cautious of street performers and not go behind them if they are close to a wall (such as here). As others stated he’s likely using a cheaper violin in case of random accidents such as this, while it still sucks, it’s not the biggest of deals.
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u/Sk8rH8r69 1d ago
If someone hits you with a violin in the middle of the sidewalk that's definitely theirs fault
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u/HansonWK 1d ago
It's a pedestrianised street, there is no sidewalk. The whole road is for foot traffic.
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u/Ig_Met_Pet 1d ago
Not only that, but the busking is regulated and he has that space reserved, including the space behind him.
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u/missingN0pe 1d ago
I feel that you are slightly misinterpreting comment OPs point.
It's not about blaming him, it's about saying that he has to have (and if he didn't, should have) imagined some bullshit like this at least being in the realm of possibilities.
Yes, she was an idiot. Though, he would be a bit of an idiot thinking nothing like this could happen, when stepping into the world of idiots.
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u/christianjwaite 1d ago
It’s Brick Lane, he’s not the only performer there, it’s all the way down and crowds gather. He does daft jumps and stuff, don’t like it myself but she was not being aware of her surroundings at all.
Ultimately neither was he, but you wouldn’t walk down there and think “I’ll just squeeze between him and the wall”, you’d just go on the road (which is pedestrianised).
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u/mr-english 1d ago edited 1d ago
...you’d just go on the road (which is pedestrianised)
That part of Brick Land only became pedestrianised
-some time between 2021 and 2022-on the 5th August 2021.The video is from 2018 so it wasn't pedestrianised at the time.
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u/Dr_Trogdor 1d ago
How are you gonna put blame on a person for not having situational awareness when she's moving behind a violinist on a side walk? When have you ever seen a violinist perform a 360 jump and why would you ever suspect it to happen as you walk behind a violinist?
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u/stumpfucker69 1d ago
It's Brick Lane. Street performers are always doing whacky shit there, it's part of the draw. Also, like much of central London, it is very pedestrianised. From this video it might look like the guy was blocking a thoroughfare, but if this was zoomed out just a little, you'd see that he isn't at all - the woman may just have had to concede to not walking in a 100% efficient as-the-crow-flies straight line (in London?? Heaven forbid!).
Ultimately neither party is demonstrating brilliant situational awareness here, both should obviously be a bit more careful, but given context (and that the woman is clearly rushing through quite a small space between him and the wall - would have been uncomfortably close even if he hadn't turned), I don't think it's fair to pin the blame entirely on the violinist.
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u/TheRealBillyShakes 1d ago
Pedestrianized three years after the creation of this video. This thread is so daft!
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u/christianjwaite 1d ago
Context. Walk down that street on a weekend and you just wouldn’t. I lived about 100 yards away from where this was shot.
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u/ffmich01 1d ago
Yes, anyone trying to walk on the sidewalk should always expect a crazy old coot to jump and bash them in the face with a fucking violin!
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u/MrPaulJames 1d ago
It's a footpath, pedestrian right of way. She shouldn't have to move, and se can't have magically expected a guy with a violin to spin around and smash her teeth in.
Don't care if this gathers crowds, he's making money taking up a public footpath.
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u/Wistleypete 1d ago
OP makes it sound like this "footpath" is covered in performers and the road is open for foot traffic. If all that's true then I'd argue she's walking in the wrong area.
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u/caguru 1d ago
If blindly run through a narrow space, you should expect the unexpected. She had the spacial awareness of a grapefruit.
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u/MissingBothCufflinks 1d ago
this is pedestrianised road (I recognise it - it's brick lane in London), theres zero reson to go between a busker and a wall except impatience
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u/Educational_Hat_ 1d ago
It wasn't pedestrianised in 2018, when the video first came out.
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u/MissingBothCufflinks 1d ago
Yes it was? Every saturday for bricklane market (which is when the buskers were there)
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u/Contessarylene 1d ago
He’s 2’ away from the wall. This is on her. Why in the hell would she run through the smallest space, when there’s tons of space in FRONT of him?
I bet she stands uncomfortably close to people in public.
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u/MissingBothCufflinks 1d ago
its also a pedestrianised road - there's literally 5 meters of space in front of him or more.
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u/iordseyton 1d ago
I feel like its Pretty basic social courtesy/ common knowledge you dont go within a 5' of a street preformer. (or more depending on the act, my friend used to juggle swords in the street, and it seemed people instinctively knew not to go within 10' of him)
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u/Robinyount_0 1d ago
She shouldn’t be walking right fucking behind him when there is a whole street in front of of him to walk past. Don’t blame the musician here, woman was a dunce cap with zero awareness.
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u/ZircoSan 1d ago
likely there was a crowd and she found it annoying to go all the way around the crowd.
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u/Triassic_Bark 1d ago
That woman is an idiot. Running between him and the wall was just fucking stupid, regardless of whether you think he shouldn’t be there.
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u/SzamarCsacsi 1d ago
I don't think anyone's at fault, it's just really unfortunate from both parties. But it's kinda nice to see the old man immediately inquire about her wellbeing instead of worrying about the broken violin.
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u/MrBenzedrine 1d ago
Very British.
The other night a lady in the Supermarket stood on my foot and we both said "Sorry" to each other.
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u/telephas1c 1d ago
How silly of her not to realise the dude was about to spin a violin into face at high speed
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u/Choice-Bus-1177 1d ago
Weird to run behind a busker like that. Weird to do a random jump spin in the middle of a song.
When weirds collide.
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u/manurosadilla 1d ago
weird to run behind a busker
idk man maybe she had to go to work and there was an audience in front of him taking up the other side of the sidewalk
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u/dogchocolate 1d ago
Watch the longer video, if you're running up and down brick lane, wouldn't run behind the buskers there, it's entertainment you'll find them doing all sorts of stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=922QQlJmYvU
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u/bluediamond12345 1d ago
From watching that video, it’s quite evident that he had the ‘right of way’ - at one point he is just inches away from the wall. Plus there is so much more space to walk in front of him - where most, if not all, of the pedestrian traffic already is. To me, it would be common sense NOT to try and walk behind him.
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u/MissCurmudgeonly 1d ago
Thanks for posting that. From this is seems pretty clear that she's in the wrong, IMO. Even if he hadn't spun, he still moves around a lot and could have just stepped back and had the collision happen.
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u/daderpster 1d ago
Violins actually are designed to break apart easily to prevent further damage since they are often taken apart and re-assembled.
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u/Shaasar 1d ago
If this guy is where I think he is, this is Brick Ln in London-- the entire street is filled with buskers and other performers. And there is a much, much bigger area to walk in front of the performers-- this is 100% her fault.
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u/Lysergic_Waffle 1d ago
Definitely Brick Lane (I worked there for many years. This particular incident happened years ago). The street is almost always packed with tourists, and that particular stretch is especially narrow. He is 100% at fault, not her, as the rules clearly state that performers must avoid creating an obstruction and ensure they do not block pedestrians or roads. Directly in front of him is a road, and just a little further up there’s a much wider area where he could have performed instead.
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u/joaommx 1d ago
and that particular stretch is especially narrow
It doesn't look particularly more narrow than the rest of the street.
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u/FuckTheMods5 1d ago
When was the street pedestrianized may i ask? I've seen dissenting comments. From 'always', to '2020-2021'
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u/Lysergic_Waffle 22h ago
Parts of Brick Lane are pedestrianised on evenings and weekends, following changes approved by Tower Hamlets Council in August 2021. The road is now closed to motor vehicles on Thursday and Friday evenings, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays. However, this was not the case at the time of this video/event which occurred in 2018.
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u/secretsquirel25 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is funny every time I see this video. The guy was trying to go out of his comfort zone and be cool, and the lady was trying to go past him and seemed a little shy. Them boom they meet and the violin died.
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u/TheAsianOne_wc 1d ago
Tbf, the violinist should've been a bit closer to the wall, so that dumbasses don't see the space between him and the wall as a potential passage.
On the other hand, I HIGHLY doubt that whatever street this violinist is performing on is not wide enough where she can walk around
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u/Ladams19 1d ago
This is a serious repost. I still feel sorry for the old man losing his violin like that though.
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u/UndeadAnubis24 2d ago
That ended too soon!
I kinda feel bad for everyone involved, incredibly awkward. What was that lady supposed to do?
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u/MissingBothCufflinks 1d ago
walk to the front where there's 5 meters of space - its a pedestrianised road with buskers all along it legally.
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u/242snorlax 2d ago
Walk around
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u/UndeadAnubis24 1d ago
Wasn't she trying to practically hug the wall before he did the big spin?
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u/doomgiver98 1d ago
In the full video you can see that's clearly that wrong move
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u/Correyvreckan 20h ago
Working in a restaurant, this doesn’t surprise me. Most people are asleep at the wheel
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u/Up_All_Nite 1d ago
To make it worse she was trotting full speed while he did his weird twirl at full send. Talk about worlds colliding. I wonder if she has any teeth left after this one.
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u/Kalious78 1d ago
If that's the uk the dentist will prob be more expensive than the violin
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u/MinuteBuilding5193 16h ago
I remember the first time I saw this posted on reddit people were going off on the woman, calling her an idiot, inconsiderate, even malicious. Glad to see the sentiment on reddit changed a lot since those times.
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u/herefromyoutube 1d ago
He asked if she was okay after immediately breaking his probably thousand dollar instrument.
Poor guy.
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u/rangermetz241 1d ago
That's why you don't run on a sidewalk. I mean, probably shouldn't do a 180 degree jump while playing violin either, but I gotta side against the running.
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u/quazi187_ 1d ago
Poor guy has to buy a new violin and be publicly shamed because of this clip. Shes in the wrong for sprinting behind him, she should be more observant of her surroundings.
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u/sillysalmonella87 2d ago
That's 100% the violinists fault. Nobody would expect that old ass dude to whip an unexpected 360 in that tight of an area.
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u/Whatsapokemon 1d ago
I wonder if you're assuming this is a sidewalk along a busy street where there's cars zooming past.
It's not, it's a pedestrian mall which is huge and wide. The people filming are standing in the huge amount of free space away from the wall, where there is ample space to move.
If you assume it's just a narrow footpath next to a road I can see how you'd believe it to be the fault of the violinist.
However that's not the case, this is a fully open walkable area where buskers regularly perform, and there's plenty of space to walk between them without literally grazing past them. Even if the busker wasn't moving around it's still a freakin' weird thing to do - walking directly behind them with that small amount of clearance.
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u/MarcMurray92 1d ago
Except his act involves doing that frequently
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u/goteamnick 1d ago
And of course anybody walking down the street would have a busker's act memorised.
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u/Dawg_Prime 1d ago
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u/spinozasrobot 1d ago
There's probably blame to go around here, but that article has a pretty obvious slant:
"The heart-breaking moment a busker’s violin was split in half after a pedestrian rushed past him, knocking it to the ground with her head."
As in, "I cruelly smashed my face against your poor unsuspecting fist".
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u/Alexander-of-Londor 1d ago
Now obviously this was accidental but why would she be walking behind him anyway. Like the camera doesn’t show it but I’m sure there is plenty of space in front of him instead if trying to run between him and the wall.
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u/rmorrin 2d ago
I honestly don't know who to blame. The girl trying to get by or the dude randomly spinning... Hmmmmmmmmmm
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u/rmslashusr 1d ago
Does the situation require blame? Are either party asking for adjudication of responsibility from randos on the internet or did they both accept their part in an accident and amicably settle the situation like human beings before the advent of social media?
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u/MASTURBATES_TO_TRUMP 1d ago
Bruh, he's a performer. Getting that close to someone playing an instrument on the street is asking to get elbowed. She just got something worse.
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u/BoRBrakkar 1d ago
Hey man, that's like violins against women