Thursday Tidbits
Posted on November 14, 2013 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet
The full frontal assault on Christmas has begun in the United States and I suspect that it is no different at home. Actually, there were lots of signs of Christmas long before November 11th. Down here, Veteran’s Day is reputedly the second busiest shopping day of the year next to Black Friday around Thanksgiving Day. It is hard to fathom that there was ever a recession. I had the pleasure of driving the ladies to several area malls and the traffic was stifling. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it gave me fodder for a story. Because tourism is so vital to the economy, client service is a huge deal. It is ingrained in their DNA. There was at least one person at a gas station that didn’t get the memo on this one and she figures prominently in the story ” Shell Lacking.”
Not surprisingly, the Senate story gets absolutely no mileage in Florida, but the media is all over the Rob Ford story. I haven’t received any hate mail yet for yesterday’s story, “Something Smells.” High school football gets more coverage than stories coming out of Canada. This is not a criticism, just an observation. Just saying.
It’s hard for me to not write stories about shopping, especially because it is the principal activity of most of the tourists. I provide a vital service as a chauffeur to and from the malls for the women in our complex. It’s all about the deals. The discussion always comes back to how much money was saved. Never do I hear how much was spent. And how the calculations are made leaves my head spinning. I am reasonably good at math but when I try to figure out a 20% discount after a 50% discount on the 70% discounted price, well, I need to pull out the old slide rule. Coming soon, “Playing the Percentages.”
I brought a number of my books on the trip. We have friends from all over who congregate here every year on week 45. It is a bit surreal to watch someone sitting in a pool deck chair curled up with YOUR book and then engaging you in a conversation about a particular story. Not surprisingly , the whole notion of high school dances in the story “Those Were The Days” has themes that are truly universal. One guy was telling me about the humiliation of asking a girl to dance and being promptly “shot down” to the hoots and howls of his male buddies.
If you’ve never tried it, might I be so bold as to suggest Reiki if you want to alleviate stress and help with some lingering aches and pains. One of our time share friends is a Reiki master teacher and I spent an hour with her yesterday. Time and money well spent. Reiki is part of holistic healing. I am a big believer in non traditional medicine.
Hope you all have a splendid weekend.
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