An afternoon on Newbury Street

I spent this Saturday afternoon shopping by myself on Newbury Street. I can't say that I enjoyed it, it was rather awful. The sidewalks were barely walkable, and the shops were filled with rich college girls walking around with enormous Louis Vuitton bags. The ones that were with their mothers frightened me even more, because the mothers were trying to resemble their daughters. You had to wait in line for a dressing room, you also had to wait in line to pay, clothes were on the floor, people were pushing their way into racks.

I counted three "Second Time Around" shops and another consignment shop located just across the street from one of them. The mutation clothes undergo from new and very expensive to priced down because used does not require many steps in that neighborhood.

I also went to Filene's Basement for the first time, and fondled some gorgeous Missoni coats ($600 a pop).

Who are these Saturday shoppers? I am beginning to understand who has the wealth in this country. I am also beginning to understand the Occupy Wall Street movement. There's just way too much conspicuous consumption on the one hand, and way too much poverty on the other.

It didn't help that the only bookstore in the neighborhood, a Border's, was closed. How can Back Bay, a residential neighborhood filled with college educated people, not have a bookstore? Do these people not read anymore? Or only read on their electronic devices?

Fortunately my drive home turned my mood around. After an aborted attempt at rescuing my husband at an airport where he wasn't going to fly into until the next day, and having my car's burned out headlight bulbs replaced at an "Autozone" by two very nice gentlemen, I was on my way home again. On the trip home, Garrison Keillor and his gang were up to their usual tricks. Their "Occupy Wall Street" piece was well worth listening to, and had me laughing down the dark interstate that brought me home safely. I was alone again, and finally enjoying some solitude.

My sole purchase: a rather Puritan outfit, which is appropriate given that it was purchased in Massachusetts. On sale at Lucky Brand were bark colored corduroy pants and a white gypsy blouse.

recycling again

I finally put on the dress I bought in Montreal last June. It comes from a shop on the rue Saint-Denis that sells local designers' creations made out of recycled materials. With it I am wearing a scarf I just bought at Revolution made in the same spirit, old clothes (cloths), new creation. Meanwhile, Rosalie is in Morocco lamenting that there is no recycling program per se. But she did post a photo showing coal being sold in old couscous sacks.