Commerce

Yesterday I was, for the first time ever in my sordid life, forced to replace an entire set of tires for my automobile. Its cost: $268.00.

But the human cost was far more. The establishment I conscripted to raise the countenance of mine car was so bustling, so bursting at the seams with human activity of all kinds, that I was forced to take shelter at a nearby strip mall. The environs of said strip mall contained all manner of traps - movie theaters, bookstores, coffee shops...I could only hang my head in shame and shamble forth. For an hour in the multiple of three was my time frittered away staring down the maw of this raw, unfettered free market.

In hindsight, it could have been much worse. I came away from the experience with my wallet depleted only from tire necessity, and nothing more. I did find an interesting history book on the sovereign nation of faraway France that I felt very compelled to purchase, if only for my extreme ignorance of the history of all things French, other than that there was some kind of Revolution, and wine, and The 400 Blows.