hard times

Scrounged three different 'clean outs' today--my name for a collection of trash bags or items in a Dumpster that suggest someone has been cleaning out a garage, bedroom, cabinet, or desk. From the items scrounged, it appeared that I encountered, in order, a college student clean out, a middle class clean out, and an upper middle class clean out. Quite the variety of useful items as a result, from new Burt's Bees products, women's clothes, and an aluminum baseball bat to sunscreen, tea, gourmet coffee, and guitar picks.

Less useful but more revealing were the two empty Hermes boxes, tucked into a Hermes shopping bag along with accompanying receipts, found at the last clean out. One receipt--for $530--covered a 'handrolled scarf' and a 'scarfring'. The other--for $611--covered a muffler and twill tie.

Good to see the upper middle class sharing the burden of hard times.