"Unless one says goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing away of oneself and an eventual extinction." - Jean Dubuffet

One postcard in the mail...and suddenly I'm filled with guilt and recriminations...the reason...it was a store closing notification...for possibly the only bricks and mortar store in my immediate vicinity whose aesthetic was close to my own. The "G&R"...caused by the fact that I haven't visited in a while...they're clothes aren't cheap and I've been attempting to "be good"...but, as they say, every little helps...maybe I could have done my bit to keep them in business. And so the thoughts circle around in my head...

In reality I know that there was probably no one single thing that caused the store to close...during a recession all of those moving parts...that are so precariously balanced during the good times...start to shudder and fall apart. Yet I can't help feeling a little guilty...

Added to this guilt is the fact that the postcard was announcing a blow-out closing down sale...current season stock reduced by 25-50%...prior seasons by 70-90%. Will I be dashing over to try and take advantage of the deals? Yes. Will I feel like a vulture picking at the carcass of some deceased desert creature while I do so? Probably.