“Police said a man dressed liked a ninja used a sword in an [unsuccessful] attempt to rob a Weymouth[, Massachusetts,] dry cleaner.”–boston.com
April 22, 2009
April 21, 2009
Belfast, Maine
Here’s a picture of the view from the balcony outside my room at the Comfort Inn in Belfast, Maine, where I stayed Sunday and Monday of this week. Belfast is a city of about 7,000 people, on the coast, the shire town of Waldo County, a county with about 35,000 people. The downtown has a natural-foods co-op, a movie theatre, a couple of bookstores, a few art galleries, a vegetarian restaurant, and a store that sells environmentally friendly products for the house.
I looked at a propery in nearby Swanville, a small town to the north, with the same ZIP code. It is a property that apparently photographs very well. I was thinking of it as a possible inexpensive get-away place for occasional weekends. I thought from the photographs that I had seen on the internet that it would be on a hill, with a long driveway and an expansive front lawn, that it would have some privacy, and would be at least in OK condition. Actually it is close to the street, has a short driveway, and is not far from the houses on either side. It looks a little bit sad and not in the best of condition. The price is realistic for what it is, no great bargain.
I think I might like to retire to Belfast in a few years, but to a house close to the downtown. There appears to be no such thing as a rush hour there. When I drove the forty-five miles to Augusta on the way home this morning, I saw very few cars on the road.
The nearby town of Searsport also has a very attractive small bookstore, Left Bank Books. Hamilton Marine Supplies, also in Searsport, was an interesting place to browse, even though I don’t have a boat. I resisted the temptation to buy rain gear, fireman’s boots, and a foghorn.
April 15, 2009
Consumer prices fell slightly in March, says a report
“U.S. consumer prices fell unexpectedly in March and recorded their first annual drop since 1955, government data showed on Wednesday, as slumping demand pushed down energy and food costs,” says a Reuters article at finance.yahoo.com.
If we are going back to the way things were when I was a child, it may be a good thing. I’d think it would be a good thing for most people to have consumer prices falling slightly rather than rising.
Sales-tax revenue has been falling too, says the Wall Street Journal. “State and local sales-tax revenue fell more sharply in the fourth quarter of 2008 than at any time in the past half century, and has continued to erode through the beginning of 2009, according to a report released Tuesday.” I doubt that state governments will willingly downsize, and so we can expect them to raise some taxes and to come up with new fees.
