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Tuesday Tidbits





1.  I attended the St. Pete Craft Fair with Miss Norah and Company last weekend.





I still find it extraordinary down here:  any dirt at all, even in the most unlikeliest of places, and life will attempt to find purchase.   



This is an annual event where local businesses and individual artists in the arts and crafts world pitch their tents and their wares.  Some pretty nice stuff here.  It is a blend of the affordable and the not-so-affordable.  For instance, ceramic bowls and cups for $10--30, and then weird wall sculptures for $875 +.  This place is dog friendly so of course it is a good time to bring your pooch downtown, too.  

2.  My bicycle, a nice Trek, which got me around all kinds of places when I was first incarcerated down here, was stolen last week by someone here at Bedlam.  I'm mostly mad at myself: I left it unattended and unlocked when I should have gotten back to it and made it secure.  It's the city.  It's Florida.  It's my fault.    

3.  Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned I had been shorted change in a restaurant in G-Burg and here in St. Petersburg?   Apparently it is a national thing.  They are rounding up, or down, and not giving coin change back.  Just google it and you will find that it has been going on in some districts and cities for a while now.  There are varied reasons but it all ends up being rather shady. And these places are making out like bandits because they are counting on you not wanting to look cheap.  I have no problem looking cheap since they probably knew that when I walked in the door.  Help put a stop to this deceptive and fraudulent practice should you have the misfortune of being a victim.  Call them on it and ask for your change.

4. Saw this when I was out at Wal-Mart*, **, ***, **** the other day.





I'd love to get my bike gussied up like these bikes, but the electrical knowledge needed far exceeds my meager abilities.

 *  As many longtime readers know I have an ongoing boycott of Wal-Mart that is entering its third year.  I will shop there when there are no other alternatives and/or accompany someone else.  In this case I needed something for Norah's next-day visit and had no other place locally to get it.  Forgive me.

 ** I should also tell you that this place has self-checkout lanes.  Average wait time is about 2 minutes compared to the usual 20.  

 *** And I don't mind Sam's.  

 **** Maybe I'm softening my stance just a teeny bit. 

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