the great saturday night swindle

i've been having car trouble. when i left work on friday, my car was missing, idling down at stops and wouldn't go over 60 mph. i made it home and called the garage but they couldn't take me until monday morning. i called into work on saturday because i was afraid to drive barry's car, which has had 3 new clutches installed in the past year. sure enough....sunday morning, barry's clutch went out. he had his towed and i drove mine to the shop. i got it back today at a cost of $750., which i put on my credit card. i've had the card for three years and this is the second time i've used it, even though they recently sent me a platinum card and raised my limit to $10,000. and on top of that, the dogs were at the last of their food and i was out of yogurt, which is about the only thing i'm hungry for anymore. and, barry got a ticket on his car for being parked illegally when he broke down. we think that rick, who bought the church across from barry's breakdown spot, may have called a complaint to the cops but i'm not sure. he's weird enough to do it....more on him, later.
so anyway, we walked over to get my car this afternoon and i told barry as we walked what the neighborhood used to look like. it suddenly dawned on me that i've been walking those same sidewalks for over 50 years. i've seen the area go way, way down and bounce back to its current state. and i passed the site of my first sexual assignation, which brought back memories. very strange.