Tuesday

Today I had a very interesting day. It started with me getting up at seven in the morning. Now there is nothing unusual in getting up at seven but when one is retired and have no significant plan for any day, waking up kind of just happens. So a forced seven a.m. wake up buzz from the alarm clock is not the most welcome sound in my house.

I had to get up that early because my friend and I planned to drive into Manhattan and wanted to get there before the real riffraff get in. By riffraff I mean tourists and other visitors.

The plan was to see some furriers in the fur district.

When my wife passed away She left me a mink coat and a rabbit lined rain coat. Both of these coats were purchased years ago but were kept in excellent condition. Now, what was I going to do with these coats? I had nobody I could give these to and there was no reason to keep them hanging in the closet.

They were not sentimental items that I was about to hang on to. She didn't even like the mink coat.

While She was here we already talked about selling them but when other problems rose their heads the subject was pushed aside.

But now was the time. It is extremely interesting that when one talks to these furriers they convince you that what you have is really worth just a shade above nothing and they do you a favor by taking them off your hands. On the other hand when one buys the item it is the most valuable fur in the world one could possibly possess.

I called three places that advertise buying fur. Two told me they were worth "bupkes" while the third offered to give me a generous appraiser if I donate them to charity through them.

I had sleepless nights over these three generous offers. Couldn't make up my mind about which to chose. Finally after carefully weighing my options I chose "bubkes" offer no. 1.

So I got a check and now I don't know what to do with all that money!

My friend received a similar "too good to refuse" offer and she also took advantage of the easy money.

After these strenuous business dealings we went to the East Side of Manhattan to the Hungarian restaurant and celebrated our found wealth with a nice Hungarian lunch. The trouble was that after lunch was over we realized that part of that wealth was gone.

Well, easy come easy go!