The notice said "Closing Down Sale! Everything Must Go!".

That's a familiar sight these days. There's plenty of commercial properties with shutters down, boarded up, and windows whitewashed. Most of the time a shop closure doesn't matter to me because I'd so rarely need its services.This time it's the shop where I get my hiking gear. Now it's personal.

A part of me thinks the shop has only itself to blame. The goods are not exactly cheap and that's at sale prices. I suspect that's partly the reason other shops are falling by the wayside. Too expensive, poor service, and possibly not the right goods in the first place. It must be said however that people generally have smaller wallets these days. I know I have.

On the way back home I passed a couple of guys handing out leaflets. In a fit of optimism one attempted to thrust a leaflet into my hands. What's this then? He started spouting a load of stuff about Jesus. The other man looked on as if to appraise the gentlemans efforts in recruiting me as another slave.

"You'll need Jesus Our Saviour!" He announced as I spurned his offer. No, I don't need Jesus. God helps those who help themselves, isn't that the phrase? When he tells me what he believes rather than what he's been told to believe, I'll listen to what he has to say, because at the moment, he won't listen to me. The man is absolutely brainwashed.

As I walked away I heard him sermonising to my back. Perhaps if he'd spent more money buying stuff instead of funding Jesus, one or two shops might still be open. Jesus saves? Not if you run a business in Gordon Browns England he doesn't.

Saving the Economy

With a general election looming the political parties are all describing how much money they're going to save by cutting costs in public spending. That's an interesting reverse. I seem to remember a certain Prime Minister telling everyone to spend their way out of the crisis.