Somebody has an over abundance of white paint. Have you noticed how many buildings and cars are white, today? Full disclosure, as “they” say, today, I hate white. No, I HATE white! It is, to say the least, BORING!. Give me color¸any day. Bright or pastel – give me color. JUMP OFF THE WALL COLOR!
Houses are white. Cars are white. Clothes are white. Shoes are white.
I wear black shoes that I purchase from a local shoe store – Dardanos. They keep my name and my shoe preference in their computer. So, all I ever really need to do is make a call, ask them to order a new pair of shoes, and, two weeks later, I’m picking up my black, foot-protecting shoes. They have velcro closures. Something is wrong with the pair that I bought about five months ago. The velcro on the right shoe does not stay fastened; it’s been going on for about three months. Friends are noticing; they reach down to close the velcro. I appreciate their help, but I think that I may appear unable to care for myself. So, I figured that it is time to have the shoe fixed.
I called Dardanos to see if they could fix it. “Yes,” was the answer. “If you bring it in, tomorrow, we can have it back to you by next Tuesday.” This was Tuesday, as well. “You can’t fix it while I wait?” “No, we send all of our repairs out.”
I remember when Dardanos first started; its only business was repairing shoes – in an old Arby’s building. Then, they moved to a bigger place … and stopped repairing shoes. They only sell shoes, now. And, send out repairs.
About now, I realize that the only shoes I own are the shoes I was wearing. So, that means I have to buy another pair to wear while my black ones are going to be repaired. Not to worry, surely, they have a pair of inexpensive shoes – we called them sneakers.
I drove to Dardanos to buy a pair of shoes and leave the others. They didn’t have sneakers. What the sales man brought out of the storage room was a pair of sturdy shoes that would protect my diabetic feet; better than sneakers. The shoes have velcro closings, The shoes are white. They do not come in black. They do not come in cheap! I left the store wearing WHITE shoes, leaving the old black shoes to be repaired. To be safe in the future, I ordered another pair of the shoes that I always wear. Now, I will have two. In black.
And, how do you clean these WHITE shoes? Neighbor Rita says with an eraser product. That it works great on shoes like this that are white.
Have you driven the streets of your city and looked at the housing, lately? The streets that I’ve been driving are littered with white monstrosities. With BLACK trim. Black trim? Yuck. Just like the house that is one of the ten houses that border my property – a white and black monstrosity.
Sister Clara and I have talked about this current propensity to make houses white. (P.S. She likes white houses.) She thinks, especially where she lives, that it may have to do with temperature. Could it be true that by painting a house white, the sun is reflected, keeping the innards cooler? We don’t know. But, what about where I live in the northern climes? What about winter? Do we want a cooler house in the winter? Which is worse: using air conditioning in the summer or a furnace in the winter? Who can tell? All of this sameness has no individuality that I can see. It reminds me of the movie, Fahrenheit 451. Truth-be-told, lots of things remind me of that movie, these days.
Then, there are the heroes who drive the white trucks. Panel trucks. Pick up trucks. Step vans. Even, semi-truck trailers. All WHITE! Furnace technicians. Chimney sweeps. Lawn care experts. Delivery persons. Of course, there are some of these trucks that have color on them. But, there are a lot that are white. Either being used or waiting on an auto sales lot to be sold for their next life. Drive past a local auto sales lot. Count the white ones and count the non-white ones. Which is greater? Sometimes, there are nothing but white trucks. Count the white vehicles in your neighborhood, in a store’s parking lot¸ driving on a road somewhere.
I need to be honest: when I had a Suburban, it was white. And, it was a great white vehicle. It could carry all of my family at the same time – three seats. My family and all of their gear. It would have been better than my ancient Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser that I used in the mornings for carrying all of the high school kids (mine and other families’) and their instruments to stage band or some other musical endeavor when my daughters were in school. I just didn’t have the Suburban, then.
Rita (who we called R-squared because her name was Rita Rubin) told me that the color of the motor vehicles we saw on the road gave an indication of what the economy was like. I can’t remember if more white vehicles meant the economy was soaring. Or, if more white vehicles meant the economy was in the basement.
Maybe, you have the answer!
Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.