The end is nearer

The more I've been out in public, the more I've seen people coughing, horking, and sneezing, without doing it into their elbows or covering their mouths. Hello, people, swine flu! Sheesh.

Then, when I was in Market Basket the other day, buying a bag of loose candy, some trashy-looking lady came over, grabbed a piece, popped it in her mouth, and took off. A minute later her teenage daughter showed up. She wasn't quite as ballsy as her mom, though. I gave her the stinkeye and she left empty-handed. Look, I can understand the desire to rob from the rich and give to the poor. But this is Market Basket, not Whole Foods. Pay your nickel or go home.

The one bright spot in humanity this week was at the gym. There was an older woman there with a walker; she looked mentally disabled as well. When I helped her up off one of the leg machines, she told me she has Downs Syndrome and that her husband taught her to read. She'd been injured and unable to walk and was slowly working her way back. When she left the exercise area, she said goodbye to and thanked a bunch of people. Apparently everyone she'd asked for help obliged. On my way home I saw her waiting at a bus stop, reading the paper, and smiling.