SLAMBOARD

With the World Economy in a desperate state, I am picturing lots of people considering cost saving measures that they would have scoffed at a few months ago. I am presently living in a different part of the World with a different economy. Used shoes are sold in surprising quantities around the corner from the main food market. Some are in small shops and some are laid out on carpets on the sidewalk.

I am not an enthusiastic shoe browser, but I have developed an eye for them while keeping a close eye on my shoe obsessed kids. The surprising thing about the used shoe market is the high proportion of very well made shoes. My memories of North America are getting fuzzier, but I seem to recall used shoes being a very stigmatized product. Anybody who would be so gauche as to sell shoes at a yard sale would have to practically give them away. Here, the market value approximates the degree of utility and the style. I have walked about 30 miles in another man’s shoes so far this month and I feel think that I spent my seven bucks wisely.