[TheForge] Re: Living in Maine.

[Mike]

> Maine is a great place to visit....
> ....
> I found that living there just sucks.  The only good things I
> remember were that lobster was relatively cheap and LL Bean's was
> only two hours away.

I beleive you'll find that much of Genuine Maine has been quietly
removed piecemeal and replaced with Imitation Genuine Maine. :-)

I lived for years within a couple of hours of LL Bean, heard about it
but never got there.  In '97 Peggy & I weren't in a hurry so we
digressed from the Main Turnpike to visit the fabled place.  I had
been hunting all over for a warm, lined vest in cotton or leather with
numerous pockets.  I'm one of those people that likes to keep all
sorts of small stuff in immediate reach and lots of pockets is the
way.

What did we find at LL Bean?  A Yuppie Emporium.  Oh, some of the
hardware was Genuine enough -- fish hooks, pocket knives and so on.
But we hunted that whole big place over for a suitable vest.  Warm?
Nylon that melts within 3 feet of the forge.  Pockets?  Either just 2
or else about 60, suitable to individually house single .303 shells
and dozens of tiny, expensive bits of fishing gear conveniently
available at Bean's.

I finally found approximately what I was looking for.  In a locked
glass case in their little "museum" display of the Good Old Days,
along with sepia photos from the 1930s.

Feh.  Finally found a lady way out in the boonies (that means moreso
than I am) here in NS to make my vests to order. RIP LL Bean.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer@tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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