MFM

After two consecutive days of working from sun up till sun down in front of a computer on various conf calls and "stuff", my eyes were toasted.  Decided to walk over to the casino central by the shore.  This was a nice view.  Turned to my left… 

Casinos.  I went to a mall which housed top luxury brand names such as Zegna, Lora Piana, Ferragamo, Boss, Panarai, Bvlgari, Coach, Hermes, you name it, we have it here.  The last few months, I have been noticing a significant increase of foot traffic - visitors from across the border.  The more expensive the shop, the more visitors.  The mentality is: $$$$$ = status symbol. I think I have just been priced out of my brand - Z…...gna.  I couldn't get in there two days ago.  I was told to wait outside the door. What?  I left.  Today, I went back in.. less crowded.  I tried a sweater.  I was expecting it to cost about MOP15,000 ( just shy of USD2,000).  Well, I missed a zero - in front of the decimal point!  Really!!!!  The sweater was priced at MOP 110,000 (about USD14,187).  Ouch!!!!  And this sweater along w/ other sizes of the same were just laid around like cheap sweaters.  Scary.  The sweater I tried was lined with fur.  This liner could be worn as a vest individually.  Do you need one?  I think that was more than 3 years worth of my clothing allowance.  Or just enough to help this family to rebuild its house in a village just north of here after an arson had burned it down over an argument of ….  RMB 1.00 (USD 0.16) over a bottle of soft drink!