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| "Hermione Sabrina" by Eric Scales |
As I was joyfully rushing (you can picture me like Sabrina over there :-) ) round the corner where there's Paul's or something these days, when I saw a woman with a bag over her shoulder on her stomach, giving away newspapers...
'Hmmm, a free newspaper?' I thought, and approached her after a bit of hesitation...
(Note: I've once attempted to buy a daily newspaper on regular basis once... Or was it a weekly magazine? Anyway - the point is that I came to the conclusion that it is NOT HUMANLY POSSIBLE to read a newspaper in a day - and therefore, it is a waste of money to subscribe. That is why I only buy a newspaper once in a blue moon these days - i. e. once a month or even a longer period - a newspaper that gets eagerly opened at the very first moment, when I read one or two articles - in rare cases three - whereupon the newspaper travels on a pile of other collected papers or brochures I have considered as potentially interesting and suitable for reading... And if it's lucky, it does get read. If not, its fate can take two turns: either it gets dumped right away, or it earns the right to be stashed in a cupboard - with another extension of its poor life, and a prolonged hope of being read at some point.)
"Osmnáct (Eighteen)", the woman said and reached into her bag. "Prosím? (I"m sorry?)" I made a baffled face and wondered 'Why should I be adult to get a paper for free?' "To se prodává (It's being sold)", she explained... "Aha, tak nic (Oh, nothing then)"...
She was a newsvendor (kamelot)! I have not seen a kamelot for ages (If ever!), so I thought it was another one of the promotional special offers we're bombarded with... In fact, we used to get newspapers at the university dormitory for free - perhaps the publishers thought that if we got hooked on their paper, we'd be willing to pay for it once we earned...
So I learned my lesson - not every seemingly free lunch (or newspaper) is for free - and there's one paper less rubbish lying around my place. ;-)
