Perks of Eastern Europe

In 2005, I bought a pair of black boots with heels. My feet are wide, and I've had foot surgery - so I am very picky about the shoes I wear. These looked great and they were super comfortable and so they were winners. Since that time, I've worn them well - so well that I've actually had the heel replaced on them 6 times - which brings me to perk #1 - shoe repair places. Whereas shoe repair in America is hard to come-by and almost the price you paid for your shoe, here your shoe can be good as new for just a few dollars. In the states, my boots would have ended up in a landfill by now and I would have had to buy another pair (true - I probably wouldn't have walked through 6 heels in the states - but that is another issue)

Perk # 2 - Watch repair. Also on virtually every street corner, are watch kiosks. New batteries, an oil job, links, fine tuning, they'll fix it for a few dollars and if he is really good - will even give a you a month or two guarantee on the work.

Perk#3 - Tailors. In every dry cleaner and at least in every neighborhood - you can have your cloths repaired - jeans shortened, zippers replaced, a new variation sewn into those pants to transform them into the latest trend - all for a few dollars. In fact, last year i made a ring sling for a girl in our church who had just had a baby - and I decided to put in different rings - I didn't want to go back and borrow my friends sewing machine again - so i just popped into a tailor - and she replaced the rings for me - in fact - it looked WAY nicer than when I had done it originally.

And then there are the electronic markets where you can take your Tvs, your mobile phones, your lights - anything - and have it fixed. Notice a trend? The perks are that you don't have to go, rush out and buy something new. Yes, sometimes you do - we couldn't find a coffee pot replacement to save our life - but for the most part, you can repair what you have for a reasonable amount. Half the problem in the states is that if you do want to repair something - it costs almost as much as buying it new - so why not buy it new?
But I like my old shoes, and my old watch, and my just the right length jeans perfectly well.