Fri 23 Dec 2005
Budaörs Two Days Before Christmas
Today is a slow day in the office, so I decided to take a batch of letters to the post office myself. It’s a beautiful day, so the trip was a nice break from being inside for the last few weeks. I hopped on the bus across town and enjoyed watching mid-day village life happen. The whole experience is one of the things that makes Budaörs such a nice place to live.
Last night I had an interesting discussion about Wal-Mart and the effect it’s had on small American towns. Our little village has similar corporate giants (Tesco, Auchan, Praktiker, etc.) planted just across its highway, and I shop at those locations because it is most convenient and cheaper.
But occasionally it’s nice to do things the old-fashioned way and do business in town. It’s hard for me to believe this lifestyle will exist much longer near the larger cities of Hungary, but it’s nice to see while it lasts!
December 23rd, 2005 at 3:46 pm
I was thinking that small businesses can thrive longer where there isn’t access to easy transportation (cars). Many people here in Budapest or Budaörs go to the small stores because it takes too long on a bus to get to the big stores. Also, they can only carry so much with them on the bus.
This is true in New York City as well where there are plenty of small businesses because getting to the big ones is difficult.
I guess the SuperStores don’t have as big of an affect on life in a Metropolis.
December 23rd, 2005 at 5:32 pm
Merry Christmas !!!
We hope that you will experience the joy of Christmas and be blessed in the process.
About the big stores, the supermarkets here replaced the mom and pop stores long ago. Dierbergs and Schnucks even disposed of Krogers in STL. Walgreens has replaced the small pharmacy where we used to sit on a stool and get a soda while we waited to get the medications. In America, people are trying to make Walmart and related stores “bad”, but it’s Capitalism at work, in my opinion. It would be nice to “go back” for awhile. I recall enjoying the beautiful villages in Europe, the little shops and all that goes with that. Yes, it is good to stop, or at least slow down for awhile and enjoy. But I wonder if I would want to go back permanently. Kinda like the ease of shopping at Walmart and Walgreen’s and Dierbergs… May God be with you as you enjoy your family and friends. Keep up the great work – just think, even while we celebrating Christmas, there will be people who go to your websites and as result, their lives are changed forever because of their decision to follow Christ!!! What a concept!
December 24th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
Doesn’t stewardship involve more than finding the lowest price?
February 21st, 2006 at 2:21 am
Only lower-class people go to Tesco and the like, it’s much easier to go to our little shop in the corner. It _is_ more expensive, but lasts for 2 minutes, and you do not feel like a Zombie like in the hypers.