It was an expensive evening. Drove up to Sears and got new tires, a new battery, and an oil change. The one plus was that my five year-old Die Hard was warranted for seven, so I got $36 bucks off the new one. I hadn't had my truck serviced at Sears since I got the battery. I used to go there all the time when I had my Subaru, mostly because the Sub went through a lot tires and Sears sells Bridgestones, and also because they're open in the evening. TirePros, where I usually get the truck serviced isn't open at night. Also, no batteries, and the truck desperately needed a new one. Twice in the last week it was stone dead when I tried to start it in the morning. Fortunately I picked up a portable jump start battery last year, and it paid off big time this week.

The biggest difference between going to Sears for service now as opposed to five years ago is that you used to be able to while away the waiting by wandering through the RI Mall. These days, though, the mall is a ghost town. Other than Sears, only a couple of storefronts remain occupied, and none of those are the usual mall chains that used to inhabit the place. The only place that was at all crowded wasn't even a store, but the local office of the motor vehicle registry. This isn't the fault of the economy, either. This particular mall has been withering on the vine for several years. There were only a couple of more stores open two years ago. It's as though the owner has been deliberately driving out his tenants.