Mid-range tires

When my mother was about 75, she bought a new car, a Chevy Malibu, and pronounced that was probably the last car she would ever have.

Then a few years later, when the health of both her and her beloved brother Buddy had deteriorated, they used to joke that they had even stopped buying green bananas.

These thoughts jumped into my head yesterday when I went to a bike shop to get a blown tube and tire repaired. The bike guy told me I needed two new tires.

The cheapest one was about 17 bucks but was not likely to last long, he said. The most expensive, about 50 bucks, would last for several years at least, he said.

One of the things I inherited from my parents is a strong sense of not wasting money. So the question for me to ponder was how many more years will I be using a bike, and what would that choice say about my attitude now?

A decided on a mid-range quality, at about $24 each.

My mother was right about the car - she lived to me almost 80, and Janice, then just 16, inherited it. But she did live through lots more of banana-ripening cycles before succumbing to emphysema.