Just saw a "DG Market" popped up in my town. That's a Dollar General that sells meat, produce... and many food-like products. To me, that is a sign of things degrading.

So many stores have closed in my local town. Nothing has replaced them either, they’re just sitting vacant.

The stores that have remained like cafes have upped their prices ten-fold and it’s no longer worth that piece of cake and coffee. Thank gawd I have a good coffee machine.

My hairdressing salon use AI to send me messages between appointments to try and get me/others to make extra bookings for luxury treatments etc. I think they and other businesses should realise that we are all struggling and to back off a bit.

Yes, things are degrading Big-time.

Do you feel things are getting better

No. But it depends on where I look for that answer. 

Now I cannot complain because I live a comfortable life right now. But as we all know that could change tomorrow or in a month or in 5 minutes, so I don't put a lot of stock in saying that. I have lost everything more than once in my life and fully understand climbing out of a hole, out of poverty. 

There are new homes being built all around me. And I mean at a rapid rate. These are high end homes. I have no idea who is buying all these houses or what these people do to afford them. Hard to imagine there is going to be such a need for such homes. To go along with the home's businesses are popping up too. More people, naturally there will be more business necessary. 

If I go back to the town I moved from and spoke from that perspective I would say the opposite. The downtown area lost a lot of business from the lockdown. They just couldn't hold on for months on end, being closed. The new businesses went first. And as a result, of course people moved. There are a lot of vacant buildings and homes in the area now. And it isn't being taken care of as it once was. Sad to see it like that. I grew up there. 

I wonder if geography has anything to do with it. Are people migrating to areas where there is possible job growth? I ask. I don't know. I just know what I see. And I see a lot of growth and potential here. None in the area I moved away from. 

If the price of food is any indicator... well, I just can't believe the cost of groceries. We buy whatever we want but as a single mother I have no idea what I would have done if times had been like this when I was raising my children alone. It was hard then. Looks impossible now.