back at the dawn of the printing press, I was a young assistant in an investment bank. There were after work gatherings, and some of the elders would sometimes bequeath a little intelligence on us:

When researching the financial credit quality of a town, as one would do in those days before purchasing a bond offering (essentially "loaning money") from said town, this icon of the industry told us that he would visit the town physically on any given weekday, and the first thing that he would check would be whether the cemeteries had been mowed. He reasoned that a town in possible financial distress and looking for budget cuts would likely cut the cemetery care budget first, as that would offend the least of the living voters.

That banker was a Boston Brahmin through and through, but he wasn't stupid. I learned a lot in those days.

Thank you for letting me tangentially reply..:)

The cemetery - meaning the one by your parents?

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