Money For Nothing

I found a penny in the gutter this morning. It's the first in ages. People used to carry (and fumble about with) lots of loose change- and if you kept your eyes down on any reasonably busy street- and particularly in the neighbourhood of bus stops- you could supplement your income to an extent that was not to be sneezed at. Now none of that is the case. This particular coin was badly scratched and abraded, suggesting it had been in the road a long time. Not only have people stopped carrying coins, they've also stopped bothering to pick them up.