It was Oscar Wilde who supposedly said, a cynic is a person “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Oscar is credited with a lot of wonderful quotes and I will give him credit for this one, although I’m a little dubious about all the witty sayings that have been attributed to him over the years.

Why? I just am, and you can also add Winston Churchill to my dubious of their quotes list. But that’s fodder for another day. My real reason for writing this gets back to that price and value thing quoted in the previous paragraph, and it has to do with a friend whose friendship I do value, so, in fairness to him, he shall go unnamed.

We got together for a couple of beers recently and he mentioned that the reason why he was a little late was because he had to stop off at a shop and pick up some newly made seat cushions for his boat.

He showed them to me and asked what I thought they cost. I better go high I thought, because that seemed to be where he wanted my guess to go, so I did. There were two cushions, each measuring about 18 inches by 30 inches and I’d say about three inches deep. They looked nice and felt nice. My starting bid was $75 per, a fair sum I determined. Guess again, he said. $100 per. Again. Okay, $150 per. Nope.

I finally conceded. $299…each, he finally said. I shook my head in disbelief. I’ve rested my fanny on seatware that was just as comfortable and went for a lot less (not, of course, including box seats at Fenway Park!), and am certain I will do so again in the future.

There is a benefit to knowing this, though, and that is that I will never be tempted to buy my own boat. And that reminds me of another quote: You don’t want to own a boat; you just want a friend who has one.

Not sure who said that, but think it might have been Churchill.