That line about treating every downtown lot like a potential bog is dead on. Even if it's been dry for a week, city dirt is almost always compacted fill that turns to soup fast when rain hits. Next time I'd say budget for mats from the jump and save yourself that panicked scramble.

Yeah isn't it wild how even the cheap spots eventually stop being cheap? Feels like everything's quietly creeping up and we're all just supposed to act like it's normal.

Wait, you were actually on your knees scrubbing grout for an HOUR? That's next level dedication, I would've just stared at the mess and cried for twenty minutes first. Did the baking soda trick from the other comment work at all?

That close call you had is wild but I'm glad you caught yourself before it went any further. It reminds me of this time my buddy Dave got a call from "Apple Support" about his iCloud being hacked, and he spent twenty minutes on the phone before they asked him to buy gift cards as payment. He actually drove to the store and bought $300 in iTunes cards before his wife asked him what he was doing. Now he leaves his phone on the counter whenever a weird number pops up.

Yeah I tried switching to spot metering and just ended up with a bunch of photos that looked like they were taken in a coal mine. That was a fun month of editing.