Some sandpaper and new stain or paint can make a battered bookshelf look brand new again.
There also was a glimmer of a political breakthrough in the storm region in the United States this week, as Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, made a tour of battered areas with Barack Obama, the Democratic president.
The procession of the flame -- flickering in a torch made from a battered milk can atop a foam-wrapped pole -- would herald the arrival of street games like three-on-three basketball played by teenagers in ragged clothes and beaten-up shoes.
Mr Fletcher made a remarkable journey in his battered Dodge after seven years as the Washington correspondent of the Times of Britain, and ends up with a triumph of a book.BURN RATE: HOW I SURVIVED THE GOLD RUSH YEARS ON THE INTERNET.
"Gen. Ramey told news reporters this was nothing but a crashed weather balloon, but I do know this: Later on, I went back to Roswell to resume my duties, but what they did at Carswell was to make a mock display with a battered weather balloon, and they let the press take pictures of that.
Mr. Dowd, a lawyer, was not charged and went on to make a reputation for defending battered women in criminal cases.
But the rugged setting makes a grand stage for these battered characters, living "on the ragged edges of America" and slugging their way through this big, brawling novel.
Through this stifling emptiness a potter, Cipriano Algor, drives in his battered truck, making a fresh delivery of kitchenware he has been regularly supplying for sale at the Center for several years.
Like the lobster roll, this is a New England seafood-shack sandwich, made with battered and fried clams and served with tartar sauce on a split-top hot-dog bun.
A battered Con Edison traffic cone makes a nifty megaphone.
