Oh To Be In Florida

I'm in the Florida Keys again, though naturally there will be pictures of Italy to follow and I still have pictures to write about from my New Mexico trip so it will be back to Anywhere-But-Key-West-Diary for a while. So, as we run headfirst into summer, a few pictures of clouds, The Road, The Bonneville and salt water to recognize the pleasure inherent in being home again.

"Oh to be in England, now that April's is there!" were the words of the poet Robert Browning of whose work I am quite fond. I like summer in the Keys, its a time of mellow fruitlessness, calmer winds warmer waters less traffic. It's the time of year when I sit back and see if I can run the entire commute to work at close to sixty miles per hour (100km/h) if I feel like it and close to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) if I don't. Highway One is my oyster and I ride under the umbrella of sun and clouds.

Sometimes the clouds turn black and threaten rain, and that's when an alert Bonneville rider checks the windshield wipers of oncoming cars to see if they show traces of rain. That's when one stops and wraps oneself in plastic waterproofing for the imminent downpour. Florida rain is a wondrous thing, refreshing and sparkling as a glass of iced San Pellegrino mineral water, it cools the air from 90 degrees (35C) to 75 (28 C) and then moves on leaving the world shiny and clean and the air crisp and sparkling with ozone. Its the first time in my life I have learned to enjoy rain as a viable alternative to sunshine.Let's not fool ourselves. rain clouds threatening the Publix parking lot can be a nuisance too, and I like sunshine all day every day as often as I can get it. Indeed the Keys have a much more benign summer climate than one might expect. Unlike mainland Florida ( and mainland Ohio from what I'm told) the oppressive humidity factor in the Keys is much more bearable. Of course this factor is very subjective but as far as I'm concerned I'd rather be here in the summer than say Fort Myers or even Miami. Cement and asphalt reflect lots of heat, buildings block breezes and the closer one lies to the sea the better chance one has of enjoying even a modest sea breeze.It's still boiling hot in the keys in July and August and air conditioning remains critically necessary, not least to keep dampness and humidity from eating books clothes and bedding...but summer is entirely bearable in my biased opinion. And here's the secret: summers are great.The summers are not so great for those that live and work in the tourist trade, though there are more and more weekend festivals and celebrations to keep the money flowing. Also the summer months are a good deal less dead than they used to be thanks to families visiting with their broods during school vacations. Its more of an ebb and flow nowadays as opposed to the good old days of "season" and "off season" which led to far more widespread financial desperation in a tourist economy.

On my days off I like to sit out and swelter, read and brood, and watch the clouds. When I've broiled enough I go indoors and chill in the air, or take the boat out and swim and start again. The workaday world at 24 degrees north latitude is for the most part the usual air conditioned indoor office life that doesn't brook sweaty armpits. There are outdoor people and you'll see them lurking in shade wherever they can find it. I like the heat; but I work nights in an air conditioned police station. I never said summer is a barrel of laughs for outdoor workers. I used to be one and I know.

I used to run boats as a commercial captain out of the Hilton Marina, as it used to be known. That was the time people in the city complained about too many cruise ships and now we have less and the city is losing half a million dollars a year in reduced revenues from fewer port calls. I used to crouch in whatever shade i could find in those days, waiting for the passengers and sucking down Gatorade as fast as I could. I still enjoyed the summer! I'm a glutton for heat and humidity and bright white sunlight.I was riding in to work my last night before I took off for my vacation and I spotted a youth on a Pennsylvania registered sportbike. He had it nicely equipped for travel with soft bags over the passenger pad and the fuel tank and he crouched like a tiger as he rode.I sat up straight on my old man's ride and followed at a sedate pace, enjoying all the view I am lucky enough to see each day, bridges and sky and mangroves as usual. I caught up to him when the school bus stopped all traffic for a rug rat crossing and asked him if he was having fun. He looked startled. Poor boy.I took a picture of the Big Coppitt boat ramp with the Bonneville last winter when a cold front had me wrapped up like a babe in swaddling clothes to deal with the 65 degree temperature (18C). At the beginning of June the scene was a good deal warmer, the waters bluer and the clouds big and puffy and white. And there was one of Key West's Elvis impersonators waiting for a fish to bite. No sign of a peanut butter sandwich.

There is that 800 pound gorilla in the back room during summer's bounty in the Keys, and no doubt we will hear more than I'd like about the 2008 Hurricane season in the Southwest Atlantic and Caribbean basin. As I write Belize and Nicaragua have mopped up from the first downpour of the summer brought on by Tropical Storm Arthur. Typically early and late storms develop in the Western Caribbean where the ocean waters are warmer at the beginning and end of summer. By the calendar the hurricane season goes from 1st June to 30th November, though I measure the season by the temperature of the water. When its 80 degrees the water is warm enough to fuel hurricanes as they travel over it.Hurricanes feed the imaginations of people everywhere, in the same way that people hold alligators in horrified fascination. The way I see it, lots of people live in tornado alley and dozens die every year and they also enjoy the pleasure of shovelling snowdrifts for six months of the year. If my house collapses like a pack of cards in a direct hit I'll change my tune, but for now this is as good as it gets.