Island Time: what a concept. There is a select group of people that think that island time is really cool: new arrivals, snowbirds, vacationers. For regular folks it's business as usual in the Keys. Indeed "island time" is a pain in the backside for someone trying to hold down a decent job in the Keys. The problem with "island time" is that it only applies in places where people really don't give a damn whether or not things happen at all, never mind to a schedule. In the Keys "island time"doesn't exist because like it or not this place isn't some Caribbean Island, it's the United States, a place where We Get Things Done.
Snowbirds love to describe life in the Keys as laid back, and that's hardly surprising. The golden years they call them, a time of reflection and ease after a life of working to provide for everyone else in the family...They flock to the Keys to enjoy winters at last snow free and warm. They get up nice and early, a lifelong habit, and take their morning constitutionals exchanging pleasantries as they meet outside my window, waking me from a sound sleep. They clog the aisles in the supermarket remarking on how nice it is to meet again "down here," the vaguely defined area south of Up North. They write passionate letters to the Editor about the homeless clogging the beaches, the lack of parking and bad mannered neighbors and their dogs. Issues they will forget about and leave unresolved for next year, because come April they pack their SUVs and RVs for the trek North.
Tourists love island time. They fly in for a week of sun and fun and immediately adopt the notion that nothing matters, mon. They are in excellent spirits as they cast off their parkas and expose their lily white limbs to the locals' pained gaze. They get into the Caribbean spirit instantly, making lifelong friends of the bartenders, drinking enough to fool themselves into imagining they too could cast off their formal lives and become "beach bums," like all the much admired raggedly dressed locals...Key West- where dreams come true.
Take the ferry out to your week long dream home, cruise Duval on a rented bicycle, no worries. Well, not for a week anyway. The problem is of course that time does matter, especially when something goes a little awry and the dream vacation becomes just one more issue to be dealt with. People who call the police department are rather less on island time when they need to report lost or stolen property, or one more drunken brawl. I can only imagine an island time 9-1-1 conversation: "Key West 9-1-1...""My boyfriend beat me up. He's drunk..."
"I'm sorry to hear that sir. However I'm having a lunch break right now. But we'll be happy to get back to you in a bit..."
Yes, that would go over like a lead balloon I'm sure. Island time doesn't stand the test of time in the real world and it sure doesn't apply in our dispatch center: 
Frankly I am no fan of island time, I enjoy punctuality, I think it is polite, and my pleasure in living here is measured by yardsticks other than my ability to avoid getting anything done. My least favorite place to encounter island time is on the highway. People with nowhere particular to go love to dawdle and you'd think their mothers would have taught them enough good manners to pull over and let pass the wild eyed locals late for their second or third jobs. On those days when I am dawdling I do just that so I like to think I set a good example...I know the views are fabulous, not least because I never tire of them but there are tons of places to pull over and admire them from Flagler's old bridges which make excellent viewing or fishing platforms. There just aren't that many opportunities to pass (legally) especially if there is lots of oncoming traffic, as happens in winter.
Island time is a fiction, as much as the widely touted notions that Key West is tropical, or located in the Caribbean, but even a curmudgeon like me has to admit that it is a cheerful fiction, perhaps even a desirable one. I don't get too stressed normally if I get stuck behind a chatty cashier in the check out line, or two cars parked in the street with their occupants chatting up a storm. I'm luckier than most in that even though I actually live and work here I enjoy plenty of time off, as evidenced by this blog, and I like to take my island time on my porch enjoying the view across the salt marshes under the ever present sun. I also do appreciate the fact that people come to Key West's sub-tropical climate to throw off their cares for a short while only, though I get to live here year round includingall through hurricane season. I practice "island time" in the privacy of my own 6,000 square feet of Paradise (courtesy of Wells Fargo Bank):
It's an alluring image for many people, coconuts, Conchs and coladas. Too bad the values that make island time impossible to enact, hard work, dedication and persistence, are the very values that earn them enough money to spend time down here at all. A tropical paradox.
Frankly I am no fan of island time, I enjoy punctuality, I think it is polite, and my pleasure in living here is measured by yardsticks other than my ability to avoid getting anything done. My least favorite place to encounter island time is on the highway. People with nowhere particular to go love to dawdle and you'd think their mothers would have taught them enough good manners to pull over and let pass the wild eyed locals late for their second or third jobs. On those days when I am dawdling I do just that so I like to think I set a good example...I know the views are fabulous, not least because I never tire of them but there are tons of places to pull over and admire them from Flagler's old bridges which make excellent viewing or fishing platforms. There just aren't that many opportunities to pass (legally) especially if there is lots of oncoming traffic, as happens in winter.Island time is a fiction, as much as the widely touted notions that Key West is tropical, or located in the Caribbean, but even a curmudgeon like me has to admit that it is a cheerful fiction, perhaps even a desirable one. I don't get too stressed normally if I get stuck behind a chatty cashier in the check out line, or two cars parked in the street with their occupants chatting up a storm. I'm luckier than most in that even though I actually live and work here I enjoy plenty of time off, as evidenced by this blog, and I like to take my island time on my porch enjoying the view across the salt marshes under the ever present sun. I also do appreciate the fact that people come to Key West's sub-tropical climate to throw off their cares for a short while only, though I get to live here year round includingall through hurricane season. I practice "island time" in the privacy of my own 6,000 square feet of Paradise (courtesy of Wells Fargo Bank):It's an alluring image for many people, coconuts, Conchs and coladas. Too bad the values that make island time impossible to enact, hard work, dedication and persistence, are the very values that earn them enough money to spend time down here at all. A tropical paradox. 
11 comments:
Hahaha. Very well articulated. I have to comment the pictures interspersed into the text holds some ironist leanings.
You are very correct about the paradox. I have often wondered if the Key West I seem to romantically consider is actually just a perception?
I did have the opportunity to hang out with some locals for awhile on Stock Island (and in their trailer parks as well). It is not a life of leisure, but some band-aid covered warts with coconut palms on the bandage. Likewise, holding court with a few homeless people. Granted they chose to be "shelter challenged", their "beach bum" lifestyle is nothing to be desired. The working folk up on Big Pine Key seem to have the same attitude I developed after living here in Fort Myers.
You first think about Jimmy Buffett style romanticism. You then move quickly to the thought, "why can't we have laws restricting snowbird movements outside of normal rush hour". Then the final stage I find myself in is a mixed bag of a paradox. I see the function the tourist bring to the community in form of funds, but then you see the increased public infrastructure you have to maintain all year for that "influx".
It is relatively hard for a community to hire and fire police and firefighters and still maintain quality of service. Likewise, you need to maintain max capacity of roadways, power consumption, food delivery, etc. for those few months of the year in which you need them (or face the consequences).
I have to admit, I have only visited Key West as a tourist, or as a refuge to escape into "island time". Actually, the first time I visited, it was a whim, to see about this place called "Key West" b/c it was an island link by really long road (well before I knew of any other qualities) Likewise, I have been led to come back by that "romanticism" that drew artists like Hemingway, Williams, Buffett, etc. Is that such a "bad thing" I must ask?
It gives people the chance to forget their worries, and dream a little. There is an allure that just cannot be explained. What drew you?
However, I concur, it is not excuse for bad behavior, bad manners, or losing sight that the world is full of people just like ones self. Be respectful of those around, if you wish them to be respectful of you I should think. I must give you kudos for learning to "forgive" (or at least not stress yourself with the behavior).
I think the people that live and work in the Keys that keep it functioning are almost to Sainthood for their patience and perseverance.
Spot on post!
Just because I belong to a job for 40-60 hours every week, doesn't mean I gotta wear shoes the rest of the time, mon! There's no better place on earth to pass the time when I'm not working diligently and properly.
Conch:
Though I can certainly appreciate your well articulated frustration, Jeffrey's Tune put my thoughts on the matter quite perfectly.
The idyllic notion of "Island Time", fiction or non, is precisely what draws my wife and I (and I dare say most folks) back time and again to the end of the road. After months of arduous labor, raising our children, and just trying to stay afloat in these economic climes, a few days in Key West leaves us refreshed and, in some odd way, better people for having had the experience.
The good folks at Disneyworld rarely gawk in wild wonder at Cinderellla's castle (it's just a huge storage space after all). To the people collecting admission fees at Niagra Falls or the Grand Canyon...it's just a huge natural shower.... a massive technicolor hole in the ground wrought from erosion...
We all contrive our own realities of the space around us. To us, annoying as it may be to the fine locals of the lower keys, "Island Time" is a very real thing... a very necessary thing....
My first post, June 14th 2007 explains the paradox quite nicely. Like I said, my island time is enjoyed on my porch, not at work. If you consider I post one essay with pictures every day you can draw two conclusions 1)I have lots of free time, 2)I relax by writing and taking pictures. I am lucky (or a good planner)- I have one job that pays enough to live and gives me plenty of time off. This isn't the norm in the Keys. A vacation does not a lifestyle make.
If you want people to stop dawdling on the highway, tell your cop buddies to lay off. Christ, I swear there was a cop hiding behind every damn bush, every 1/4 mile all the way down, waiting for some tourist to do 5mpg over the limit so they could write them a big ticket. I guess that's how the police department keeps itself funded during the off season. Local boys with an axe to grind against the despised tourists?
The end result was, it made everyone paranoid and they drove signifigantly under the limit, backing shit up for miles. I ain't no dawdler (I build and race turbocharged vehicles), but I acted like one that day.
D
D:
If you look at ny municipality's books you'd see that the revenue brought in by citations is typically a pitance of what it takes to actually run an entire city... And, as far as the "axe to grind against the despised tourists", in the name of benevolence to tourists, KWPD lets many things go that in other places would result in citations or arrests (spend a fantasy fest weekend there and you'd see my point). Every department has the aggressive guys that would stroke thier own Mother a ticket...but for the most part, they are about as fair an an agency can get from my perspective (for what it's worth).
Buffet: way to jump to the defense... and completely miss the point.
D
Conch, from the people I met, your statement is very true. You are the exception, not the rule for working people living in the Keys. The people I met had 2-3 jobs and something on the side using some skill they acquired.
Blog posting is work, gathering the material, editing the photos and uploading, and then your prose is well thought out. I try to do one post a week, and you are doing one a day. Amazing with such content and flair.
Perhaps it is a balance of the two? You have more free time than most living there and are also a good planner?
I have the utmost respect for people making it down there.
I just re-read the Day One entry. Beautiful and Brilliant...
The point about cops is well taken. I've seen the Marine Patrol (nowadays known as Fish and Wildlife) pulling people over, and though KWPD doesn't patrol beyond the Cow Key Bridge (MM4) everyone else does.
The slow pace isn't going the speed limit, it's slowing to ridiculous speeds, less than 40 on the bridges and sitting in long tightly knit lines at 50 on the open stretches. The views are fabulous; pull over and enjoy them.
The need for tourism exacerbates the frustration at how clogged things get in winter. It's just a fact of life and should you choose to live in the Keys,without independant means, be aware that "island time" won't be part of your daily life. I certainly don't begrudge it to people who feel compelled to live Up North for the other 50 weeks of the year.
They pay the bills.
You know who doesn't need to worry about tourists going slow, enjoying their vacations and bugging them as they soak in the views and weather?
The fine folks of Gary, Indiana and Akron, Ohio....
Post a Comment