Leaving the Police Department around midnight I noticed for some reason the fountain at the entrance to the building which is decorated with a permanent police badge, and stepping out a little further I found myself in the parking lot.
I don't pay much attention to the trappings of the police station, it's just where I work. I was reminded last week that some people find the environment odd, when a colleague of my wife's remarked that she didn't much like being around armed investigators. The school district has been investigated for some fraud lately and the State Attorney's officers have been in the school's administrative building. "Guns?" I said. " I guess they are just tools, like screwdrivers for a carpenter." My analogy got me an odd look but I tend to forget that for some people being around armed officers is unusual. It would be hard to do this without the other sometimes:
But at one in the morning Poinciana Elementary School on Kennedy Drive is as quiet as an empty police station:
I made my way to Flagler Avenue, enjoying the rush of the warm night air through my hair. I stopped off at the old state police building to take a picture of Habana Plaza illuminated at night, a long white arcade, refurbished after Hurricane Wilma flooded the bottom and blew out the roof. The new plaza looks good but the Office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has moved elsewhere and there is a for rent sign in the window. Which makes a passable mirror:
And this was what I stopped for.
One pleasure I get from commuting by Bonneville is that if I need to amuse myself in the middle of the night a ride around town is a satisfying break from the radio dispatch routine at work. And as I needed to go to the bank I incorporated the chore with the pleasure of the ride.
The sign of the Automated Teller Machine is cracked and wrinkled by the sun and the fragile state of the blue letters put me in mind of the fragile state of Bank of America, apparently carrying a vast load of uncertain debt.
The ATM worked this time, but my wife puts her faith more in the credit union than the convenience of the BofA. I don't handle the checks so I go where I am told, and going to the bank at 12:30 in the morning is a good way to get out of the office and onto the motorcycle.
Leaving the Police Department around midnight I noticed for some reason the fountain at the entrance to the building which is decorated with a permanent police badge, and stepping out a little further I found myself in the parking lot.
I don't pay much attention to the trappings of the police station, it's just where I work. I was reminded last week that some people find the environment odd, when a colleague of my wife's remarked that she didn't much like being around armed investigators. The school district has been investigated for some fraud lately and the State Attorney's officers have been in the school's administrative building. "Guns?" I said. " I guess they are just tools, like screwdrivers for a carpenter." My analogy got me an odd look but I tend to forget that for some people being around armed officers is unusual. It would be hard to do this without the other sometimes:
I made my way to Flagler Avenue, enjoying the rush of the warm night air through my hair. I stopped off at the old state police building to take a picture of Habana Plaza illuminated at night, a long white arcade, refurbished after Hurricane Wilma flooded the bottom and blew out the roof. The new plaza looks good but the Office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has moved elsewhere and there is a for rent sign in the window. Which makes a passable mirror:
7 comments:
Dear Conch:
I have found women to be far more deadly than firearms. And women with firearms... Well.
The philosophical note of this blog episode was something of a surprise. Not only does the cracked appearance of the ATM connote the fragile nature of the US banking system in general, and the Bank of America in particular, but it could serve as a metaphor for life in the US today period... Unemployment, a stalled economy, the divisive nature of the healthcare question, and uncertainty for the future are all expressed in this simple sign.
Great pictures of your bike as well. Tell me, is the heat at night still fairly oppressive?
I think the motto (of the Key West police) "Protecting and Serving Paradise" is great. There is a town here by the name of "Paradise." The police car is actually an Amish wagon with flashing lights. The motto reads "Ultimate Freedom Through Hard Labor and Sexual Repression." It was the theme of my second marriage.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Your second marriage sounds like the preamble they lost that was supposed to go with the Communist Manifesto, the only one of Marx's works I ever did read cover to cover. But I did stop by Smathers beach today to photograph two Amish women sunbathing for you.
Nights are hot and damp and you would chafe your thigs bloody walking from the curb up to the Red Garter. They stay that way (nights not your thighs) until maybe mid October.
Mr Conchscooter:
this is an excellent idea you have given me. I am always on the lookout for interesting topics. Who would have thought about riding after midnight to go to a bank machine ? I'm going to put it on my "to do" list. I just have to figure out a way to keep my eyes open that late and make sure I don't get mugged on the way out
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
The main reason I do the blog is that it keeps me alert to my surroundings. The older we get the faster time passes and scientists tell us because there isn little in life that is new and startling as we age. Thus kids, who see everything for the first time get an elongated view of the passage of time.
I am always looking for the first time when I have the camera.
You are indeed a philosopher.
Diana
AHHH....Back to the rare picture of you as a reflection....all is right with the world!!!!
Buffalo Bill
I think too much.
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