Up North they tell us autumnal breezes are starting to blow, cooler weather comes in September in the Northern Hemisphere and people start to look through their closets for warm clothes to fend off the encroaching season. Not in Key West.
Key West is said to be part of the United States, as evidenced by the massive putting out of more flags all the time...
...but the cartoon strips in the newspapers reflect a different reality than one observed in the islands at the tip of Florida's already different seasons. When I lived briefly, and horribly, in Fort Myers, only three hours north by ferry, winter sometimes brought frost, a most unwelcome thing, but in Key West the coldest ever recorded was 41 degrees one winter long ago. 41 degrees (5C) is the often quoted figure below which the thermometer will never go, but I don't recall seeing a temperature recorded much below 50 degrees (10C) which I will say is quite cold enough. However all this talk of cold weather is premature in September.
Perhaps we will get a mild cold front on October, a harbinger of the drier season to come, but it's not until the second cold front hits and marks a moderate temporary drop in temperatures that I will start to park the Triumph brazenly in the sun of an afternoon. Till that second firm cold front afternoon temperatures will continue in the 85 degree (30C) range. Pedaling a bicycle is quite the trial still in September's hot still air and I see more and more electrical conversions appearing on our streets:
If you read the book "Quit Your Job and Move to Key West" you will find an accurate appraisal of September, a quiet month in the city when one sits around hoping for work if employed in the tourist industry and waiting for the heat to break. This year has been hot, with relatively little breeze, and even for someone like me who likes the heat, it has been rather intense this summer. 
So with all the cultural indicators pointing to a change of season one can get a bit impatient for things to change down here too. Or one can sit and wait it out, if one has the patience:
Even riding the motorcycle gets to feeling a bit like riding into a hair dryer, and vinyl seats like the black one on this cute Daelim 125cc single will burn human flesh if left out in the sun:
Removing clothing can be hazardous unless sunburn isn't a concern: 
I find traditional Florida louvered windows to look lovely...
...but I confess to my carbon rapacity: I prefer air conditioning.
This is the time of year that all normal people, those who are not mad dogs or Englishmen, seek out the coolness of the shady side of the street:
People can be seen everywhere walking around with ice filled cups of fizzy corn syrup, which they abandon where they can, adding to the bleakness of the afternoon heat:
I spotted a Federal Fly Trap of some sort. It seems rather too hot even for dangerous insects to be flying around these days:
And over a fence I heard a water pump humming and I smelled the smell of chlorine liberating itself from molecules of water. I stuck my camera over the top of the fence and shot a picture at random. It looks cool and refreshing, even now in the comfort of my air conditioned home:
I am not alone riding a green Triumph in Key West, though this aggressive Speed Triple has a few more horsepower than my Bonneville. If I were a youngster this is probably the bike I would riding:
And even though tourist season is supposedly in hiatus for a few weeks, until Fantasy Fest brings some life to the town for a weekend, there are still people arriving and dragging their sweaty suit cases along the sunny side of the street:
Roll on winter, say I, summer's heat has outstayed it's welcome.
Key West is said to be part of the United States, as evidenced by the massive putting out of more flags all the time......but the cartoon strips in the newspapers reflect a different reality than one observed in the islands at the tip of Florida's already different seasons. When I lived briefly, and horribly, in Fort Myers, only three hours north by ferry, winter sometimes brought frost, a most unwelcome thing, but in Key West the coldest ever recorded was 41 degrees one winter long ago. 41 degrees (5C) is the often quoted figure below which the thermometer will never go, but I don't recall seeing a temperature recorded much below 50 degrees (10C) which I will say is quite cold enough. However all this talk of cold weather is premature in September.
Perhaps we will get a mild cold front on October, a harbinger of the drier season to come, but it's not until the second cold front hits and marks a moderate temporary drop in temperatures that I will start to park the Triumph brazenly in the sun of an afternoon. Till that second firm cold front afternoon temperatures will continue in the 85 degree (30C) range. Pedaling a bicycle is quite the trial still in September's hot still air and I see more and more electrical conversions appearing on our streets:If you read the book "Quit Your Job and Move to Key West" you will find an accurate appraisal of September, a quiet month in the city when one sits around hoping for work if employed in the tourist industry and waiting for the heat to break. This year has been hot, with relatively little breeze, and even for someone like me who likes the heat, it has been rather intense this summer. So with all the cultural indicators pointing to a change of season one can get a bit impatient for things to change down here too. Or one can sit and wait it out, if one has the patience:
Even riding the motorcycle gets to feeling a bit like riding into a hair dryer, and vinyl seats like the black one on this cute Daelim 125cc single will burn human flesh if left out in the sun:
Removing clothing can be hazardous unless sunburn isn't a concern: 
I find traditional Florida louvered windows to look lovely...
...but I confess to my carbon rapacity: I prefer air conditioning.
This is the time of year that all normal people, those who are not mad dogs or Englishmen, seek out the coolness of the shady side of the street:
People can be seen everywhere walking around with ice filled cups of fizzy corn syrup, which they abandon where they can, adding to the bleakness of the afternoon heat:
I spotted a Federal Fly Trap of some sort. It seems rather too hot even for dangerous insects to be flying around these days:
And over a fence I heard a water pump humming and I smelled the smell of chlorine liberating itself from molecules of water. I stuck my camera over the top of the fence and shot a picture at random. It looks cool and refreshing, even now in the comfort of my air conditioned home:I am not alone riding a green Triumph in Key West, though this aggressive Speed Triple has a few more horsepower than my Bonneville. If I were a youngster this is probably the bike I would riding:
And even though tourist season is supposedly in hiatus for a few weeks, until Fantasy Fest brings some life to the town for a weekend, there are still people arriving and dragging their sweaty suit cases along the sunny side of the street:
Roll on winter, say I, summer's heat has outstayed it's welcome.
7 comments:
Dear Conch:
The self-portrait of you in photo #6 clearly indicates how living in Key West can age a person from one blog episode to the next.
Fondest regards,
Jack • Reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
I read the book "Quit your job and move to Key West". It's beginning advice was to move before you had a job and responsibilities.
Unlike riepe's view of me I believe that's whay I am content to have a secure job and a regular routine at the ripe old age of 51. I traveled and moved around when I was young, I declined to get into debt to build a career and I never bought into the 2.3 kids and a house in suburbia catastrophe. I am not good parent material (despite my wife's contrarian belief). I don't need prestige possessions to fulfill my image of myself and I am confident that when the shit hits the fan I can live with even less than I have now, and I'm lucky: I can pay my mortgage still. My marriage is solid( after years of close quarter sailboat living and traveling) and I like where I live. The book has good advice if you are young enough to take it.
I say take life ala carte these days especially on finances. Be like Dave Ramsey with common sense spending and saving, but like Tim Ferris (4 hour work week) on starting a business on income autopilot. Honestly, it has been the only way we have survived the layoff and starting a biz.
Most stuff in a marriage is little stuff, and to be cliche, don't sweat it (or the aggregation of aggravation will get you). Save your prowess for the big stuff to strengthen the marriage when it needs it.
Mr Conchscooter:
Ohhhh, to be able to live in KW two weeks at a time would be more than enough. Too much heat for us northerners. Actually, we are now getting relief from the hot weather of the past couple of months. The past couple of days the lows were around 10c (50F) and it is much more pleasant to ride and not sweat. You can only take so much off . . .
AND, referring to pix #6, you have aged a bit since your last self-portrait. Must be the KW heat
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Couldn't agree more! I've lived in Florida for at least 13 years now and I always long for those winter months for the air to become fresh and crisp (not freezing). I've always said we don't really have winter... just cold fronts. When I hear about a cold front on the news, I usually cheer up. At least I'm in air conditioning now. I had a job drawing caricatures outside for three years and the heat really gets to you.
These strong transitional storm fronts, and the fact that the wind is no longer a reliable 8-knot Easterly breeze, is all the evidence I need of Summer's impending demise. I would ask for a longer summer, if only the fall weren't so peaceful around here. Time to dig up the West Marine Foul Weather Jacket that I bust out everytime it gets below 75F.
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