Vignettes XXIX

Yesterday I spotted this sign on Stock Island's College Road and it is new to me:Since when has the formerly upscale, all floating dock, well protected from hurricanes, Sunset Marina felt the need to advertise it's presence? And with such a tacky, soda-infested banner ? Standards are dropping in parallel with the economy and I am glad I no longer live there!

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This sign made me laugh out loud. Painted on a stairway for an ascending patron the intent is clear, even if the execution allows the message to be read backward:I am easily amused.

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Not so amusing was street blockage on Angela Street alongside the cemetery. I understand that sometimes M'Bubba has an urgent communication for a neighbor and feels compelled to stop and share the news right there on the street without bothering to pull over and park. However for a commercial operation loading debris to fill the street like this seems rather...inconsiderate? Isn't that why God invented wheel barrows?

Unlike the poor sap in the PT Cruiser I am an able backer and I reversed fifty yards in one fell swoop back to Margaret Street and circled the block. It was actually as easy in the dog-laden Nissan as it might have been on the Bonneville.

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The general subject matter for this essay ("pointlessness") was prompted by the next picture. Unlike more accomplished photographers I use a small pocket Canon SX100 which not only uses double A batteries so I never run out of juice as they are available anywhere in an emergency, but it is also always to hand. Sometimes I take pictures just because, without knowing exactly why. That's why this blog is my diary and it is, in a sense, a repository for all my random thoughts. One thought that comes to mind frequently and is brought up in the Citizen's Voice even more frequently is why do people bother to blow leaves around? Obviously this guy is acting on orders, but the question remains.

It's another source of noise pollution (and CO2 let's not forget!) and serves no useful purpose. Like I said, I am easily amused and the idiocy of blowing leaves around while burning dead dinosaurs seems bizarre to me. Whatever happened to dust pans and brushes?

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We need Irondad to step in here. This scooter is so badly parked I can only assume (and make an ass of myself!) it is a practical piece of transportation for some cager, not an enthusiast of two wheels. I find it odd that "bikers" think that riding a scooter should somehow be beneath them, though in Key West where scooters are used as daily workhorses, more so than any other US city, most scooter riders would laugh if you called them "motorcyclists." And frequently it shows. You'd be amazed at the number of flip flop riders dragging their feet when in motion, riding gear is never in evidence and rules of the road are followed about as often by scooters as by cyclists. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just observing. I like that adults (with health insurance) don't have to wear helmets in Florida. I don't always wear one myself, and my wife hates wearing hers. However when it comes to parking I have a different take on it. Parking a scooter or a motorcycle is so simple I wonder why one rider thinks it's okay to dump the scooter (downhill, facing the curb no less) in such a way as to occupy the whole space. Anyone else wanting to use the abbreviated spot will need to move this machine to make room.

It's not labeled as scooter parking but anything bigger than a Smartfortwo wouldn't fit. Perhaps it is meant for sidecar parking if not scooters? I'm thinking it was the room left over on the street (Frances if you're interested) and the city hasn't got around to striping and labeling it yet.

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I've seen this car around town and the driver shows no particular aptitude for speed, and no obvious driving skills but the spoiler is firmly attached to make his little Hyundai more...what exactly? "Zoom zoom" was Mazda's advertising years ago when I had television. Maybe he heard it while in the womb and it left it's mark. Sometimes when I pull the Bonneville alongside cars with racing mufflers I make "zoom zoom" noises while sitting on my factory muffled Triumph. I hope it embarrasses them to hear the old man next to them " broom brooming" through his gray beard and pulling away from the light before they can even release the brake.

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And here we have a series of photographs to explain why the Honda Ruckus scooter should never have become as fashionable as it has. Saddlebags on a scooter??
Well yes, I took the second picture in the parking lot of Bank of America on Flagler and there they are, leather bags dangling off the 50cc Ruckus. The reason is the Ruckus has no luggage space at all on it's trellis frame:Vroom Vroom. However this (I think) Taiwan Golden Bee has under seat, weatherproof, lockable storage and an optional basket trimly secured to the rack. Convenience and style, says I. I live with saddlebags because I have to. My wife with her Vespa ET4 doesn't have to. That's the whole point of scootering.

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Bayside Landing in Big Coppitt is coming close to completion. This new housing development faces Highway One across from the Shell station (where I dropped the Bonneville last June, actually...)and they are putting up the last few homes there. It's been a long difficult road.

I am sure it comes as no surprise that some neighbors protested loudly about this Habitat For Humanity development appearing next door. They belonged apparently to either NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) or the BANANA schools of thought. That would be "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything". Well, you can understand that, who wants poor people cluttering up the neighborhood? Happily a few of the candidates for housing here, bank tellers, clerks, government employees and the like, got overwhelmed by the cost of living in a crap economy and have left the Keys. Which I suppose will help to justify future attempts to keep working people from owning their own homes in the Keys. Slow them down enough and eventually they will give up. Aren't people great? (My neighbors, the sole nice couple on my street, said they have applications pending to quickly fill the available spaces).

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In case you get lost or panic stricken in the event of a hurricane, the Great State of Florida has put up some useful signs along the newly designated Highway Of National Importance.

Any other direction will get you drowned in short order, and it won't do your car much good either.

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I should applaud this tourist's determination to document his visit to the Keys, with his patient passenger slumped in the Sebring while he photographed Boca Chica bridge.

Instead I wonder why he doesn't just lift pictures from Key West Diary? She would be so much less impatient and he could do it from the comfort of his home.