If you were to park yourself on a street corner in Key West to watch the world go by not too much time later, you would see pretty much every car and scooter on the island go by. It's hard to convince people who live on the mainland that life in the Lower Keys really is different, aside from the obvious tourist-attracting behavior, not least because there are not many people and even less land. 
It wasn't three weeks ago I took a picture of Baron Samedi riding his bicycle n Whitehead Street and here he was napping under a ficus tree on Truman Annex. Had he not been asleep I might have been tempted to try to start a conversation with him. As it was this little bird tried to start a conversation first with Cheyenne and when the dog got tired of getting dive bombed and came to me for protection the bird (a noisy jay perhaps?) started in on me. I figured maybe we were encroaching on a nest or something so Cheyenne and I backed the car up but it was no good. we were told in no uncertain terms we had to leave. So we did.
Things are coming to a pretty pass when even the wildlife is getting stressed out and aggressive. The thing is the recent census issued preliminary numbers showing Monroe County, alone among Florida's 67 counties lost population. The State is up to almost 20 million people, but Monroe County has lost about ten percent of it's population and we're down to 73,000. The good news is that unemployment is ridiculously low here, less than seven percent.
The bad news is that's because when people lose their jobs they tend to leave town and head north, Ocala and North Carolina being the preferred destinations, if not a relative's couch somewhere.
Mind you, if there are that many fewer people in the county that just means you'd have to spend less time sitting on the street corner waiting for them all to pass you by.
It wasn't three weeks ago I took a picture of Baron Samedi riding his bicycle n Whitehead Street and here he was napping under a ficus tree on Truman Annex. Had he not been asleep I might have been tempted to try to start a conversation with him. As it was this little bird tried to start a conversation first with Cheyenne and when the dog got tired of getting dive bombed and came to me for protection the bird (a noisy jay perhaps?) started in on me. I figured maybe we were encroaching on a nest or something so Cheyenne and I backed the car up but it was no good. we were told in no uncertain terms we had to leave. So we did.Things are coming to a pretty pass when even the wildlife is getting stressed out and aggressive. The thing is the recent census issued preliminary numbers showing Monroe County, alone among Florida's 67 counties lost population. The State is up to almost 20 million people, but Monroe County has lost about ten percent of it's population and we're down to 73,000. The good news is that unemployment is ridiculously low here, less than seven percent.The bad news is that's because when people lose their jobs they tend to leave town and head north, Ocala and North Carolina being the preferred destinations, if not a relative's couch somewhere.
Mind you, if there are that many fewer people in the county that just means you'd have to spend less time sitting on the street corner waiting for them all to pass you by.
3 comments:
You have met the mockingbird, nature's Terminator with feathers. They fear nothing, not even hawks.
Just as well I didn't kill the little bugger.
Love your photos and insights of Key West life - I know what you mean about the wait and see the whole town pass you by ---- from visitin on numerous past occasions - as a tourist you can even start to "recognize" the same people with just a few days stay.
Best Wishes-Happy Weekend (watch out for those mockingbirds! Tweet!)
Linda Lan
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