Night Impressions

"I am a newbie in town," the woman said rather disarmingly and went on to ask me a question which I answered. Then I went on to give her a history of the answer which, when I heard myself doing it I realised I was turning into one of those people who has enough history in Key West everything starts to become a chronology. "The Paradise section of the paper comes out on Thursdays," I started to pontificate, going on to say how I used to prefer the old publishing schedule, blah blah blah. She was a sweet woman, a captive audience as her foot was encased in a plastic cast of some sort and she nodded along until I caught myself and shut up.

It was one of the reasons I started this blog, to photograph and pin down the changes as they happen in and around Key West, to record the changes as it were. I listened as the woman from Georgia, told me her tale of moving to Key West "on a whim" and learning to live in small spaces over the past eight months. The freshness of it all reminded me of Key West seen as a new space and when she asked about the city at night I said I frequently wandered the streets with no problems. She seemed relieved- sort of- but I know that when I take my night time walks during my lunch breaks I never get accosted or bothered. Perhaps I exude some anti-drama musk, or my beard frightens people or I just look too ornery to be messed with. On another topic I put 20,000 miles on my Suzuki Savage 650 single, similar in all respects to this one right down to the same saddle bags as I put on mine. Perhaps it was my old Suzuki.He was blipping the throttle as though learning how to ride, on Front Street at 10 pm. Eventually he rolled away, leaving me to remember how uncomfortable I found the cruiser seating position and how much I liked the belt drive and how bad the mileage was, no better than the Bonneville at 45 mpg with a tiny fuel tank to boot.

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In many respects Key West has yet to identify itself to visitors- is it low brow mass market or seeking to encourage the well-to-do to the island? Some residents hate the cruise ships and blame all ills on them while the merchants on Lower Duval have to pander to them and what I can only describe as their odd purchasing decisions. I mean, who buys this stuff? Is it ever appropriate in Peoria to wear these sentiments out in public? Are there crowds of people showing up at Starbucks across the Great Plains ordering their first latte of the weekend wearing these sentiments? On Whitehead Street in front of the Audubon House a young woman was pushing her bicycle and with a powerful pair of lungs was complaining to her current friend about the perfidy of friendship in general and one instance of betrayal in particular...about how could she do such a thing and still call herself a friend? etc... etc... the injustice of it all.Sometimes Key West sounds like a college town without the campus but with all the drinking.