George is in Key West visiting from his home in Czechia so we had lunch. I took the reins and suggested we try someplace new. I had heard Bagatelle on the one hundred block of Duval Street was doing well so George seconded my choice and there we were one sunny afternoon.
The Bohemian from Bohemia in our little bohemian town:
I'm not sure why I went to mac and cheese but I do have that sweet tooth affliction and coffee and banana bread pudding (two spoons, one lightly used) sent the modest meal over the top. A bit.
George settled in Prague after the Berlin Wall came down and by now speaks fluent Czech which means waiters in this town get a pleasant surprise when he breaks out into their home language. This guy is from a town called Most near Germany, apparently a formerly thriving industrial center. Now you know.
We talked politics for a while Hungarian and US. Hungary has voted a third term, by a wide margin to a nationalist president who is fond of nothing much European, objecting to immigrants and the European Union in equal measure.
It's the sort of political shake up that sends vibes around the world when the president in question leads a large economy like the US. In the case of a country the size of Hungary such rhetoric mostly isn't heard outside the immediate region.
I have been pondering my retirement choices and we discussed those for a while, as I close in on my last three years in Key West (I hope). Hurricane Irma didn't help by driving out many marginal working class people from the Lower Keys, but the inexorable process of gentrification takes a lot of the joy out of living here. I like so many find myself working too much, filling in for absent colleagues who have quit and left Key West, and with the prospect of another dispatcher leaving in a month I wonder how many hours I will have to work.I see a summer ahead of more overtime than I want and not much time away. Retirement is alluring.
I wonder how I will cope with normal weather, gray skies rain and cold, and George's stories of harsh central european winters are a brisk reminder why people with money buy space on this small lump of rock. I will have some adjusting to do wherever I end up. I feel obliged to live mindfully, more so than ever because I don't want to look back and have any regrets about not doing what I wanted to do while I lived here. The absurd costs of living here, the endlessly long road to drive anywhere fresh and interesting and the general lack of amenity in this tiny place demand a fresh start for the final phase of my life. As odd as it may sound living on a small island is not for me, though what is the right place for me in retirement I am not yet sure.Wherever it is it will need more than one road in and out and a chance for interesting driving to compelling destinations and more to do with unstructured days than to drink or fish.
Some people do not much enjoy endless summers. I am all for them and I wish George good luck back in Bohemia, a place I remember fondly from a long car trip I took there in 1995 but which gets cold quite a lot of the time..
6 comments:
One dish at Bagatelle stands above all others; the seafood chowder. It is, by far, the best I've ever had. Be careful, it is very rich!
You should retire to southwest Virginia. We have 4 seasons but it doesn't get unbearably cold or hot. We have lots of history, mountains and beaches within a 5 hour drive . We have been spared alot of natural disasters. Although Virginia beach is nice, I prefer North and south Carolina beaches which are also within about a 5 hour drive. There is basically no traffic here to speak of compared to large cities. People are friendly and respectful. The cost of living is reasonable.
I will try the chowder if I return.
As for retirement its all up in the air. Virginia also has excellent motorcycling roads though I think winters are a bit colder than I'd like.
Who knows we could even end up staying in the Keys. We have too many options for too little time...
Southwest Virginia, Northeast Alaska, the Florida Keys. How many times must we be reminded there's nothing new under the sun! There are happy, sad and everything in between no matter the the latitude or longitude. In the end life is very little about where you are but who you are. Do you wake up everyday thinking about the possibilities and chances for fulfillment that exist where you are or just where you might one day be? Nothing wrong with a mix of both, I love wondering what's around the bend as well, but I long ago realized the grass is green here as well as there. Make your goal everyday to let your smile, your politeness, and your gratitude for waking up in relative peace, prosperity and security radiate to others and you will quickly realize you are right where you need to be.... (Also, off my high horse and in a nod to practicality, from personal experience if you live on an island and aren't on the water in a motor boat/sail boat/kayak/rowboat/paddle board/scuba gear/snorkeling gear/bathing suit/birthday suit/wet sneakers at least 1 out of every 3-4 days then yeah, get off the damn rock)
I find location has a great deal to do with how I feel. Its not a matter of gratitude- I've seen enough misery in the Third World to understand that and I've seen war and death, but aside from those grandiose concepts I want to live my last years where I want to be. I have enjoyed moving around all my life but at this end of the hour glass mistakes are harder to rectify. Its not a matter of not appreciating life, for an atheist like me thats all there is. Not a bunch of hocus pocus promises of what supposedly is to come. That puts a certain pressure on me to get it right, pressure which I enjoy.
Thanks for post:
ship nhanh tới Anguilla
ship gửi hàng tới Senegal
ship hỏa tốc đi Guatemala
ship cấp tốc tới Venezuela
Post a Comment