Sunny Downtown, Grumpy People

Leaf blowers. The city commission has been thinking about banning leaf blowers. The furor this plan caused was powerful enough to take one's mind off the possibility of war with North Korea. I have no idea how I feel about leaf blowers as I live outside the city. I don't like noise and when I do outdoor work I prefer to use tools over machines, however I don't think leaf blowers are used for more than a few minutes are they? I have no idea but the anger is amazing on both sides of the issue. 

Then the county voted to raise building height limits a few feet. The idea is to allow buildings to rise above floodwaters. My problem is my skepticism because when I am told  building codes across the county will allow for taller buildings, I imagine businesses cramming quarters for employees under the rafters. I see a future in this county that involves living essentially in the company store to keep the tropical retreat functioning for those that can afford it.

There is no doubt a fair bit of stress in Monroe County right now. I was riding out of Key West in the middle of the day last Friday when the car in front of me started acting bizarrely. Tires screeched and the vehicle lurched forward and braked suddenly as though it's tired antique clutch were giving out. The car itself was old, covered black primer a tiny little Datsun hatchback from another era. My camera was in the Vespa topcase else I'd have snapped a picture. Suddenly the rear window was filled by a thick head of dreadlocked blonde hair with long deeply tanned fingers reaching out making gestures that indicated I should fuck off at my earliest convenience. I was puzzled as I had no idea what offense I might have committed against the wild eyed driver of the ratty conveyance in front of me in line to escape Key West's pernicious influence.I pulled alongside.

She leaned out of her wreck of  Datsun, a  shadow of a car as unsafe as you like filled with junk, broken plastics inside the cabin wherein resided the mad octopus who started screaming at me about safety and being on my scooter and being too close to her mobile toxic heap. All this even though I was two scooter lengths behind her, and in no hurry to push the long line of cars that once again built up leading to the sole exit to the city. I felt absurd arguing with the creature and I tried to apologize for upsetting her even though I had no idea why she was upset. I pulled ahead and left her to rant alone in the hell of her unraveling existence.

A scooter pulled alongside, a man older than me on a Yamaha Zuma bearing a broad smile. That was fun he said. I looked at him and looked him in the eye: Was I too close? He laughed, she's crazy he said it's all in her head. We rode to the green light shaking our heads.He took advantage of commiserating with me to cut ahead of the traffic and I followed along wondering what is wrong with people. Quite a lot apparently.

Then that evening I set off from home refreshed and ready to deal with work and pulled into traffic behind an AT&T small van. He immediately got upset and slammed on his brakes and lit up his four way flashers which was no problem for me as I was holding my usual two second gap. But from there on, the AT&T guy held exactly to the speed limit or less, so  while the cars in front pulled away he was driving to rule. There were no passing spaces so I held back and enjoyed the afternoon. Then a large silver SUV arrived behind me and started showing signs of impatience at this stately progress. So I got an idea. I pulled to one side onto the shoulder and let the giant SUV through  then I pulled back into the roadway behind him. The AT&T guy didn't stand a chance. He could see me riding near the shoulder a couple of seconds behind the SUV but he had to speed up. The SUV couldn't pass thanks to the heavy flow of oncoming traffic but he rode that poor AT&T guy's bumper all the way to Big Coppitt where Highway One to Key West becomes a four lane. By the time we got there AT&T was  5 or more miles an hour over the limit and I was riding along as fast as I wanted thanks to the SUV.

So much anger, including each of my colleagues who suffered road rage incidents that evening. Perhaps it was something to do with the holiday, or imminent war with North Korea or something. Perhaps it's just that economical smart scooters have no place in a world which believes there is no substitute for size.

Mile Marker Zero

In addition to Key West being southernmost everything it is also home to the end of US Highway One, which runs almost 2500 miles to Fort Kent in Maine on the Canadian border. It holds an especial fascination for visitors to Key West:

If you Google Mile Marker Zero you will find pictures, many of them rather out of date, of streams of strangers "excited" like this punter to have his anonymous picture taken next to the marker:

It is as though you achieve something by being there. Perhaps had Steve in the picture above cycled down on the pushbike from somewhere else but simply getting on a plane and here you are seems less of an achievement. Yet the tourists and tours fill this street corner up:

They have started selling refreshing ices in front of the former Jefferson Browne courthouse, the spot that marks the center of the county. Distances from Key West are marked from the corner of Fleming at Whitehead Streets.

For many people it's just another street on the daily grind:

For others it's just a street to be traversed between attractions, possibly the Hemingway House at one end and Mallory Square or the Mel Fisher museum at the other. I like the Audubon HOuse at Whitehead and Greene.

From a  distance sitting on the walkway of the former courthouse one can enjoy the permanent breeze and look at a street that appears unremarkable:

And the cars stop and the cameras come out:

It looks odd but in point of fact there is nowhere to park next to the sign so he'd have to get out and walk to obtain the same effect:

If you work around here your phone is far more interesting than a stupid sign:

One of the scooter forums I read has not much good to say about Chinese scooters but I see them around key West looking better than  ever and performing as you might expect. China is catching up fast and our leadership wants to go back to digging coal out of the ground. It seems terribly old fashioned to me, just like our prejudices against other Chinese industrialization.

I'll bet she thinks its a good deal for her commute. It looked good too to my eye,thick paint and a solid appearance.

Ah yes the scooter life in a small town that has embraced them:

For most of the visitors to Mile Marker Zero such simple effective transportation does not relate at all to their life in their real worlds. Too bad.

A Place To Rest

St Paul's Cathedral on Duval Street at the corner of Eaton Street has the pride of place among churches in Key West.

It is a relatively imposing structure in the tourist zone. I took this picture last summer when the poincianas were blooming and which they will be soon again to give that added dramatic splash of color:

The interior is everything a church should be in my opinion, a calm restful place, encouraging meditation, and it is doubly pleasant as a place to duck out of the bustle of Duval Street. The noon organ recitals are an excellent way to get off the street and sit back and listen to something you may not be used to hearing.

It was Palm Sunday last week and around here it's not hard to find suitable greenery to mark the day:

The church is known for it's impressive stained glass. This church, as solid as it appears has been blown down a few times by storms. Windows in buildings like these are frequently protected by sheets of transparent plastic to prevent windblown objects damaging them.

I was sitting in a pew contemplating my navel when a stranger strode up to me and asked me if I was an Episcopalian, the denomination of this church. I looked blank and he went on to tell me, out of the blue that he was a Catholic and he was marveling how closely this church resembled the churches he was familiar with. I mumbled something about High Church formats and how such gaudiness is not always appreciated and he moved on absorbed in the shock of his discovery. I relapsed into meditation grateful for the renewed serenity.  

Outside the church is another of those public art works consisting of a poem in cement, and very fine they are too even if some young heathen prefer to scuff them with their feet:

So much to see, a 90 minute Conch Train tour is a very good idea if you can follow along. The check out the places that struck your fancy.

Back at my scooter I found a Chinese look alike. It's such a direct copy of a Vespa that the company in Italy filed a lawsuit and the Chinese company was forced to shut down at a Milan motorcycle show for infringement of patent:

And so home on my Italian studly Popsicle.

R And R

I am finding my life is circumscribed by work, exercise and sleep. I am rather surprised to find it so. 

I find my morning walks the most calming and meditative part of my day. Rusty is my companion but he runs back and forth as I walk and because he's a dog he leaves me room to think or not as I wish. I talk to him but unless I'm asking him to reassure me by putting in an appearance he pretty much ignores me.

Then he pops out of the bushes in front or behind me, tail flying like a banner behind him and he trots off with all the confidence of a well loved and much trusted dog.

I wonder how those dogs walked on a  leash on the same paths day after day don't go out of their mind in boredom. Some do of course barking and pacing all day. On days when I'm not working I take him out in the afternoon as well when the sun is setting and we do it all again. 

 He spends the middle of the day, after he has spent some considerable time running...

...snoozing on the brick driveway or secure under one of our cars watching the world go by:

Our neighbors marveled at the dog, not fenced but free to go where he pleases who stays tucked up at home, drifting in and out through his dog door, wandering downstairs for a bit, napping on the chaise longue on the deck, taking in a little sunbathing perhaps or snoozing on the bed

 And then I go to work.

Getting Around

It was a rainy  day in Key West, a sudden thunderstorm dropped rain and all units returned to base to park their patrol motorcycles under their roof at the Key West Police Department. I the intrepid Vespa rider pulled up to take cover while I pulled on my waterproofs, my Frogg Toggs for my ride home. The Vespa had to stay in the rain as the Road Kings were all neatly in their spots, their riders in cars to get through the tough weather break. I rode home 23 miles. In the rain. 

 

I have noticed that Rusty accepts me departing the house if not willingly at least with forbearance when I do it on two wheels. I suppose he sees no place for himself so he sits at the top of the stairs and watches me pull on my helmet and get astride my bike and leave. When I leave in the car without him he sits on the top of the stairs but with his back turned after he sees me climb in the car without him. "He looks angry" my wife said one day. I guess he doesn't like being left behind.

I go to exercise most mornings at eleven and return close to two o'clock. On the way home I might go downtown to take some pictures,

...or sometimes I take a  side road and look for pictures for myself or perhaps for a scooter tag forum. This one at the end of Blimp Road was tot snag a tag posted in Idaho showing  a"hill billy ventilated road sign." I knew where we had one of those and it made an excuse to ride three miles up Blimp Road to admire the whitecaps and snap a picture.

I then took a picture of the Vespa 150 on Spain Boulevard and tagged it "Your scooter on a dirt gravel or sand road" which didn't last long as someone in Virginia  got his Suzuki scooter in the dirt right away. By then I was home.

It's been windy in the Keys for a while now which is a nice way of keeping summer at bay. The temperatures are cooler and mosquitoes are somewhat suppressed and it was blowing so hard they even pulled Fat Albert (in the background)  to earth.

These bright windy days are lovely to look at. I am riding my Vespas much more than my motorcycle these days because they do 60 miles an hour, enough to keep up with traffic but not so fast as to tempt me to pass or speed and thus earn more tickets. And any long distance trip I might be tempted to do with the motorcycle these days I'd rather do by car to enjoy Rusty's company. 

So on the Vespa I race downwind gaining a handful of precious miles per hour -what fun!- and upwind home I ride a machine that struggles to hold 55 mph into the wind and I take advantage of every hedge and building and cringe as I cross the windswept bridges that slow me down...Util I get home to himself:

There he sits in the driveway sunning himself, grazing on grass, un-fenced free to come and go inside the house and out as he pleases. Rusty he wonder dog.