Drinks With Steve

That's me in my electric mobility scooter at the Waterfront Brewery in Key West and I'm sitting with a total stranger, Steve from Virginia. Actually I'm not quite honest if you can get to know someone through their web page (you tell me...) and you too can get to know Steve from his web page like I did: Log of Spartina Now unlike me you may have no interest in sailing but Steve is a professional photographer so his pictures of sailing  are remarkable and I'll tell you why. Ha! I've been studying them to learn something!

Steve  travels the water with cameras and manages to do something I never could on a boat: he gets angles and colors and light and composition that draws you in. He's a modest man so he lays much of the credit at the door of technology and I'm sure he's right but only in part. He sees the possibilities and he aims his equipment the right way. He is helped along by his boat which is small and beautiful and lovely to look at from any angle. His sailing adventures are within reach of any of us and therefore he excites the mind.

Waterfront Brewery was glowing in the evening light and the conversation wide ranging and stimulating. The funny part was that we were brought together by Webb Chiles, who as unlikely as it seems was our point of  contact. One of those Venn diagrams of connection that brought us together for a couple of hours in Key West. It was fun and I'm glad I scooted down even though it was an afternoon that left me a bit tired for work! Gone are the days, for now of Michael's massive stamina.

On the other hand I did wander around a slight bit to grab some pictures of Key West in the dying of the day's light when Old Town looks it's best.

Christmas is celebrated in Key West with the usual ridiculous Nordic symbols of icicles and snow and lights and all that. It's rather nice I find in 85 degrees. Throw in a wreath and you are good to go for the mid winter holidays.

And so to work. Its odd but another cold front is expected next week so we may have seven days of temperatures struggling to hit 80 degrees, 27 Canadian. I'm not sure what to think about that.

New Chief

The city of Key West got a new chief officially yesterday. Sean Brandenburg was appointed from his position as captain so the transition was as easy as one could imagine from outgoing chief Donie Lee. 

I took this picture of the wall where the chiefs' pictures are displayed and I haven't been back to check but I'm pretty sure it will be filled properly by now.

I stopped to check and someone is on their game as the noticeboard in the police lobby is right up to date. How do you like my rather slick self portrait from my electric scooter? Arms raised in supplication of course.

The great and good of the city of Key West assembled in the front parking lot under glorious clear blue skies and bright sunshine. My wife wheeled me to my place in the back row where I remained seated as the audience rose and sat in accordance with tradition as prayers were sad and flags were presented. 

 The new chief swore to uphold constitutions both federal and state and city charters...

 The former chief (retired) looked on from standing out in his white guayabera shirt:

The chief got his stars pinned  by his wife and then he in turn swore in a new captain, Randy Smith, a new Lieutenant Matt Hayley and a new sergeant, Joe Stockton. One promotion has a cascading effect in the department.

Layne wheeled me out to the street to meet the car and I got a reminder that police work doesn't  stop just because the police station is consumed by an important ceremony. Watching Officer Hartle ride by reminded me how much I long to be back on two wheels.

On the way home the wind was honking across the water, a warm day on the sun was cool and dry in the breeze. A welcome relief no doubt to the people living on the water in Cow Key Channel.

Street Bikes

I have confirmed something that I already knew and I am pondering how to act on this knowledge. The fact that walking is the best possible way  to spot things worth photographing has been known to me for some time, which was always good news as I love to walk.  Yes yes, I know God has a wicked sense of humor taking away my ability to go for a stroll, but suddenly my electric mobility scooter may have opened a new window of photographic opportunity for me. Let me explain.

The picture above I took from the car window as my wife fought the walker and tried to pull it from the trunk. I could do nothing but sit and play with my camera. So I did. My wife is a saint, steadfast by my side through all this mess of rehab. Meanwhile for the photo below I was also in the passenger seat taking the picture on the fly. As tempted as I was to touch it up, straighten the horizon and edit out the corner of the car  and so forth, the picture nicely illustrates why Key West has the highest rate of bicycle fatalities in the state. The rider has a perfectly adequate sidewalk to ride but chooses, quite legally, to ride in traffic among cell phones operators and sleepers behind the wheel. Like they say, you've got to die if you want to go to heaven. 

In the picture below we have another spandex enthusiast in traffic though here he has no choice, hence the danger of cycling in what is otherwise an eminently ride-able city. Key West is small and flat and supremely picturesque so bicycles should be perfect. I prefer to walk because I see more and am separated from the traffic flow. 

Then you take a 35 mph  golf cart loaded with avid telephonists from some place Up North and cars start to get antsy. Unlike a slimline bicycle these slow moving horrors are much harder to pass and local drivers who spot the tell tale flat roof start to look for passing zones. Mix in a few bicycles and traffic gets weird sometimes in Key West. 

Some people love to ride Highway One which strikes me as a form of torture, no shade for a hundred and ten miles, partial bike paths, distracted drivers, scenery, that varies between wildly lovely ocean views best enjoyed while standing or poorly planned urban deserts for mile after mile and best ignored. Then there are implacable head winds of course to make the spandex sticky with your effort. But look at them pedaling like they are having fun. And some people give me grief for wanting to get back on a motorcycle when I'm healed.

Then there are those who take up pedaling as a lifestyle, and they are tolerated as odd as their appearance may be. If I recall correctly this dude was pedaling around town before Irma struck and he seems to have survived with all his stuff. 

 I posted this picture below to no great acclaim on Instagram labeled as low cost waterfront living. Once again illustrating my original point. Life flashes by when you're in a car. On foot you get to really look around and I miss that terribly. Bicycles aren't much better because they still put you in the traffic flow and if you want to live, as I hope I have amply illustrated, they aren't much use as a photography platform. Walking is this photographer's best form of locomotion. It's not the speed, its the ability  to stop and ponder as required that makes walking so blissful. 

However let me say this: the mobility scooter I have been riding has turned into a quite good platform to see the things and note the angles and observe the spaces I miss when traveling more conventionally. It moves at a fast walk but it puts me close to the edge of the sidewalk, in a position that forces me to look. I am getting quite fond of my mobility scooter. I smile a lot more than the bicyclists I encounter when I'm riding it.

I have indeed been smiling a lot lately and I'm not sure why. Maybe its the Percocet but I prefer to think it's the daily realization I am here and getting better. My legs are stronger though not yet able to support me properly. The days are warm and sunny and I am not alone in having a reason to be standing around grinning; check them out, those happy people! 

Face it, recovering in Key West in winter is as close to ideal as I can make it. Too bad I can’t walk because I really do miss standing around pondering a picture I’d like to compose. I’m finding it difficult to find the pictures I know are out there. A shot here and there doesn’t make up for considered walks, a happy dog and a camera in hand.  I’m embarrassed to push myself out to be seen complaining in public but dammit I’m annoyed at myself. 

I realised the electric scooter was possibly the answer to my impatience when I first rolled along the sidewalk of South Roosevelt Boulevard and I could peer over the sea wall into the mangroves. I’d never seen these before, the landing craft of the people living on the boats anchored in the channel between Key West and Stock Island. 

Yes, I thought to myself, I can’t ride a bicycle or drive a car much less walk distances on my own two feet. But I can travel around town, out of the traffic and in my own world. A place where I see things and take pictures because it pleases me. I’m not there yet but I will make time to roll out by myself and do a photographic expedition, not on foot as I’d like but as close as I can get for now. 

Life in the slow lane, stopping to look and see and think. At my speed. Still a privileged position in this overly hasty world of ours. 

I’ll let the cyclists and the motorists race on by while I work to get my land legs back! 

The Salt Mine

The  day I have  long since been waiting for to arrive has come and by the time you read this gone. Back at work for a mere four hours, a red letter day in my return to normal living. Not totally normal by a long shot, slippers instead of shoes on my swollen feet, but I did arrive at work three miles from my apartment under my own steam. The infamous electric mobility scooter.

Leaving home on the far east side of Key West at ten minutes before five the sun was starting to set, indeed I turned the scooter's lights on before arriving at the police station an hour later after a rather pleasant commute at four miles an hour along the North Roosevelt waterfront.

The day started as a blank sheet- no physical therapy, no doctors no shopping even for my wife who left early for work and took Rusty with her so he would have a more interesting day among people as he continues to recover from his torn tendon. I was alone. With wheels. As one person on my scooter forum said I was like a teenager alone with the keys to the car.  did my leg exercises and took off to time the length of my commute.

I have to confess that riding the sidewalk in the middle of the day was harder work for me in the sun and heat and as we wait for a cold front to arrive the air gets particularly humid and thick. To my surprise or because of the forgoing there was hardly any traffic on the broad smooth sidewalk. My commute was a blast! Salt Run Creek, near Overseas Market:

I enjoyed the ride in and work came back to me as I sat in a wheelchair at my desk and logged back into the 911 system.  I took the fire rescue position and started answering administrative and 911 calls. It was in my own words(!) like riding a bicycle; most of it came back.

And then the inevitable ride home in the dark along the waterfront, an hour to decompress before I get home to a hot shower and a well earned rest. This is quite an interesting way to work my way back into regular daily living. All thanks to this funky thing:

What a strange turn my life has taken. And this is just the start of the return to normal. 

The Scooting Life

Scooters in the US are a subset of the motorcycling life. And motorcyclists for the most part ignore or dislike scooters which are viewed as underpowered emasculated and not ridden by real men. I grew up riding in Italy where Vespas and motorcycles each play a role and the riders of one may also be riders of the other.  Because I am a contrarian I have taken to riding scooters in my old age. Also because arthritis in my left wrist makes using a clutch painful and modern scooters like cars tend to be automatics and the left hand is mostly idle. At my age I have nothing to prove but I take pleasure riding a small engined scooter too far and too often thus shocking passers by. Like my August trip to Niagara Falls in 32 hours on my Suzuki 200.

Wytheville, Virginia, August 19th, dawn. 

It was fun though no one believes me! Next year I plan a repeat trip perhaps to Alexandria Bay. My friend Val knows why, because she grew up there plus it’s 1500 miles from Key West and I’ve never been. All this by way of explanation. I’ve now downgraded even lower to a - wait for it!- mobility scooter. Sounds  like old man stuff indeed! 

Notice the walker hanging off the back to give me complete mobility and independence! I am a happy camper. Thank you Therese for gifting me a month’s rent. My friends are extraordinary.  This isn’t a substitute for exercise but with a top speed of a leisurely jog and a range of twelve to sixteen miles I am set. It has lights turn signals and an indoor horn. It is comfortable and it sets me free. Thank you Island Mobility on Stock Island. Craig was a pleasure to deal with. 

This machine is slick. It fits in my apartment better than my manual wheelchair. It rides bumps and lumps just fine, it fits on sidewalks and takes me into the aisles of Publix with the greatest of ease and no fuss. 

It’s easy to use, just turn it on and press F for forward and ...R for reverse! It’s the black bar visible in the photo above. It doesn’t beep in reverse (thank heavens)  and comes with a mirror. It’s exactly what I need until I get my driving privileges back. 

Work is three miles from home along North Roosevelt on a waterfront sidewalk ideal for the purpose. I know this isn’t sexy but it has changed my life. For some a leather jacket a Harley and a handgun are signs of masculinity. For me it’s having fun with what I’ve got and my first instinct was to be an explorer with a whole new perspective of my town. I am blessed with curiosity and a desire to experiment and this is just another way to do that. 

This is going to be a blast. I’m half pedestrian half electric cyborg. 

I’ve also got permission from my scooter buddies on Adventure Rider (advrider.com) to participate in scooter tag which is not normally allowed for mobility scooters... remember I was talking about how segmented riders tend to be? Well I have permission to participate owing to my extraordinary circumstances. 

Pretty cool huh? I have great friends all over the place. I may have weak legs but I’m a happy lucky man. Oh and Rusty got his stitches out from the visiting vet, Dr Edie. 

No strenuous walks till mid January when his tendon should have healed. Excellent news. We’re doing well, both of us. And my wife is managing. I did some shopping for her. And got it home in one piece. 

Getting there, but by bit. I always said I’d get whole again. And I will. Doubters are banished! 

Water Scenes

In my journeys as a passenger around the Keys and Key West I amuse myself by sitting with my big camera in my lap. I have found the Panasonic LUMIX FZ300 ideal for me. It’s not a single lense reflex but I don’t print my pictures or sell them. I store them in the cloud, I post them, mostly here obviously as well as Instagram and occasionally on Facebook so a lack of professional grade pixelation doesn’t bother me. Especially when my bridge camera offers huge telephoto possibilities and myriad focus and filter features and even remote control from my phone. Add to that dust and rain protection and easy WiFi photo transfer to my phone and this used $350 camera is a bargain for me. And so here are some pictures taken from the passenger seat on the fly.