Saturday, October 27, 2012
Fantasy Fest 2
A few more pictures taken Saturday afternoon prior to the main parade. More to come Sunday.
Posted with Blogsy
Fantasy Fest 1
A few pictures taken on and around Duval this afternoon prior to the big parade (which is when I am at work!).
Breastices painted are not nude by Fantasy Fest rules.
The same food vendors at Goombay last week are here this week, nourishing the shuffling masses.
Stifling crowds shuffling past Sloppy Joe's. Don't you wish you were here?
Chuck was there to indulge my wife and I. This, he is at pains to point out is not his thing at all.
It may not be immediately obvious but a stuffed backpack is a critical costume component.
Nudity is not required for a good costume.
Alcohol is a critical component of Fantasy Fest, lubricating the inhibitions.
Nudity is not... blah blah blah. Sometimes it would be nice of course.
Not fresh ice cream I take it.
Oops! Duplicate picture!
Damn! I've got 75 pictures to upload and I'm not even drunk. Another duplicate.
I was worried this well endowed guy was looking at me as though he might like bears. Wrong team, I wanted to say.
Costumes required? Not at all, just go for a walk.
See and be seen.
I wonder what these out-of-town cops think of our little street party.
Refreshment inside Sloppy Joes. 
Everyone's favorite bar. Hemingway's favorite bar. My favorite bar? The Porch or Finnigan's Wake. 
My Fantasy Fest
It was hectic last night until the bars finally started to close. I snapped a quick picture of my colleagues taking calls and dispatching help all over the city, not just in the "Fantasy Zone" of Duval Street. I was in the back of the room running the radio channel monitoring the officers on Duval Street
The quiet of the Fall months gets interrupted every year by the chaos and activity of this bacchanalia. In the police department everyone works, leave is not allowed and you would be amazed by the careful planning for every eventuality. I show up at dusk to take over the night shift and all the details of the police fire and rescue coverage are laid out ready for us. I like working most days and Fantasy Fest is especially satisfying because it is so intense and so demanding. I'd rather be in the room at the top of the police station than out on the streets drinking. And I get paid to boot. Nice.
Waterfront Market
It came as a bit of a shock when Buco Pantelis fell out with the city over the rent charged for his organically inclined market and then he was gone. Wha...? The building has been empty ever since a small northern grocery chain had a go and failed. This summer new plans were unveiled and approved by the city which is the landlord, and the last we the people heard was that a brew pub was going in.
Renovation work on the building ruined the old mural by the marine artist known only as Wyland but a new rather more colorful, possibly garish, mural has taken its place. Like most people who live in this town of constant change I get a bit leery when something new pops up - again! - and my first question, a reflexive question really is why do they have to change it? In this case the garish stripe at the top suddenly looked like a tropical sunset when my brain cleared and I realised that the top of the building looks west when seen from this side and the sunset ... Well, you get my point. In my defense I am no artist and it takes me a moment to see these subtleties.
I ignored the no trespassing signs and peered through the dusty window and of progress inside there wasn't much to be seen. However I have come to realize that construction apparently stalls out from time to time for some mysterious reason, then hey presto! the job is equally mysteriously done and everyone goes home after packing up their tools.
There was lots of fussing about the brew pub proposal at first when neighbors learned of plans for a rooftop terrace facing the water but music restrictions were written into the permit, so that calmed people down. Some talk of a bowling alley had raised its head but according to the developers of the property a bowling alley wouldn't make enough money to sustain the property. So brew pub it is, we think.
I actually quite like the idea of a brew pub. Which if it is anything like The Porch, owned by the same people, means there is a chance we'll get a second adult watering hole in a town devoted to juvenile drunkeness. The mural seems like a good start.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Other Street Views In Key West
It's not just nekkid people on the streets these days though they get the attention.
The MGB roadster parked variously on the streets was in motion yesterday. The curious, and pleasing thing, is that it appears to be in use, not as a parade ornament, but for the banal and very necessary reason that construction material needed to get home.
I see classic motorcycles held up as paragons because they are owned and never ridden. My 1979 Vespa is close to be restored for the road I am told by Green Tree Scooters. When it gets here it will be ridden, a lot. Frank loves his white 370Z and this summer he took his first long vacation in a long time and drove the Nissan to Nebraska and back. Sometimes you just have to get off the rock.
I rented a Piaggio MP3 250 in Rome two summers ago and I discovered it is an able tool to ride cobbles and street car tracks but it is a very complicated piece of engineering. Would you pay $9,000 for a three wheeler that rides like a two wheeled scooter? Lots of people in Paris and Rome do, I am told.
I liked the imitation Mario Sanchez illustration on the cowl of this Honda Metropolitan even though the sticker strikes a dissonant chord. I keep my motorcycle plain because I shouldn't like to spoil it.
This Cushman was a plain shade of green though no Cushman is plain to devotees of the defunct brand. I grew up with Vespas but whatever the brand I'd like to see more stylish scooters in Key West, just for some thing good to look at. The plastic fantastics are fine but dull.
Then there are the three-wheelers which you'd think would litter the streets of Key West, practical wheels in a town still filled with manly full sized trucks and SUVs. This one was rare enough the occupants asn't surprised I stopped to take pictures.
I think he might have been surprised to know I saw tons of three wheelers in Italy. We used to buy fruit and veg from a traveling nor who drove a 175cc Ape three wheeler built by the same people that build Vespas.
Funnily enough it has space for a motorcycle sized license plate but it was issued a car sized plate instead. One day Florida will get with he alternative transportation future that is rushing to meet us.
Happy Naked Couples
I didn't start out by looking for nekkid Fantasy Fest couples but that was where Fate led me as I walked away from Duval Street up Caroline. I went where Fate led me, and my camera came with me.
One with the other, he said. 
She seemed a lot happier than he to be in front of the camera.
So where do you put the wallet when wearing close to nothing?
Young, happy and loaded with...Bud Lite??
Who knew the Devil rode the bus? This one did, I saw them both descend.
One for the ladies I pleaded and they obliged.
I like Vespas but Cushmans have their place.
They want to see her not me he said, stepping back.
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