Foreign Vexations On Labor Day

My wife thinks I'm nuts but I am pissed off about this referendum they are holding in Scotland this month. Why do you care? she asked. So I had to explain to myself why my sister's "Yes" vote is annoying me so much. Independence for Scotland? Stupid idea. Yes, but why exactly? There's the question that I want to ruminate about today, an otherwise peaceful holiday, to try and get the vexation out of my system. The pictures are of Key West, a pre-dawn walk I took last week, because this page is supposed to be about the Keys, not Scotland.

At first I figured I was just getting worked up and annoyed because the world of my  misspent youth is possibly going to change irrevocably. I have traveled to countries that no longer exist, and a good thing too in most cases. No one really misses the German Democratic Republic and its spying apparatus. The 24 hours I spent there freaked me out far worse than my  trip to the Soviet Union did which was far less oppressive and creepy by comparison. Yet the idea that Scotland's union with England which together are the United Kingdom, should be dissolved after three centuries just seems wrong to me. It's like Maine voting for independence. It seems plain weird as none of us remember a time when Scotland was anything but glued to England.

The thing is I support most of the ideas promoted by the Scottish National Party, which describes itself as social-democratic which is to say left of center. If it does have good ideas worthy of an independent Scotland I don't see why they aren't worth promoting for the entire country. If free public health care, free education and a nuclear-free future are good for Scotland, why not fight for these causes as part of the United Kingdom? Its too easy to scoop up your marbles and go home in a huff, rather than stand and fight to convince your neighbors of the justice of your cause. Better to stay part of the United Kingdom and promote those policies for all residents of the UK, if they are worth pursuing at all. But Scottish "Yes" voters prefer to isolate themselves and ignore any larger issues.

 

The other thing that frosts me is that the nationalists want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to retain the British pound but the English government is saying no to that, though how they could prevent it I'm not sure. The Scottish nationalists also want to join the European Union, but Spain is dead set against that because Spain fears Catalonia might follow Scotland's example if they are successful and  gain independence so they have promised to prevent an independent Scotland from joining the Union.Scotland wants to fund its  expensive welfare state with North Sea Oil but  the supply is running out, and the voices for independence are simply ignoring this cold hard fact. The English government says a vote for independence is irrevocable and they will pull out English based manufacturing, military bases and support facilities further cutting Scotland's economy. The yes voters think independence by itself will solve all ills. They seem mathematically impaired.  Two generations ago large numbers of highlanders heated their homes by burning dirt. After decades of peace and prosperity its time to cut the ties that bind. I am quite surprised the English haven't decided to be the ones choosing to cast the ungrateful Scots off. Let them go back to the dark ages if that's what they want. And maybe this vote won't lead to the dark ages exactly but changes will be real and permanent with unintended consequences.

Yet the nationalists, losing in the polls by a mere 6% with double that still undecided (dear God how can anyone in Scotland still be undecided with the vote looming on the 18th?) are acting like rent-a-mobs hounding people like J K Rowling who supports union, and throwing eggs at politicians opposed to separation. Yet my sister who supports independence gets fatuous Facebook posts from her friends talking about border controls going up after the vote with the fervor of eastern Europeans throwing off the shackles of Soviet dictatorship. They sound like school children playing at setting up house, as though a vote for independence were make believe.  If they vote for independence all ties will be cut between the two countries but it will take a couple of years to sort out the mess. Not least is the name of the new rump state left behind by Scotland's proposed departure. It can't very well be a United Kingdom when the "other" kingdom departs. Some people want to call it the Former United Kingdom which leaves a rather unfortunate acronym in it's wake. I suppose it will just be Great Britain and the United Kingdom where I was born will disappear. Fantastic.

Unarguably the English have treated the Scots as badly as anyone but it was centuries ago, employing legalized theft to deprive the Scots of their lands and trying to suppress their culture by banning the kilt and so forth. But to hold a grudge would be like the US cutting off diplomatic relations with England because the British once burned down the White House. Scotland  has it's own parliament at Holyrood and has for as long as I can remember had certain of its own laws such that my father, a lawyer in London was not able to practice law in Scotland. Nowadays Holyrood levies taxes and makes laws but has no control over foreign affairs and defense. But that is not enough for modern Scotland.

The parameters for the vote are bizarre. Anyone who lives in Scotland as of September 2nd, tomorrow, the last day of registration get to vote. 16 year-olds vote. Citizens of the European Union living in Scotland get to vote. And bear this in mind you can currently drive from England to Scotland with no more formality than driving across a US state line. The possibilities for ballot stuffing seems endless. 

In the end I ask myself what does this mean for me apart from my irrational fear of losing where I was from and whence I do not intend to return? I guess I have grown into my American skin. As much as it is possible to get irritated by one's neighbors the US isn't a country that considers cutting them off just because of irritation. We don't weigh and reject, as a nation, the cost of repairing forest fires in the West, flood damage along the Mississippi or hurricane debris in the East. I suppose if you were to cherry pick certain corners of this country they could get along just fine without the rest of us but that's not part of the program and never has been since this place was founded. California would have a perfectly satisfactory economy were it to go it alone, but that possibility does not exist in our New World. That unity has always made America great; disunity will make Scotland small and mean and drag England backwards with it. 

On a practical level I don't see the value of leaving the UK and then proposing to join the EU. England is planning to re negotiate terms of membership with the Union but by seeking full independence Scotland would get to take itself out of those discussions. I don't think the Euro has been the brilliant idea I had hoped it would become, not least because of the lies propagated by the poorer European states anxious to qualify for membership in the currency.  They downplayed their debt to pass muster with regulators who seemed to pay no attention to reality. Scotland does not seem like it would be much of a boost to the European Union even if it could join as an independent country, and it will be  poor and laden with debt after  it separates from England and Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Change is good, I tell myself, but some changes are hard to swallow. Independence for Scotland rubs me the wrong way and I hope common sense and fear of the unintended consequences will prevail in two weeks and "Better Together" will win out and launch Scotland into a drive to influence, not tear away from, the other kingdom to the south.


It may be coincidence but yesterday marked the end of organized violence in Northern Ireland when most of the IRA decided to stop killing people in an effort to bring Northern Ireland under the influence of the Catholic Church in the Republic. In much the same way that I wonder if Palestine might not exist today had they adopted Gandhian non violence, I wonder if the IRA had chosen non violent civil resistance would Ireland be re-united today? Who knows, but the past is another country, they do things differently there. Wild specualtion in light of the murder and mayhem happing across the world today. Duck and cover, once more. I prefer dogs to people.

From The Archives: Hilton Haven 2008

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Hilton Haven

It's the endless search for that which was, which animates a lot of people who like or want to like Key West. Hilton Haven is little more than a street sized alleyway off North Roosevelt Boulevard and it has many of those elements of old Key West that the nostalgia buffs like to hold over a newbie's head. Finding it is your first problem, and I wonder if this vehicle trying to poke it's snout onto the Boulevard knows it is coming out of Hilton Haven:The street, if that is what it is, isn't labelled or marked in any obvious way, and it may not even appear to be a public street at all, at first glance. This might be nothing more than an entrance to the surprisingly spacious Banana Bay Resort:Even if the casual visitor finds the public right of way through the resort parking lots, Hilton Haven itself remains more of a suggestion than a city street proper:I am a sucker for old coral rock walls, even if they are held together with modern cement and surmounted by modern hurricane fencing rusting gently in the moist seaside air. Old Key West is delightfully evident here:Juxtaposed with modern Key West right next door:Key West in general is too small for total neighborhood segregation and buying or remodelling an expensive home is a crap shoot when it comes to enjoying your neighbors. In most American cities you can define your ideal zone by taking a quick drive and finding where you are comfortable. Key West pushes those assumptions back at you, as it does so much else in modern life. Just because you want an all-mod-con stuccoed palace doesn't mean your neighbor is ready to sell up the tumbledown next door prior to a move to Micanopy or Ocala...Hilton Haven has one other enormous feature that sets it apart from most other residential streets within the city:If you want a dock in your backyard for the most part you have to look at land outside the city, but not in Hilton Haven. This is the mixed up street of tear downs and McMansions, the sidewalkless urban agglomeration that is surrounded on each side by tidal saltwater. To the south Garrison Bight:With the ever busy Boulevard in the distance:And to the north we have the open waters leading to the Gulf of Mexico, by way of the Navy Base at Sigsbee, beyond the obtrusive power poles:And to the west Hilton Haven dead ends into the gut that opens Garrison Bight to the north and across that narrow channel we see the US Coastguard Housing on Fleming Key:Hilton Haven has a few houseboats tied up and I saw what appeared to be the odd liveaboard dinghy squished up in the mangroves waiting for their owners return from a day in the salt mines.For some, waterfront living in Key West is a tad bit more palatial:Though the ultimate symbol of suburban bliss, the lawnmower, here takes second place to the symbol of the joys of open waters, the jet ski:I'm pretty sure I spotted one of the city's senior "deciders" (to coin a phrase) buzzing the winding street on his moped, while one of his neighbors,seen here from behind, taking a slow pedal made time for a cheerful grin and greeting for the intruder with a camera in the right-of-way:There are lots of small curiosities to catch the eye of the camera, the length of Hilton Haven, far more indeed than could fit in one twenty picture essay on the street.But I couldn't leave this corner of rural/urban Key West without a tip of the hat to the long history of slightly irritable sign posting this narrow, confined city produces to this day from, apparently times long past:The sentiment, replicated today in garish plastic has apparently been around for quite some time. I walked the street and risked no tow, and that is what I would recommend to find yet another last corner of mostly old Key West.

From The Archives Cuban Cuisine

Sunday, June 14, 2009

El Siboney

It has happened again, and I got invited out to dinner by a dude who reads the blog.Marybeth and her husband Keith cornered the wife and I at El Siboney and forced us to accept their hospitality, so under their protective wing I was able to order the breaded and fried palomilla steak and boiled yucca.It's hard to starve at El Siboney so my wife and I usually share an order but for some reason she was feeling expansive so she ordered a Siboney steak which comes with shredded parsley, Keith got stuck into a plate of fried pork chunks, hard core Cuban fare and Marybeth took the restrained route following my wife's lead. El Siboney does not overflow with decorative warmth as it were:Keith and Marybeth live in the mountains of Colorado but vacation frequently in Key West where Keith was stationed in the 1970s. It's the rare visitor to Key West that takes an interest in the past but Keith is one of those and he enjoys organizing himself around the book Streets of Key West, that I quote from. Marybeth got stuck in with my wife and I was happy to let those two do their thing.Keith watched me whip out my little canon SX100 and said: "You take your pictures with that?" as I swiveled in my chair to catch a patron involved in enjoying her food:If we ever get a revolution around here text messaging will be the first thing I vote to ban. However the crass younger generation did not set the tone for the whole place. Some people were visiting this Key West institution to enjoy what El Siboney is famous for, low prices and excellent Cuban cooking:I also took a sneak shot, in the style of A Scooter in Turkey, with rather sneak-shot results, so I will need to perfect the technique apparently:We nattered on for hours it seemed like, time enough to have a Cuban custard, natilla, and coffee, but as I was going to work Keith sank the Presidente beer by himself. El Siboney has moved into the 20th century and now takes credit cards. I rather seem to think it has been doing that for a while but I have got into the groove of paying cash when I eat there:I hope when they return next year they will take up the offer to stop by our house and see how the rubes live in the country outside the metropolis. Rather to my surprise they took me upon my offer of the nickel tour of the police station so I have high hopes we shall meet again. Perhaps with pictures of Key West as was.I like eating out at El Siboney, despite the restaurant's sale a few years ago the place hasn't changed one bit. It's still slightly funky, particular and very neighborhood oriented.We weren't the only people hanging out happily at 900 Catherine Street.

Key West: Cycling Like A Local

It is said that a bicycle is the best way to get around the narrow streets and lanes of Key West, the only frost-free city in the United States mainland. While that may be true if you are going to work and lack a car, I am not so sure a bicycle is best for visitors.

Frost free it may be, with the lowest temperature ever recorded at 41 degrees, but a few yellow leaves blown to one side of the street give a creditable imitation of a northern Fall day. I suppose in a place where leaves get wet these could be construed as a road hazard to two wheeled vehicles but perhaps i am cavalier but I don't see them as a safety hazard.

I dropped my Fusion off at the Ford dealership for a power steering recall that I had been notified about and I took off on my bicycle, a Trek model no longer produced called a "Lime." It has three speeds that change gear automatically, a coaster brake so there are no cables and the bicycle is made of alloys to prevent rust. It works amazingly well, a gift from my nephew who used to work at Trek. I ride it more when I am between dogs and less when I have an adopted walking companion in my life. Currently its too hot for Cheyenne to do much walking so I left her home and took my bike for a ride around town while I waited for my power steering to be improved and rendered safe, or something.

August and September are the hottest months of the year, the peak of hurricane season, and the quietest tourist months, when schools are in session and vacations are in short supply. Thus Eaton Street early in the morning looking like a ghost town, in winter this street is like a freeway and hauling my slow elderly Labrador from one side to the other takes timing and finesse. The sidewalks are narrow, there is no room for a bike path and riding a bicycle here is a hazard in my mind. People do it all winter long and I wish them luck.

Work continues apace at the Key West Bight's new hotel, The Marker, all 96 rooms that the plans apparently call for most guests to live with bicycles and not expect much car parking space. Neighbors are not excited about that part of the plan which doesn't seem to take into consideration the realities of life with cars. Parking will become more hellish than normal, tempers will fray and none of that makes for a serene vacation. But the ocean view from your room will be worth it I am sure. It had better be considering the havoc this hotel will cause for the neighbors.

When riding a bicycle some of the rules of the road more usually ascribed to developing countries apply here. Might makes right. It seems like common sense to me but when an 18-wheeler is backing up, better to get out of the way than claim a right of way. However it seems hard for people, on bicycles or in cars, to put their egos away which is why there is always so much animosity between cyclists and drivers. I am so used to riding a motorcycle among cars I am thus used to doing my thing and keeping out of the way of larger vehicles, usually driven with less skill than trucks managed by professionals. I am astounded how much inattention I see among drivers, and what I used to think was drunk driving is nowadays supposed to be sober texting. If you don't ride defensively its you that will get hurt because expecting idiots to drive while paying attention makes you as silly as they are. Better convert your bike into an ornament.

In Key West bicycles are less of a status symbol and more of a lifestyle statement which may sound contradictory but as often as not a lifestyle in Key West requires evidence of how little you can get by on. To ride a $5,000 Bura SL weighing 786 grams would a royal pain in Key West. You can do anything you like but carrying a padlock and chain would weigh more than the frame of the bicycle and some cretin will try to steal it and pawn it. Much better you get a nice beach cruiser with a giant flaming basket and express your athleticism in some less vulnerable way. To find a well used, hard working bicycle check out somewhere as unlikely as a pawn shop, not among the hallowed ranks of high end specialized bicycles. Your station wagon could even be a tricycle, like this one carefully locked up outside Schooner Wharf Bar.

The fact is that if you require a high end bike to express yourself accept that it will have limitations, principally useful as a toy, which is no skin off anyone's nose. But I recall quite clearly that in the last major hurricane evacuation about one third of city residents had no car, which means bicycles are tools not toys for the most part in Key West. Like scooters which here are parked street side and used daily, in other places scooters are polished and cherished and express the owner's status in the world. Here if it runs it's good. On the other hand you probably don't want to be quite as local as some people who live out of the junque they carry on their bicycles, huge mounds of belongings that turn their bikes into wheelbarrows. However locals like baskets, usually on the handlebars, an easy place to carry stuff.

I have a luggage rack on my bike rather than a basket because I don't haul much stuff on my bike which I ride for fun mostly as I live in the suburbs and do my shopping with powered two wheelers. I use easily removed silicon clip on lights which make me legal on my bicycle after dark and provide just enough light to ride by yet are easy to stash in my pocket or man purse so they won't get stolen when I leave the bike. Theft is a real hassle in Key West, as it must be in a city where bikes are daily transport so you have to use a lock with absolute discipline every time you park the bike and don't leave accessories that can be removed easily.

 

The cops will stop you if you ride without lights at night and riding the wrong way on a one way is also probable cause for a bike stop. You can ride on the sidewalk in Florida but you must warn pedestrians of your approach and you have to give them right of way. When I'm driving I always look both ways at intersections even on one way streets because cyclists routinely ride the wrong way and will approach from the least expected direction. And they get pissed when cops stop them and lecture them for riding the wrong way.

Standing there photographing my bike I started to have pangs about my dog snoring at home waiting for me:

Kids routinely get to ride around town on their own in Key West. Some people worry about safety in this place but it is still an isolated small town and most neighbors keep en eye out for the welfare of each others children, or at least so I am told by responsible parents. Making your own way to school, Norman Rockwell style, is still possible in the Southernmost City.

And there again sometimes adults play Tom Sawyer on their bikes and use them to go fishing.

Helmets aren't mandatory for adults in Florida and I used to wonder why I saw people taking their helmets for a ride around town. Some alert reader advised they were probably off the Navy base where passive safety requirements like clothing, are required on base. If you live in a well regulated world where helmets are the norm Key West's generally cavalier attitude may seem odd but riding with a helmet is not the local way. When I used to ride in California I got yelled at for not wearing a helmet. I prefer the Key West way though because no one pays much interest one way or the other. I feel perfectly at home wearing my helmet on my scooter even though almost no one does around town. I enjoy being mistaken for a visitor, people don't often ask for directions or accost me for advice when they see me photographing crap locals are too cool to notice.

Rules of the road should be followed of course and even though some scofflaws like to run red lights a concerted police campaign to reduce traffic accidents has seen better compliance form what I can tell as I motorcycle around town. In a state not much given to transportation by cycling, Key West has the highest per capita fatality and injury rate in Florida. Which I suppose is the price one pays for getting people out on bicycles instead of in SUVs. In the end that's really the bottom line: if you ride and try to stand on your rights you are the one at risk. Expecting your driving neighbors to worry about your rights is plain silly, but defensive riding is my habit as I have fallen often enough to know it hurts. Getting run over by a distracted SUV could only feel worse.

Rental bikes are widely available and not terribly expensive, about twelve to fifteen bucks a day, or up to 24 hours. They are easily identified by their numbers painted on them and their uniform accessories. It's hard to see in this picture but these bikes have their lights bolted on with metal stripping. Like I said if it can be easily removed it will be. By all means try renting one if you like and feel free to disagree with my preference for walking. Or do as I do and use the bike to get somewhere where I can then stroll at my leisure.

Bike paths you'd think would be everywhere but they aren't. Bike parking is to be found on most streets so technically if you lock your bike to a street sign it can be impounded but that doesn't often happen unless the space around the sign you are using is needed by the city. For peace of mind use a bike rack. And don't park scooters in bicycle parking as that gets you a ticket!

Hotels and guest houses usually have cruisers for rent or free for use by guests and cycling is popular, oddly enough among people who never seem to ride at home as usisng a bike as transport Up North is frequently viewed as eccentric behavior. Its unfortunate but a lot of visitors think they are at Disneyland and treat Key West streets as amusement arcades. Locals are a pretty unforgiving bunch when it comes to getting around so be wary and look both ways and if you see me coming know I am impatient with slow pokes.

So why is it I sound anti-cycling when I'm not really? I guess I don't find cycling the Southernmost City the relaxing proposition it should be. I think an urban plan including bicycle paths, one way streets, adequate sidewalks and shade trees is far beyond the scope of that which the city can imagine so in the end, expecting nothing to change for the better I advise caution. It is true that you can make more distance in a shorter time, and even in winter people from colder climes seem to find walking Key West to be a sweaty proposition. But walking is my preferred way to see stuff. A bicycle is a vehicle and it requires you pay attention. It wafts you past interesting sights fast enough that you miss a lot on two wheels. Plus traffic most of the year is pretty busy and the streets are clogged and you are jousting with locals in a hurry and visitors who don't know what they are doing as they drive inappropriately large vehicles on these small streets... And there you are trying to remember riding skills last used when you were a child. Walking suddenly looks much more fun. I'd suggest hiring a cab to take you to your destination and then taking a gentle meander on foot back to your starting point.

My wife and I don't often bring our bikes to town for a ride. We find dealing with traffic keeps us busy such that we rarely get to ride side by side and chat as one might on a broad comfortable green way up north, a path set aside for the esoteric amusement called riding a bike.

But there again there's lots to see in this small town and you may find a bicycle to be perfect, lots of people do. They are allowed in the cemetery along with cars, though motorcycles and scooters are not. Bad behavior by a few ruined this place for all, as usual.

And I call it fitting that we end this essay at the Captain Outrageous monument in the Key West cemetery. He did a fine job decorating bicycles among other forms of transport.

 

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