Key West And My Internet

I have been allowing myself to slip into a rather gloomy frame of mind when considering the state of the Internet and how it is helping me live my life. A couple of things did it, one being my recent appearance as a potential juror in the county courthouse, and another thing was a recent cruise line announcement. Both unrelated except by my tortuous way of thinking about things.

Jury service bothers me because I will never get picked for a jury. I am not exempt from the summons because I am not sworn law enforcement but no defense attorney will let me serve as I am viewed as the next best thing and unavoidably biased. If I had an even chance of serving I'd be delighted to show up for jury service but as it is I have to hang around the courthouse where cell phones are banned from use in the courtrooms.

Consequently I go to jury service armed with a paper book. At my most recent appearance I knocked off 126 pages as I sat and waited....and waited...and my wife the former public defender said the judge was probably busy settling cases because in the end they only needed seven people for one trial and I wasn't included in the 24 person pool selected for the voir dire. So I ended up sitting for four hours out of contact with just a book to read. It was delightful.

It used to be that Key West was an isolated little town at the end of a very narrow long road with no easy access. Then the Internet came along and suddenly even Key West was connected. Shopping online takes away the lack of choice, newspapers at the fingertips kills off the newsagents at Valladares on Duval, and suddenly not only does everyone find out about Key West but with the Web they can stay in touch even while pretending to be in an office. Key West is no longer isolated and it's not quite so delightful.

Last week I read an article I came across, somewhere in the world's press (all at my fingertips) announcing a  policy change by Carnival Cruise Lines. The cruise line will now require passengers to wear inoffensive clothing. Stand by for everyone to get offended by absolutely everything. It struck me how odd it is that people have to be advised not to wear crude or party political or nasty messages on clothing while traveling in public spaces. 

I wondered if I might be able to blame the Internet for creating public messaging as instant communication. I remember when a witty bumper sticker was a way to liven up a dreary drive before the days of instant communication. Indeed I also recall the first time I used a phone in a car and as my passenger, my future wife made a communication on our Motorola Brick Phone I got pulled over for speeding in Half Moon Bay California in 1994. These days a speeding ticket is managed by an online class and no more sitting in a  room with other offenders studying the Comedy Driving School Curriculum.

If you think the world without Internet is better I ask myself what are you doing on this page?

My answer is that we can only manage ourselves and we can only focus our own efforts on using the Internet wisely.  Editing can only go on in our heads. We can fact check and not accept information without considering the source. That's all old hat.

I want to be grateful that we have the Internet. I like the mapping functions, the pictures on Instagram from all around the world, friends on Facebook which I use very rarely and above all I enjoy the idea that I don't need to feel cut off even if I live in a  remote place. 

Key West was not a place a I wanted to live before the Internet. Enforced isolation at the age of 23 seemed undesirable so I went to California. Of course now forty years later enforced isolation seems brilliant and key West cut off seems ideal. But the ideal is attainable with a simple flip of the "off" button.  

A colleague mentioned to me that he was having a hard time dealing with people he knows on Facebook who are making bellicose comments about the recent confrontations with Iran. I offered that I don't look at Facebook much, I don't have friends at work because I don't want to know more about my colleagues than I have to. My suggestion to turn it off was meet with a mumble and a shrug so I took myself out of the conversation and let the drama flow in another direction.

It's a struggle but worth it. The Internet has improved my life mostly and given me the desire to live here far from the centers of culture and information without feeling too deprived(!) but I am glad I'm old and loosening my grip on my need to know. I think I am finding the correct middle ground for me. Even out here at the end of the road.

Eaton Street

I spend a lot of time looking up when I wander the streets of Key West. Usually summer  is the time of year clouds form and look menacing but naturally this weird winter we get random rain and extra clouds to keep things interesting.

I walked down Eaton Street and noticed a trend in my pictures. I used to meet my wife here for lunch with two elderly gents , one cooked the other served a fixed meal at a fixed price in the garden in back.  You got what you were given. Now it's all gone.

Subway seems to have closed too, a place where occasionally you get  a last minute sandwich of no great merit before or after a movie. One only gets sentimental about these things when they are gone. 

I don't get donuts here as unusual as they are because I don't much like the owner. They won't miss me as they do a roaring trade and sell out easily without my help! 

My last interaction here reminded me of the soup guy on Seinfeld and I am avoiding drama these days. They are just donuts and  I don't eat them very often. Lots of pastries in town all over the place. 

And then there is the occasional boarded up house. These always manage to surprise me considering the value of land the cost of housing and all that in this crazy town. I was listening to a  debate on the radio about the housing problems of San Francisco and you'd better believe you feel better wherever you live when you try to get your head around their problems...Anyway one of the "experts" pointed out that every single tourist destination around the world, from Barcelona to Bali has the same issues with rich people buying up housing stock for investments pushing residents out of the cities and tourist centers. Great, I thought, we are just like everyone else. Fantastic.

The Tropic cinema is fine as far as I know but I did enjoy the blank "coming soon" poster....it gave me a nice  caption for  Instagram. Good enough I thought.  It was about here I got the idea to do a series of photos about things closing. 

I know...St Paul isn't closed but I liked the skyline right there. Sometimes I allow myself to enjoy the beautiful in Key West. There is so much to get annoyed about in this town I can't wait to be retired and free to fulminate...No I want to be free to enjoy the good bits and not hear from the miserable, the drunk and the beaten up by life all the time. The sheer beauty of the church tower mustn't escape me and my jaundiced eye:

And this was my little joke.

The bicycles were in front of the Saints which I photographed another time. Very atmospheric:

Yes, that's what this city is, full of atmosphere:

And then I saw this fierce looking dude hauling his very expensive coconut. I expect it was expensive if he bought it. He looked armed for a good time with it though.

My Key West, not a sunset in sight but still a  splendid place.

Cruise Ships Galore

Cruise ships have been keeping a low profile lately in Key West after a few years of grumbling. There were plans to widen and deepen the approach channel to Key West harbor to allow the very largest ships to dock but opposition caused a change of mind and we are hosting ships up to about a thousand feet in length these days.

 There are three docks for them. The small one at Mallory Square where they block the sunset if they overstay. The other dock is the Navy pier known as the Outer Mole where the pier sticks out and creates a basin of protected water behind it. The Outer Mole is a long way from the flesh pots of Duval Street so the city pays the trolley people half a million dollars as  I recall, every year to ferry the passengers back and forth.

 The third dock is at the Margaritaville Resort which has the benefit of allowing people easy foot access to the heart of ye olde quainte Key West but because the city sold the dock to the hotel owners they get the lion's share of the landing fees.

 I saw a photo a few years back juxtaposing the profile of the Titanic against one of these medium large cruise ships. It was shocking how small it was and how ugly these floating hotels have come to be, compared to the elegant lines of steamers a hundred years ago. The cement dock below is the Inner Mole and the dark water between is the Navy Basin enclosed by the Outer Mole to which the ship is moored.

 If you walk to the very end of Front Street the Margaritaville Resort is to your right and left and the docks called mysteriously "Pier B" is dead ahead. The city sold the original hotel people, the Hilton of course franchised to the Walsh conglomerate the land and the island now known as Sunset Key, with the docks for eleven million paltry dollars. It was a long time ago but it was not a smart deal compared to the Key West Bight where the land is rented and produces annual income.

Not everyone hurries to come ashore but those that do spend money mostly on Lower Duval so from time to time merchants on the rest of the street petition for action to spread the foot traffic wealth their way as well. No one has figured out how just yet. Maybe one day.

 And yes, cruise ships pollute and are hated etc etc... Well worn arguments but money talks especially ina  town dedicated to tourism.

As to whether or not this is the finest way to see the world that is a choice best left to the people buying passage. Next stop Mexico or Jamaica or the Bahamas...

Miami Camera Walk

My wife was off being useful completing some obscure chore so I took my dog from the car and forcibly dragged him out for a walk. More or less. We wandered around for a while as he kept his nose down and his tail wagging while I looked for something to catch my eye.  Nothing did for a while but then I saw orange window panes and I raised my camera.

They have some interesting architecture even in the lost suburbs of this massively spread out city. And if the architecture sucks someone with a paint bucket gets creative. 

Of course this part of the world, 150 miles from Key West has to live with a much higher crime rate,  whether living in a cage is a requirement or the act of a paranoid I couldn't say but I have seen this barred arrangement in cultures far from Miami. I think it's weird treating yourself as a caged animal. I don't think animals should be caged never mind people.

 Lovely old building facade:

 Lots of apartments packed into that narrow street front:

I found more everywhere I looked.  It's good to get out of the Keys from time to time and see what affordable housing looks like where architecture runs amok:

 Some style here:

 And me playing with sunlight and walkways far above the ground:

 Then Rusty led me to these two passing the time at the street corner on a Saturday afternoon. The older dude gave me a buenas dias back but  the younger version stared straight ahead and ignored me. And pretended to ignore Rusty. 

The old man and the chair:

Dogs on leash tend to clear sidewalks in Latina America. If your dog is fierce ("bravo") you restrain him with a leash. Which was the question I got from a man coming towards me with a cigarette in one hand and a small plump dog on a leash in the other. It took me right back to Central America and my two dogs a couple of decades ago when he started peering at the space where Rusty's testicles used to be as poor Rusty tried to play in an innocent way with the sausage dog. The owner who  looked like he could get a decent following on the drag stage at La Te Da in Key West, eventually satisfied himself Rusty was useless, or something, and minced off with a cheery wave in a cloud of pungent smoke. You don't get those encounters anymore in Key West and it reminded me somewhat sadly of the past. As did the fruit truck rolling down the street playing the opening bars of la cucuracha on the horn. 

It reminded me of my summers when I was a child in Italy, and the villages in the mountains were served by traveling salesmen. The guy who used to sell fruit half a century ago still does, from a bigger truck and has trained his son to the job. So when I saw the fruit truck rolling down the street I could hardly believe it. 

 Tripadvisor offers all you may want to know HERE about this little church. My the power of the Internet never grow less!

Miami isn't just Cubans, there are people from everywhere, including Colombia and Venezuelans and even our west coast migrants not in California but Miami!

I used to eat street corn all the time in Central America, where elote is corn They put white cheese on the grilled cob and some paprika and it is absolutely delicious. Naturally being a  gringo I only had credit cards on me and no cash. Grr. 

 Rusty checking for traffic before crossing. Good boy.

Garrison Bight

A few years ago they cleared out the old houseboat row, a nostalgic line of boats tied up to the seawall on South Roosevelt Boulevard. Expensive new condominiums were being built across the street and Ed McKnight the developer wanted to give his buyers clean ocean views.

They were offered places in the much sought after city marina at Garrison Bight, the marina you drive past on North Roosevelt and Palm Avenue.

This is also the home of the dinghy dock serving the city mooring field north of Key West, so dinghies come and go:

I had no idea there was a harbor tour boat operating here. It's not apparently well know as it had but two passengers on board:

A man and his dog. I am amazed by how many liveaboard keep dogs. I did it for a while but it was horrendously complicated. Never again, hence the retirement van.

Everywhere is in the airport flight path!

And here is the rather well built dinghy dock. There is even a toilet and shower block next to the parking area. It all makes the mooring field quite a decent option for a few hundred dollars a month.