They Closed

Oh and by the way Turtle Kraals is closing. It would be easy to say the coronavirus is to blame but one could argue other factors have influenced the decision. Turtle Kraals really took a dive according to people who liked the place when an out of town investor, to much fanfare bought the bar and restaurant.I took the photograph below in 2008 to try to illustrate the appeal of a waterfront eatery with my Android phone.  

You could say the best thing about Turtle Kraals is the name, a reminder of the practice of corralling turtles for slaughter in less enlightened times, or the tower offering drinks with a view.  You can find those at Schooner Wharf and Waterfront Brewery, neither of which has announced imminent closing. When I was a boat captain I liked an occasional breakfast here on slow days with perfect eggs and strong coffee but more than anything I shall miss the ever more tenuous connection to the past. The upscale Boathouse is going to move in so less than ever shall we see even a pale reflection of the days when this was a commercial waterfront.

The corporate owner of Turtle Kraals is closing Charlie Mac's a barbecue joint on Southard Street and the Rum Barrel on Front Street closed a while ago leaving a weedy patch behind which is now being redecorated. No coronavirus issues there, just natural turnover.

 

Key West has built a reputation of sorts for being an agent of change. The idea of taking a vacation in Key West has been to allow people to let down their inhibitions and allow repression to retreat. In my own button down way I am not a huge fan of letting it all hang out but I suppose Key West can join New Orleans and Las Vegas in being that kind of place. Therefore it should come as no surprise that places close and things change.

 The owners of the Coffee Plantation seemed to have a good thing going with a strong community presence, doing good works and being seen out and about, passionate and involved. That is gone now and I suppose in a few years someone will mention the coffee shop and get blank stares back. I find myself in that same position at work nowadays and it doesn't make me popular. I refer to someone from years past, I started in 2004, and my younger colleagues look at me as though I am an idiot. I tend to stay silent and not bore the younger generation, preferring to find my history in books rather than my memory. Key West is a town with a rapid turnover, and always has from long before coronavirus.

The Asian noodle place on Southard Street announced permanent closure to widespread gasps of consternation but it turns out it was  landlord dispute that did them in, not the wretched virus. That's a story that has been told a few times in this town and you can pick your sides. A) It's a greedy landlord or B) It's a businessman with bills charging what the market will bear. Personally I'm tired of either narrative as it never changes and considering their standing in town I shouldn't be surprised if Kojin doesn't find another home. I'm not of the generation that finds expensive bowls of tarted up ramen noodles to his liking but millennials in Key West rave about the place

The list of places closing goes on, Lucy's Retired Surfer Bar, Loose Cannon, Med Men the cannabis shop, Pier One is closing and even a clothing store called Fresh Produce is included in the list of retail stores shutting their doors. However it turns out Fresh Produce, like Pier One is a chain and someone somewhere else decided to close them all down rather than just picking on little Key West.

You can drive yourself nuts with this stuff and I'm sure they will on Facebook and Trip Advisor as those are platforms designed to create drama but the evolving retail stuff in Key West is just a process speeded up. The much more pertinent concern about the lives upended takes a back seat. More people will come to key West to replace the workers who couldn't hang on. It's just the way it is despite the hand wringing and proclamations about the end of normality as we know it. People have always drunk in bars and corornavirus isn't going to change that. All it can do is change the cast of characters, wipe a little history off the slate and start again with fresh eager faces and their new appreciation for the wonders of quaint laid back tropical island living. We'll keep feeding the furnaces of industry well out of sight as usual. 

Truman Waterfront

The platform you see below is that of a ship tied up alongside the Inner Mole at the Truman Waterfront.

 Key West is still home to the USCG Cutter Ingham a survivor of World War Two, outlasting convoy duty and dangerous submarine patrols last serving in the Vietnam War, an extraordinary piece of history here in town, owned by a former city commission member. In happier days you could s troll the quarter deck and have a drink while watching the sun set. Nowadays it feels enough just to see it still there  with the park is reopened to the public. As of June 1st the Keys will all reopen to visitors and the checkpoints will be removed and hotels will be allowed to occupy half their rooms.

 I saw a cutter apparently identical to this one for sale online for some ridiculously low sum of money, $140,000 I think. I believe the guns are disabled but you get a cinema a commercial kitchen and dining facilities for 80 people. It seems to me to be slightly impractical but our financial overlords do seem to enjoy employing people to drive their personal liners around the world for them so I am probably failing to understand some of the nuances of owning your own fleet.

Back on earth Rusty and I practiced for retirement by doing nothing too strenuous and taking our time doing it. My blatant lack of ambition has led me to describe myself as the only immigrant who came to the US with no desire to make a fortune. My fortune has been in knowing what I want and doing it despite the inevitable peanut gallery. As the end hoves into view I have high hopes I may conclude my life successfully by my standards which granted, are not too high. 

Fort Zachary Taylor is one of the parks not yet reopened by the state of Florida which is not surprising really as this is one town in Florida completely closed to outsiders until June. Mind you having unfettered access to the best swimming beach in Key West without a lot of people would be rather nice. Unworthy thought.

For the time being on sunny days we can walk bike and, it turns out sleep on the green sward at the center of the redeveloped open space next to the harbor.  Rusty enjoyed the sniff and then rolled in the grass then sat and watched. 

Sitting there on the damp grass enjoying the bright colors reminded me how much I didn't want the former Navy base developed. I perversely liked the old dump, a mixture of gravel grass and neglect that persisted for twenty years after the Navy gave the city an unexpected gift of 34 empty access of waterfront land.

In the best traditions of seeking not to screw up everyone pretended the land wasn't there until it became obvious something had to be done. Plans called for the expected profiteering and I despaired but instead of marinas sports facilities and restaurants and parking lots some restraint prevailed and we find ourselves the proud users of open space filled with nothing too much.

The splash pad for children is closed for the Monet of course but it is a spectacular success normally giving youngsters a wholesome outlet for their energy while for the al fresco fitness oriented there is a circuit of various torture devices under the trees along the water front trail.

I like my cell phone so you won't find me joining the anti cellphone tower complainers.

Broadband for all would be my war cry were I to run for office which I won't so I'll let others complain about the communications towers and I'll focus on the flowers in bloom.

Oddly enough Rusty wasn't the only dog dragging a human hither and yon.  I find an occasional visit to this park helpful as it gives Rusty a chance to sniff and catch up on the news of who has been and who has gone by. On a glorious sunny day Truman Waterfront is worth the time.

There is also a handy water fountain which accommodates my water jug which when Rusty has drunk the gallon dry, needs refilling. As we head into summer heat Rusty does end to drink a bit more than he does in winter.

It's a simple place, lots of blue sky, green trees and peace and quiet.

Enough to make a boy thirsty.

I am not surprised the Keys will reopen June 1st. For those of us with jobs enjoying living coronavirus free, more or less, the re-opening will be a jolt I suspect and we'll all be taking precautions.  It is becoming ever more odd to live a life that feels more like a petri dish then normal boring living. We'll have to wait and see what happens...Will they get sick? Will we?  Will the economy bounce back? Will w ehave to start again? How soon will we know? Pandemics are not at all what I expected.

Dark Streets

I managed somehow to get to work early one recent morning and stopped on the way to take a few pictures of the serenity of the night. College Road is annexed to the city of Key West which uses it to house useful buildings including a school, a marina, a college, the SPCA, the bus facility, a hospital, a  rehab facility of no great repute (hence my own rehab in Miami) as well as the Jail and Sheriff's headquarters and a golf course with the original reason for the annexation: a housing development at the private golf course. None of that massive amount of useful activity shows at 5:20 in the morning. Nor, I dare say, should it.

I usually get up at 4:30 and take Rusty to "check the mail," a brief neighborhood walk to see what other dogs have been out and about in the twenty four hours preceding. I try to leave the house by 5:15 and generally fail spectacularly rushing down the stairs at I hope some time before 5:25, the absolute last minute not to look like a pill and arrive at work at exactly 6 am. The overnight shift as I know from long experience does not look cheerfully upon their morning relief if they show up technically on time but with none to spare.

It was a windy morning and I tried to catch the essence of the invisible air overhead. I'm not sure if it just looks smeared but anyway there was a fair bit of movement. It has been delightfully windy spring with lots of cool, not to say cold air blowing away insects and humidity. 

Moving on I took Flagler Avenue instead of the faster North Roosevelt as I wanted to save stopping and photographing the Boulevard another day. I had so much time in hand I could afford to hang around here and try to capture the night and the sense of emptiness in the middle of new Town.

These days looking at the roads I drive daily and have driven for two decades has an almost banal air to it, like those pictures one sees of daily life lived, except they are from a different era entirely. I have all too few pictures of my sixty years of daily banal living up to this point so in anticipation of things changing I have been trying to make a conscious effort to photograph the memories of daily life. Before the virus I was trying to capture the essence of my commute in pictures, trying to find a way to express the crowds, the traffic lights, the hold ups and the open roads without slipping into the obvious. It was much harder than I expected. These days these few pictures pretty much sum up my drive in to work. It is bizarre. 

Even at six o'clock in the evening when most people have gone home, the few that still have regular desk jobs, the road out of towns wide open. Even with the road work proceeding relentlessly slowly at the Triangle, the Cow Key Bridge as it is properly known, reflow quite smoothly through the winding traffic cones. How odd it is to find small pockets of advantage in the presence of this virus lock down. Empty streets that feel destined never to be filled again.

Color And Sun

I am working this weekend, Saturday Sunday and Monday. six in the morning till six at night therefore the sun is scheduled to shine. By Tuesday when I get a day off rain is forecast. Naturally.

Check out these colors under the sun from last week. I have always thought of the Keys as green white and blue but red yellow and blue has been seen quite a bit around town. Must be the lack of people or something.

A few petals on the windshield of a black car...lots of negative space!

I saw this octopus and fish and I marveled at the homeowner who can imagine these kinds of decorations. I liked it a lot.

The southwestern pot sitting in a. porch with the rising sun. Rusty and I were walking sometime after seven in the morning and as he stops to sniff I see this ray of sunshine on this classic design that I think of as typical New Mexico. Irresistible.

Check out this chunk of coral rock.  You can't pick this stuff up if you are in a park but if you have some more power to you. The textures are amazing to look at. Imagine an aerial view of a desert or a glacier and you could hold the rock in your hand.

The next two pictures got not much traction on Instagram but I love the history. This is what I see during lock down, no people, no signs of human eccentricity, and instead the quiet signs stand out. History is everywhere.

There is so much history of technology in human progress. Chewing gum, yellow fever, tooth extractions...you name it things have got better ostensibly. A lot of people think we will see a new normal after the pandemic but I doubt it. I suspect we will go back to commuting polluting, getting and and being "normal" in a hurry.   Mindfulness is a pain in the fast paced world. I can't wait to retire!

The factory sent me a message to say the van conversion should be finished the first week of June. We shall see but I look forward to picking up my quarantine machine.  My new normal! Just in time for hurricane season, as planned.

Rain And A Van

I woke up late yesterday and Rusty was a long way from bothering me for a walk. Even I the human could hear the wind and the rain lashing the house. I kept the hurricane shutters up after Hurricane Irma to keep the bedroom dark when I worked nights and the rain hitting the metal sounds very cosy, like sleeping in a. tent. On the other hand yesterday was a day off so I would have preferred the usual sunshine and mosquitoes. Beggars can't be choosers.

Oh, the van. Well that happened like this. After I struggled out of bed, kicked the dog awake and mooched out to the deck I had a look at the world through my Internet connection which is very inexpensive and not always brilliantly effective. However I did find a Custom Coach Creations post on Facebook pointing out that work continues. I was more than a little surprised to see my own creation appear, not finished but definitely in progress. I am pretty sure it's my van thanks to the color, a $100 option from Promaster that requires a four month wait for delivery so Bob told me this is only the second gold colored van he has converted.  I wanted maroon but my wife slapped me and said that was too bright and we compromised on gold. They also offered to order the external accessories in black so when I saw the running board and roof Maxfan in black I was pretty certain this is Gannet 2 being assembled. The narrow rear window over the raised bench seats is also what we ordered.

The funny part is we were supposed to get a video of the roughed out interior last week but so far we have had no word from the factory which lack of news set my neurons jangling. Patience, she counseled so here we are, spotting the soothing beast through the foliage of Facebook.  This is progress I thought as I made tea and girded my loins for a visit to the doctor for a semi annual check up. turns out I am alive and blood pressure is normal and my legs s till work,  $25 co-pay and back into the rain. Jolly good. And the van is coming along...

Dr Grider in Big Pine is what I like to think of as a thoroughly modern but old fashioned practical sort of family practice doctor.  He's up to speed with the latest medical news but he operates thoughtfully with good practical common sense. It would not be difficult to imagine him in Mayberry making house calls with a black bag and a cheerful smile. Of course this is 2020 and I drove to his office where we went through a coronavirus caper to get into the office.

I parked the car and called the office. A figure appeared through the murk ready to escort me to the verandah because apparently most patients forget to bring an umbrella when it's raining. How that is possible I couldn't say as the rain was coming down in apocalyptic bucketsful and was thus hard to ignore.  At the top of the stairs I sanitized my hands and they took my temperature and escorted me into a waiting room rather in the manner of more furtive and possibly illegal transactions. Life in the time of plague has become like that. Whereas once entering a bank wearing a simple hat was illegal and suspicious, nowadays not being masked is the mark of the irresponsible and undesirable customer. 

After my good health was assured I hauled myself to the gas station to refuel my wife's Fiat 500 which she, working from home, isn't driving and I use it when not transporting the hound from hell. It really does get excellent mileage. Too bad they aren't selling them anymore, as our convertible is a keeper.

There is something especially dreary about the Keys in a prolonged rain storm. Once the pleasure of the variation in weather has worn off the heavy downpour  curtails outdoor activity and steals away one of the great joys of living in the tropics. However the pandemic restrictions have modified some of my feelings about rainy weather. Rusty and I aren't walking but he is not fond of the rain and he is smart enough to appreciate the roof over his formerly stray head. He curls up on the couch in this kind of weather and waits for better days.

Matinee movies are off, museums are closed, music is nowhere to be heard, so alternatives to rain are limited as usual  by the damned virus and so we revert to the home.  My great hope about the interior of the van which we will have to test is that it will be a pleasant enough space to live in when we have to deal with unpleasant weather. Small it will be, but I hope it will be comfortable enough not to have us going nuts inside as the weather outside batters the tin shell. We shall see.

I didn't bother to bring Rusty on this trip as there was no point. It felt odd, slightly unnatural not have my partner on the back seat. I stopped to take some pictures and pictured him at home curled up sleeping. He had the right idea on a day like thus. Niles Channel Bridge:

Traffic is light these days except for a few more vehicles than you might expect during rush hour which by any urban standard is hardly measurable as commuter traffic. In the rain it felt like there was even less than normal which gives the community a feeling of emptiness even more pronounced than usual.

I saw a lot of discussion online about the fifty odd people who gathered in Key West a few days ago to demand the Sheriff take down the roadblocks on US 1 and Card Sound Road. I don't know how you measure accurately the numbers for and against keeping non residents out but it seems to me from a distance that the people who want the county opened up are much louder than the majority who want to keep things as. they are. The absolutely appalling thing about the protest was that it was engineered and paid for by a local hotel and souvenir shop owner who was seen handing out signs and money to the rent-a-mob.

I have my own problems with the coronavirus shut down as I see the point of people who want to work and take their chances as opposed to entering the twilight zone of no money no prospects and no hope of a new Great Depression. As one who has a job and whose wife works I don't feel it is my place to argue for or against the shut down as we aren't being directly impacted and my wife with her immune system problems is very grateful to stay at home and remain isolated.

 It seems to me that if there is going to be a legal requirement not toward and to stay home the people and institutions ordering the shut down should take financial responsibility for it. It just doesn't seem fair to deprive people of their livings and to tell them to take their chances. European states offer free comprehensive health care, stipends, the freezing of bills including rent and mortgages and spends money like water to compensate. Here in the US on the one hand we reject socialism in any form whatsoever, even ones that don't really exist and yet we deprive people of the chance to make a living. And fund major corporations as usual with public money and then scream poverty. It is as incoherent as the medical advice we do and don't get.

I confess I am confused. I don't feel like laying blame or getting mad or ranting on Facebook. I stay home, hug my dog, support my wife, go to work and stay six feet from anyone. At the grocery store I wear my mask, at work I use disinfectant and sanitizer and try to measure people who call 911 that we are. there to help. And no, I have no idea when the roads will reopen. Not this month at any rate.

The county has said hotels can start to take reservations for future dates but there is the proviso they may be canceled (and refunded) if the closure of the county continues. For now the Keys are closed to outsiders. And our numbers are officially very low, not that I expect them to be terribly accurate. However there are about a dozen people in hospitals I think, around a hundred confirmed cases and three deaths the last time I checked the newspaper. On a population of 75,000 we are cooking with gas and no one doubts keeping the doors closed is keeping the contagion away. Lucky us.

In my estimation the true hero of this respite we have from the coronavirus is the Sheriff. Singlehanded Rick Ramsey is the only countywide leader who has been seen everywhere lending a hand lots of encouragement and keeping the virus out of the county with his roadblocks. The sheriff told the state he was keeping the roads closed when they told him to re-open them. He has helped organize food distribution and clean ups and everywhere he goes he has his mask, his crisp pressed uniform and words of encouragement. 

So we keep on keeping on and hope for the best.  Hoping for the best, staying strong, being safe, all those bromides are flying around the ether but I wonder how prepared we are to face the economic consequences of this virus that is killing us, trapping us, and giving us a chance to see what it feels like to lose all sense of normal, and certainty and the ability to make plans and look into the future with confidence. If we lose our minds and our sense of humor and sense of neighborliness through all this daily hassle the virus wins. 

School is in session and Rusty is learning by osmosis. I think. I'm going to take a nap as the rain hasn't stopped.