Hello
This will be my last blog from Old Key West. Sadly, I have had to move away from Paradise. The main reason is that Key West is geared toward the tourist industry and has no room for people, other than tourists, to come work and live in the history rich city.
The city of Key West is a place where people should want to come and be interested in everything this place has to offer. Unfortunately, Key West has gotten the reputation of being a drinking binge city. Twenty-four hour drinking and carousing. The city has really never been a "family oriented" city, but one used to be able to bring the family for the weekend. Sadly, this is no longer the case.
From Spring Break to New Year's Eve, Key West is leaning toward luring people to come and "Party!". During Fantasy Fest, the hotel rate are so inflated, it is impossible to find a place unless there are five or more in your party to cover the $500 hotel room rate (that's a minimum per night, and I may be exaggerating, but close). People have also decided to venture away from the "Fantasy Zone" to other parts of the Island with only "painted on" attire. This is really not a nice thing to see. I once saw a couple on a scooter going toward Old Towne, he didn't have a shirt on, which is o.k. for a man, but his companion was a woman, who was "wearing" a painted-on halter top, that's right, no "real" halter top, just a painted one and her "jugs" were flapping in the breeze. Sorry, not what I really wanted to see in the middle of the afternoon as school was releasing the children for the day.
I have no regrets about living in Key West. It was part of my "bucket list" so to speak. I just wish I could have lived there a little longer. I was just surviving, not living there. The cost of living was outrageous and it was impossible to live there and NOT work two jobs. I am not a spring chicken anymore and the jobs there, other than the hospital, were service jobs such as bartender, server, dishwasher and such, I am too old to be working so hard just to live in Paradise. The city of Key West will never make it an easy place to live and work. They are only interested in the tourists that come and spend money. They seem to forget that in order to have people come and spend their money, you have to have people to be able to serve them and have a decent place to live.
There are a lot of homeless people that live there, because they cannot afford to rent a place. They live in their cars, if they have one, or live on the beaches or at the parks, which make it uncomfortable for people to enjoy.
I will miss Key West. Mostly the people I have met there. From the hospital to my favorite watering hole, the people were the best part of the city. I will return for a visit sometime. I just have to make sure I have a enough money to go and enjoy the place.
I will write about other parts of Florida that I will visit. I am in Naples at the moment so let's see what is here for people to do. Seems like a nice place so far.
See you soon.
