This Week on the Island 06/05/2011

'This week on the Island' is written by Doug Bennett and is an update to friends about happenings in Key West last week. Everything is true except for those parts that are lies.
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The first picture this week is ‘The USS Maine’ part of our grave yard on Memorial Day. There was a nice memorial held at 9:00 AM. The Maine sank in Havana Harbor and in the US/Spanish war that followed the cry was ‘Remember the Maine’. The second picture is a concrete pillar that I am told the USS Maine was tied too before it left Key West for Havana. How appropriate that a US Coast Guard ship is in the background. The concrete pillar is at #1 Duval Street. The third picture is some Coast Guard guys that were at the ‘Minimal Regatta’ to help in case of accident in the bight. Freedom is not free.

Weather: Tuesday it rained and then it rained some more. We got almost 2 inches in about 4 hours. It is the first rain we have had in 4 months. This has been the driest ‘Dry Season’ we have had since 1871.

The book this week was ‘Eleven on Top’ by Janet Evanovich.

Memorial Day weekend. The Minimal Regatta was held in the bight at Schooner Wharf bar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCWiC0Xtz4M . Or go to You Tube and search for Minimal Regatta. A great time was had by all. I love living here.

The Florida bicycle law is ‘A bicycle is a vehicle and will follow all vehicular rules’. There are places where the sidewalk is marked as the bike path and then there are a bunch of rules about that. The problem is people on vacation do not know Florida laws and therefore we have bicycles everywhere. They ride facing traffic which is against the law. They ride the wrong way on one way streets, which is against the law. They run stop signs and stop lights. Wednesday morning I actually saw a family of four on bicycles on Duval Street stopped for a red light. Imagine that, they were obeying the law. Sorry I didn’t get a picture. I almost got run over by a bicycle going the wrong way on a one way street in front of the library.

Big-un’s and Teasers is in a building on Duval just down from the Bull & Whistle. This is the place that sells pizza out a window onto Duval. Big-un’s is being remodeled and is closed for now.

Alonzo’s has removed the banister that separated it from the boardwalk on the bight and replaced it with rope.

We got our first fresh mangos this week. We have a friend that has a tree. When they get ripe they all get ripe at the same time so she was giving them away.

Friday was National Donut Day. We had Krispy Creams for breakfast Saturday.

Monday, June 6th, is the anniversary of ‘D’ day.


Key West, You have got to love it
'Living the life that others dream'
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.5591N, Long 81.8016W

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Sassi dancing to Schooner Wharf Bar Dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxD3D-rPqo