South Florida is a buzz in the "height of the (social) Season" this Presidents' Day Weekend. The weather cooperated with clear skies and temperatures in the mid 80's Saturday and Sunday with a drop to a refreshing high 60's Monday. The local newspapers related that this "Season" has been the busiest in many years with booked hotels and filled restaurants.
Regionally, events included the Miami Boat Show; the Coconut Grove Arts Festival; pre-Lent Mardi Gras at the German American Club; Artigras Art Festival; The Palm Beach Jewelry, Art, and Antique Show; Polo; National Equestrian Championships; the India Fest; Movies Under The Stars; George Hamilton in La Cage Aux Faux; and more...
Observations..."complexity and contradictions"...
In order to drive to all of the events, I found myself at the gas station filling up four times...regular unleaded...$3.61 to $3.64 to $3.71 to $3.79 per gallon! Our gas prices are expected to keep escalating this year (to over $5 per gallon this summer) due to our reliance on foreign imports...and Iran is developing 30 plus nuclear bombs with Israel ready to attack! While Canada's economy is escalating due to using their natural resources, we have decided to limit the use of our own!
To make the two mile drive from the State park beach I sat in bumper to bumper traffic for 45 minutes (idling at those gas prices!) due to the decision to reduce to alternating traffic lanes to start the access bridge ("stimulus program") construction during this "Season" height. The alternative route's bridges are in their third year of construction...
Always in search of a bargain, I went to our local branch of a large national department store to look for a few items. I could not find a one pair of plain gray socks that was not packaged in a "three-pack"with patterned ones. All of the t-shirts were on sale except for the XL ones. Of the 1000 plus groups of long-sleeved shirts, the store had made a policy to only carry 100% cotton need to iron types...no more wash and wear brands (a good idea with the outrageous cost of dry-cleaning and our 24-7 always in a rush, no free time to iron schedules!).
The local restaurants unveiled their "new" menus to present their new prices! The alternative is to cook at home...two months ago my groceries for a few days cost $50...then a month later, $60...and now $70!
I decided to stock up on incandescent 3-way bulbs...because our government has decided to outlaw their sale (in the interest of "global warming") and replace them with the migraine-inducing fluorescent and disposal-toxic LEDs...
I went to the indoor pool for some laps...the heater was broken...COLD cramp-inducing...the spa was perimeter "yellow-taped" with "do not use" signs, while a gentleman was sitting in its middle, disregarding the warnings! so I went into the sauna. a local fireman and paramedic struck up a conversation..."I can't believe I was being paid $18.95 per hour in 2005, and I'm receiving $15.95 per hour in 2012! I work double my regular hours in unpaid overtime, and my nightly call outs have increased from five to forty! People out there are nuts! I have an air-conditioning and an electrical business to attempt to make up for the reduction. I hardly ever get a chance to workout anymore...in fact I hardly sleep. I'm SO stressed! My pregnant wife lost her job in a corporate down-sizing. She wants a divorce. My bank increased my my mortgage payment from $1,200 to $3,900 per month, and they wouldn't renegotiate with me, so I lost my home in foreclosure. Don't you find that the few of us that are able to work, have to accept lower pay for tremendously increased work loads?"
"I know what you mean!!! In my graduate school years in 1978 I substitute taught in New York for $125 per day. When things were slow for architecture in 1990, I taught in the Palm Beach school system for $95 per day. In 2012, our local substitutes are paid $78 per day, and you know the prevailing contemporary discipline issues!"
Presidents' Day...any president, any politician, any of us...we all have so MUCH work to do!
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