Lake Mary, Fla - way out country
Well, Lake Mary is ok, but very quiet. I’ve been here five days and seen very little except the hotel, the office and the road between them, so that judgement has a huge caveat attached to it but still….I’ve been in far worse places.
It’s way out in the sticks, a good 30 miles from Orlando and in the middle of the Florida peninsula. Until relatively recently – as late as the 1980s I’m told – the area was largely swamp, occupied only by alligators, birds and mosquitoes. But the tourist boom fueled by the various amusement parks around Orlando – the Disney one, Universal Studios, the Epcot Centre, not to mention the dozens of golf courses – generated a need for land and support amenities as people moved into Florida to staff the places. The climate helps too. The state has long had a reputation as America’s Retirement Home, and there does seem to be an inordinate number of seniors around: lots of grey hair and blue rinses, baggy shorts, sun shades and varicose veins. I feel quite at home….
At any rate, there have been massive reclamation projects, creating thousands of acres of green and pleasant land, dotted with hi-rise hotels and hi-tech offices; pristine bungalows with their American flags and blue pools; and the inevitable shopping malls surrounded by more acres of parking space (they do love a car here – I haven’t seen a bus since I passed through Orlando apart from the odd yellow school bus). As for trains: forget it! Interestingly, I don’t recall seeing a taxi either, although they must be around somewhere as I’ve booked one to take me from the hotel to Orlando airport Saturday morning.
Everything looks like those Ideal Home American townships you see on the movies and tv. My immediate impression was of Spring Valley, from the Back To The Future films, and Wednesday night, sitting at the local Applebee’s restaurant demolishing a good plate of chicken tenders and fries and a Sam Adams beer or two (and very nice it was) I spotted a guy at a nearby table who bore a spooky resemblance to Doc Emmett Brown. No sign of Marty McFly or the DeLorean though…..but I’m sure Biff Tannen’s pick-up drove past.
* * *
The landscaping here is a bit bizarre. It’s as if the entire town has been magically picked up and transplanted between the 15th fairway and 7th green of some expensive golf course. The land between neighbourhoods is undulating, with green trees swaying in the warm breeze and there are lots of little, mostly man-made, lakes and ponds, some of which, incongruously, have fountains squirting twenty or thirty feet in the air. There are lots of bright flowers too – marigolds, roses, tulips, daffodils, plus many local species I don’t recognise – growing everywhere, in well-tended beds alongside manicured lawns. The township must employ an army of gardeners to keep it all looking so spick and span. Apparently when the flowers start to wilt the night shift digs them all up and replaces them with a whole new batch, of exactly the same flower in exactly the same place so that, in theory at least, no-one will notice the difference. Interesting idea, and the place does indeed look pretty, but I can’t see it catching on in somewhere like Luton or Gravesend.
Apart from the Interstate, that runs through Lake Mary in a deep cutting (so as to protect residents from undue traffic noise I suppose), the roads seem to have relatively little traffic on them – it’s like a Sunday afternoon most days driving to the office and back. Yesterday morning the local tv station, in its Breakfast Show traffic bulletin, showed a security-camera film of a stretch of the interstate at Lake Mary, with a commentary warning of heavy rush hour traffic and probable delays. But there are more cars on the road passing my apartment block in Warsaw at 5 a.m. on a Saturday than appeared on the film. These people really don’t appreciate how lucky they are. Petrol (sorry, gas) is about $4-80 a gallon – that’s around PLN15 - : back home I pay around PLN5-90 a litre, which comes out at about PLN22-50 a gallon – so a good bit more expensive, especially when you consider the disparity between the average US salary and its Polish equivalent – and this is a wealthy area. And rising petrol prices (amongst other things, of course) are threatening Obama’s re-election chances this year.
The hotel is fine, a Marriott Residence. This means that my room has a proper kitchen area if I want to cook for myself – which I don’t. But it’s very comfortable and has a fitness centre and a small pool, neither of which I’ve used as I’ve been late back from work every day (a busy week). American tv has not improved since the last time I watched – it has way too many advert breaks (although it could be argued the ads are the best part of the viewer experience). The Residence is next door to a regular, and much larger, Marriott, and all its facilities are available to Residence guests. I used the ATM in the Reception area once and that’s it. But the Residence is one of the better hotels I’ve used so I have no complaints on that score.
Behind the hotel complex is a small mall that seems to be largely restaurants (including the Applebee’s where I spotted Doc Brown), and a larger mall is across the street. I went there last night, as there is a recommended Irish bar there. It’s called Liam Fitzpatrick’s, and very good it was too – in fact one of the best Irish joints I’ve visited over the years. I had a couple of Smithwick’s beers – a new brand for me, not unlike Murphy’s stout, and it was delicious – and a soup and shepherd’s pie: good, well-cooked Irish food. The soup was particularly good, a creamy potato and garlic soup with finely chopped spring onions and chunks of fried bacon, sprinkled with grated cheese. I asked for the recipe, but the kitchen staff for some odd reason refused to give it out, so I’ll have to experiment a bit when I get home. About 50 yards along from Fitzpatrick’s is a bar with the wonderful name of The World of Beer. That one I intend to try tonight…….work done, successful week, time to celebrate.
The office, meanwhile, is big and spacious and well appointed. It’s in a new building in carefully landscaped grounds, a couple of miles from the hotel, and has desk space for maybe 200 people. There are half a dozen conference rooms with teleconferencing facilities, a fully equipped training room with projectors and desks for about 20 trainees, and a kitchen with half a dozen coffee machines and a water fountain, a huge fridge full of complimentary cokes and soft drinks, a microwave, tables and chairs. This week, there have been no more than a dozen people here at any given time. With my home office being closed (and I heard this week of another closure, this time in Moscow, with more redundancies) I do wonder how long this one is likely to remain an economically viable proposition.
* * *
As usual, I’ve watched quite a lot of CNN this week, the parent version rather than the international one I usually catch. It had a familiar feel though, as many of the programs and presenters are the same, as is the whole look and feel. Inevitably, this being America, there are far more advertising breaks though. I also watched a bit of ABC’s flagship Good Morning America show, and couldn’t believe how awful and lightweight it is. I am struggling to remember any reporting worthy of the name: interviews with an American football player who because of his Christian beliefs is known as “God’s Quarterback”, when there have been earthquakes off the coasts of Mexico and Indonesia, the North Koreans have failed dismally with an alleged ICBM launch, people continue to be slaughtered by the Syrian government in defiance of UN resolutions and this is an Election year in the US, do not for me make it a credible news program.
The news has been dominated by two main stories all week – the US Election and the shooting of Trayvon Martin. In the Election, the Republican Party is going through the ritual of deciding its nominee for the Election in November against Obama. There have been the usual arguments, slurs, ad campaigns costing millions of dollars, photo opportunities and scandals, but it all seems to be boiling down to the selection of Mitt Romney. The guy looks pretty slick and Republican presidential – all white button down collar shirts, neatly pressed suits, polished shoes and hair, and a permanent grin. But he has a number of problems that are preventing him from sealing the deal, even though he’s streets ahead of the other contenders. First off, he’s a Mormon, and the US has never elected a Mormon before – indeed the sect is still deeply mistrusted, not only in America, and the subject of some ridicule because of some of its beliefs and its insistence on wearing ankle-to-neck all-in-one underwear to prevent temptation. He also made his fortune running Bain Capital, a venture capital outfit – an investment banker, and a highly successful one at that. Ordinarily, this should actually be a great recommendation for the Presidency, but unfortunately as everybody knows bankers generally and investment bankers in particular are not exactly flavour of the month world-wide just now. And if you are a rich and demonstrably successful investment banker – well, you’re a pariah. So here we have a lovely paradox: a pariah running to be President of the US – and being probably the best qualified guy in the race (including the incumbent). Many in the GOP just cannot bring themselves to endorse the bloke, and so the race is dragging on even though all bar two of his opponents have dropped out and the two left in are so far behind in the race that they have no realistic chance – they’re staying in out of sheer bloody mindedness. This week, Romney’s nearest challenger dropped out, effectively handing the nomination to him, so hopefully now we can actually start discussing the issues rather than slagging off the opponent. But somehow I doubt that will happen. US politics just doesn’t seem to work that way. Expect more vitriolic ads and slur campaigns from both the Republican and Democrat parties, and more entertainment value before a decision is made in November.
The Trayvon Martin case is typically American, and happened only a few miles from here, in Sanford, Seminole County, Florida. Like many towns, there is a neighbourhood watch scheme in operation – we have them in the UK too. They are staffed by volunteers and the idea is that communities will look out for each other and take some of the workload off the police. Now that’s all well and good, except that here in Florida (and one assumes the same is true across America) the volunteers are armed – it’s the constitutional right of all American citizens to bear arms in self defence, after all. What seems to have happened here is that some six weeks ago, one of the neighbourhood watch volunteers spotted a young black kid acting suspiciously (he was wearing a hoodie, after all), followed him home despite being ordered not to by the local police, whereupon they had a bit of an altercation and the black kid was shot dead. The neighbourhood watch guy of course claimed self defence, despite there apparently being no credible evidence or eyewitnesses to back him up, and the authorities tried to sweep it all under the carpet. Not surprisingly, there was a public outcry, demonstrations and so on. Most people, especially the local black community, called it murder. The protests spread nationwide. Lawyers were hired and the Florida prosecutors had to do something. They announced an investigation. The neighbourhood watch guy hired defence lawyers then promptly did a runner (as he was entitled to do, no charges having been brought). This week, the prosecutors brought in a charge of second degree murder, and the neighbourhood watch guy promptly gave himself up to the police – he’s now in solitary confinement for his own safety at the County jail – but not before his legal team had walked away from the case, stating that as they had not spoken to him for a couple of weeks they were not going to represent him anymore. They were roundly condemned on every network for making the announcement at an outdoor press conference. The media circus is in full swing – every night there are prime time interviews, mainly on CNN but elsewhere too, with both families, both sets of lawyers (the neighbourhood watch bloke quickly found a new lawyer who seems to be well known local ambulance chaser), with pundits and politicians and other legal talking heads, all speculating and arguing about the case. In a sick way it’s entertaining tv – better than some of the regular programming. But in terms or fair and honest justice – well, let’s see. With all the nationwide publicity the case is being given, jury selection could be tricky for a start. The only certainty is this one will run and run, and no-one will be satisfied with the outcome this time next year.
Incidentally, on one of the news items to do with the case I spotted a familiar face. The victim’s family was watching the live tv announcement that charges were being brought (in front of their own set of cameras, naturally), surrounded by their legal team and assorted minders, and there, right in the middle, standing directly behind the victim’s parents, comforting hands on their shoulders, was the Rev. Al Sharpton, gaudily dressed as ever, a sombre expression on his face. Now the last time I saw him was in the front row of Whitney Houston’s funeral. The time before that was regularly during the trial last year of Michael Jackson’s doctor, with the Jackson family. In both cases he was described as a “friend of the family”. Now he’s turning up prominently in the tv appearances of another sadly bereaved black family – is he their friend too? Or is he merely a publicity-seeking activist who by his antics really does nothing to foster racial integration? Judging by the fact that he always seems to turn up where there is some high profile legal case or tragedy involving a black family, innocent or otherwise, like an old carrion crow, oozing sincerity and “hallelujah, Jesus!” cries, I suspect the latter.
* * *
And that’s it really. Work done for the week, and I think we achieved what we set out to achieve. Tomorrow I have an early start, and an entertaining journey home via Minneapolis and Paris, arriving at my apartment sometime around Sunday lunchtime.
It’s been a good trip, and I quite like Lake Mary and what I’ve seen of Florida. The weather has been perfect, sunny but not too hot (mid to high 20s – I can suffer that constantly) and not a sign of rain. No jacket required, as Phil Collins once said. The people have been very friendly and helpful, the food good, the beer fine, and I could happily move here. I didn’t see Orlando or any of its tourist attractions – not a Mickey Mouse cap in sight – and I can’t say that I’m particularly sorry about that. They are not the sort of places to do solo.
I still think the country is a little bit crazy, but at least here people seem to have a smile rather than a scowl on their face, and a welcome for visitors that I found sadly absent when I visited and transited New York in past years….I guess we can thank Disney for that. I would like to come back sometime, for a holiday – the beaches, as we flew over, looked wonderful, and I know my kids would love to do the theme parks (so would I actually….).
One for the future then.
It’s way out in the sticks, a good 30 miles from Orlando and in the middle of the Florida peninsula. Until relatively recently – as late as the 1980s I’m told – the area was largely swamp, occupied only by alligators, birds and mosquitoes. But the tourist boom fueled by the various amusement parks around Orlando – the Disney one, Universal Studios, the Epcot Centre, not to mention the dozens of golf courses – generated a need for land and support amenities as people moved into Florida to staff the places. The climate helps too. The state has long had a reputation as America’s Retirement Home, and there does seem to be an inordinate number of seniors around: lots of grey hair and blue rinses, baggy shorts, sun shades and varicose veins. I feel quite at home….
At any rate, there have been massive reclamation projects, creating thousands of acres of green and pleasant land, dotted with hi-rise hotels and hi-tech offices; pristine bungalows with their American flags and blue pools; and the inevitable shopping malls surrounded by more acres of parking space (they do love a car here – I haven’t seen a bus since I passed through Orlando apart from the odd yellow school bus). As for trains: forget it! Interestingly, I don’t recall seeing a taxi either, although they must be around somewhere as I’ve booked one to take me from the hotel to Orlando airport Saturday morning.
Everything looks like those Ideal Home American townships you see on the movies and tv. My immediate impression was of Spring Valley, from the Back To The Future films, and Wednesday night, sitting at the local Applebee’s restaurant demolishing a good plate of chicken tenders and fries and a Sam Adams beer or two (and very nice it was) I spotted a guy at a nearby table who bore a spooky resemblance to Doc Emmett Brown. No sign of Marty McFly or the DeLorean though…..but I’m sure Biff Tannen’s pick-up drove past.
* * *
The landscaping here is a bit bizarre. It’s as if the entire town has been magically picked up and transplanted between the 15th fairway and 7th green of some expensive golf course. The land between neighbourhoods is undulating, with green trees swaying in the warm breeze and there are lots of little, mostly man-made, lakes and ponds, some of which, incongruously, have fountains squirting twenty or thirty feet in the air. There are lots of bright flowers too – marigolds, roses, tulips, daffodils, plus many local species I don’t recognise – growing everywhere, in well-tended beds alongside manicured lawns. The township must employ an army of gardeners to keep it all looking so spick and span. Apparently when the flowers start to wilt the night shift digs them all up and replaces them with a whole new batch, of exactly the same flower in exactly the same place so that, in theory at least, no-one will notice the difference. Interesting idea, and the place does indeed look pretty, but I can’t see it catching on in somewhere like Luton or Gravesend.
Apart from the Interstate, that runs through Lake Mary in a deep cutting (so as to protect residents from undue traffic noise I suppose), the roads seem to have relatively little traffic on them – it’s like a Sunday afternoon most days driving to the office and back. Yesterday morning the local tv station, in its Breakfast Show traffic bulletin, showed a security-camera film of a stretch of the interstate at Lake Mary, with a commentary warning of heavy rush hour traffic and probable delays. But there are more cars on the road passing my apartment block in Warsaw at 5 a.m. on a Saturday than appeared on the film. These people really don’t appreciate how lucky they are. Petrol (sorry, gas) is about $4-80 a gallon – that’s around PLN15 - : back home I pay around PLN5-90 a litre, which comes out at about PLN22-50 a gallon – so a good bit more expensive, especially when you consider the disparity between the average US salary and its Polish equivalent – and this is a wealthy area. And rising petrol prices (amongst other things, of course) are threatening Obama’s re-election chances this year.
The hotel is fine, a Marriott Residence. This means that my room has a proper kitchen area if I want to cook for myself – which I don’t. But it’s very comfortable and has a fitness centre and a small pool, neither of which I’ve used as I’ve been late back from work every day (a busy week). American tv has not improved since the last time I watched – it has way too many advert breaks (although it could be argued the ads are the best part of the viewer experience). The Residence is next door to a regular, and much larger, Marriott, and all its facilities are available to Residence guests. I used the ATM in the Reception area once and that’s it. But the Residence is one of the better hotels I’ve used so I have no complaints on that score.
Behind the hotel complex is a small mall that seems to be largely restaurants (including the Applebee’s where I spotted Doc Brown), and a larger mall is across the street. I went there last night, as there is a recommended Irish bar there. It’s called Liam Fitzpatrick’s, and very good it was too – in fact one of the best Irish joints I’ve visited over the years. I had a couple of Smithwick’s beers – a new brand for me, not unlike Murphy’s stout, and it was delicious – and a soup and shepherd’s pie: good, well-cooked Irish food. The soup was particularly good, a creamy potato and garlic soup with finely chopped spring onions and chunks of fried bacon, sprinkled with grated cheese. I asked for the recipe, but the kitchen staff for some odd reason refused to give it out, so I’ll have to experiment a bit when I get home. About 50 yards along from Fitzpatrick’s is a bar with the wonderful name of The World of Beer. That one I intend to try tonight…….work done, successful week, time to celebrate.
The office, meanwhile, is big and spacious and well appointed. It’s in a new building in carefully landscaped grounds, a couple of miles from the hotel, and has desk space for maybe 200 people. There are half a dozen conference rooms with teleconferencing facilities, a fully equipped training room with projectors and desks for about 20 trainees, and a kitchen with half a dozen coffee machines and a water fountain, a huge fridge full of complimentary cokes and soft drinks, a microwave, tables and chairs. This week, there have been no more than a dozen people here at any given time. With my home office being closed (and I heard this week of another closure, this time in Moscow, with more redundancies) I do wonder how long this one is likely to remain an economically viable proposition.
* * *
As usual, I’ve watched quite a lot of CNN this week, the parent version rather than the international one I usually catch. It had a familiar feel though, as many of the programs and presenters are the same, as is the whole look and feel. Inevitably, this being America, there are far more advertising breaks though. I also watched a bit of ABC’s flagship Good Morning America show, and couldn’t believe how awful and lightweight it is. I am struggling to remember any reporting worthy of the name: interviews with an American football player who because of his Christian beliefs is known as “God’s Quarterback”, when there have been earthquakes off the coasts of Mexico and Indonesia, the North Koreans have failed dismally with an alleged ICBM launch, people continue to be slaughtered by the Syrian government in defiance of UN resolutions and this is an Election year in the US, do not for me make it a credible news program.
The news has been dominated by two main stories all week – the US Election and the shooting of Trayvon Martin. In the Election, the Republican Party is going through the ritual of deciding its nominee for the Election in November against Obama. There have been the usual arguments, slurs, ad campaigns costing millions of dollars, photo opportunities and scandals, but it all seems to be boiling down to the selection of Mitt Romney. The guy looks pretty slick and Republican presidential – all white button down collar shirts, neatly pressed suits, polished shoes and hair, and a permanent grin. But he has a number of problems that are preventing him from sealing the deal, even though he’s streets ahead of the other contenders. First off, he’s a Mormon, and the US has never elected a Mormon before – indeed the sect is still deeply mistrusted, not only in America, and the subject of some ridicule because of some of its beliefs and its insistence on wearing ankle-to-neck all-in-one underwear to prevent temptation. He also made his fortune running Bain Capital, a venture capital outfit – an investment banker, and a highly successful one at that. Ordinarily, this should actually be a great recommendation for the Presidency, but unfortunately as everybody knows bankers generally and investment bankers in particular are not exactly flavour of the month world-wide just now. And if you are a rich and demonstrably successful investment banker – well, you’re a pariah. So here we have a lovely paradox: a pariah running to be President of the US – and being probably the best qualified guy in the race (including the incumbent). Many in the GOP just cannot bring themselves to endorse the bloke, and so the race is dragging on even though all bar two of his opponents have dropped out and the two left in are so far behind in the race that they have no realistic chance – they’re staying in out of sheer bloody mindedness. This week, Romney’s nearest challenger dropped out, effectively handing the nomination to him, so hopefully now we can actually start discussing the issues rather than slagging off the opponent. But somehow I doubt that will happen. US politics just doesn’t seem to work that way. Expect more vitriolic ads and slur campaigns from both the Republican and Democrat parties, and more entertainment value before a decision is made in November.
The Trayvon Martin case is typically American, and happened only a few miles from here, in Sanford, Seminole County, Florida. Like many towns, there is a neighbourhood watch scheme in operation – we have them in the UK too. They are staffed by volunteers and the idea is that communities will look out for each other and take some of the workload off the police. Now that’s all well and good, except that here in Florida (and one assumes the same is true across America) the volunteers are armed – it’s the constitutional right of all American citizens to bear arms in self defence, after all. What seems to have happened here is that some six weeks ago, one of the neighbourhood watch volunteers spotted a young black kid acting suspiciously (he was wearing a hoodie, after all), followed him home despite being ordered not to by the local police, whereupon they had a bit of an altercation and the black kid was shot dead. The neighbourhood watch guy of course claimed self defence, despite there apparently being no credible evidence or eyewitnesses to back him up, and the authorities tried to sweep it all under the carpet. Not surprisingly, there was a public outcry, demonstrations and so on. Most people, especially the local black community, called it murder. The protests spread nationwide. Lawyers were hired and the Florida prosecutors had to do something. They announced an investigation. The neighbourhood watch guy hired defence lawyers then promptly did a runner (as he was entitled to do, no charges having been brought). This week, the prosecutors brought in a charge of second degree murder, and the neighbourhood watch guy promptly gave himself up to the police – he’s now in solitary confinement for his own safety at the County jail – but not before his legal team had walked away from the case, stating that as they had not spoken to him for a couple of weeks they were not going to represent him anymore. They were roundly condemned on every network for making the announcement at an outdoor press conference. The media circus is in full swing – every night there are prime time interviews, mainly on CNN but elsewhere too, with both families, both sets of lawyers (the neighbourhood watch bloke quickly found a new lawyer who seems to be well known local ambulance chaser), with pundits and politicians and other legal talking heads, all speculating and arguing about the case. In a sick way it’s entertaining tv – better than some of the regular programming. But in terms or fair and honest justice – well, let’s see. With all the nationwide publicity the case is being given, jury selection could be tricky for a start. The only certainty is this one will run and run, and no-one will be satisfied with the outcome this time next year.
Incidentally, on one of the news items to do with the case I spotted a familiar face. The victim’s family was watching the live tv announcement that charges were being brought (in front of their own set of cameras, naturally), surrounded by their legal team and assorted minders, and there, right in the middle, standing directly behind the victim’s parents, comforting hands on their shoulders, was the Rev. Al Sharpton, gaudily dressed as ever, a sombre expression on his face. Now the last time I saw him was in the front row of Whitney Houston’s funeral. The time before that was regularly during the trial last year of Michael Jackson’s doctor, with the Jackson family. In both cases he was described as a “friend of the family”. Now he’s turning up prominently in the tv appearances of another sadly bereaved black family – is he their friend too? Or is he merely a publicity-seeking activist who by his antics really does nothing to foster racial integration? Judging by the fact that he always seems to turn up where there is some high profile legal case or tragedy involving a black family, innocent or otherwise, like an old carrion crow, oozing sincerity and “hallelujah, Jesus!” cries, I suspect the latter.
* * *
And that’s it really. Work done for the week, and I think we achieved what we set out to achieve. Tomorrow I have an early start, and an entertaining journey home via Minneapolis and Paris, arriving at my apartment sometime around Sunday lunchtime.
It’s been a good trip, and I quite like Lake Mary and what I’ve seen of Florida. The weather has been perfect, sunny but not too hot (mid to high 20s – I can suffer that constantly) and not a sign of rain. No jacket required, as Phil Collins once said. The people have been very friendly and helpful, the food good, the beer fine, and I could happily move here. I didn’t see Orlando or any of its tourist attractions – not a Mickey Mouse cap in sight – and I can’t say that I’m particularly sorry about that. They are not the sort of places to do solo.
I still think the country is a little bit crazy, but at least here people seem to have a smile rather than a scowl on their face, and a welcome for visitors that I found sadly absent when I visited and transited New York in past years….I guess we can thank Disney for that. I would like to come back sometime, for a holiday – the beaches, as we flew over, looked wonderful, and I know my kids would love to do the theme parks (so would I actually….).
One for the future then.
posted by Travellin' Bob @ April 14, 2012
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