Just rolled in with swmbo from our yearly sabbitical to Key West, the land of fruits and nuts. Been gone for about 23 days. It's nice to see everyone is still in fine fettle.
Walked a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot, listened to some good blues, jazz and island music, and generally loafed at a very very high level.
Wilma knocked the snot out of KW. A lot of the vegetation is gone and damage is still evident to some buildings and structures. Considering most of the island was under water for a few day, it's in pretty good shape. I saw a lot of pics of the water and damage to compare then with now. It is amazing how little evidence of that reamains. About 90% of the cars were destroyed and a lot of folks lost everthing they owned. The folks down there though, are pretty proud of the fact that they got stuff cleaned up, repaired and are now watching the green come back without whining about the gubmint. They did most of it by themselves. Tough birds, them Conchs.
Some of the insurance companies that cover wind are blaming water. The flood coverage through FEMA are claiming it's wind driven water, not flood. Mortgage companies are demanding the insurance money be sent to them and reimburse owners after proof of repair. Most of them are dragging their feet.Our Institutions are full of rats, no? Some companies are responding well, though. The auto insurance companies are...the property and casualty companies, with a couple of exceptions, are not.
Overall, bidness as usual in KW.
Key West is probably as corrupt as NO, but the difference is that their roots are in piracy and self reliance which makes for a proud folk.
