Panama hats

In a land dominated by crocodiles, gated communities, where “affordable housing”means “trailer park”, I am pleased to report that being part of a strip mall has not dispossessed this Fort-Lauterdale café, the Vienna coffee house, of its character or homeyness.

In fact I am quite enjoying its authenticity – relievingly more honest than this morning’s wanderings around Miami. Among the brilliant art-deco hotels of South-Beach I found myself wanting to speak Spanish – the secret language everyone was speaking among themselves. They meticulously reverted to English to speak to the customers.

I am always astounded at the way everyone seems to deny that Spanish is so frequently spoken in the States. In the same way no one admits Nevada is a desert.

Oddly parallel to the article I read today on the CBC website about some over-night vandals who “censored” the nude statues in an Oslo park with black paper. The black paper’s implication is in fact more obscene, implying that the human body is necessarily X-rated.

In Berlin, it seems like they want to be more authentic than they can in reality – google is giving them their second chance to make their reality seem as idealistic as possible.

But I am also thinking about SUV’s versus transit, the joy of interstates as make-work projects, access to the workplace, the need for public / informal meeting spaces. So rest assured that my comments on the upcoming Quebec elections will be forthcoming.