We’re currently experiencing the longest run of cold and gloomy weather that I can remember. It’s all relative, and I’m aware lots of y’all live in places where a stretch of highs in the 50s and 60s and lows above freezing would be welcome. But trust me — for us, this sucks.
Despite the chill, I jumped in a river last week. My aim was to swim with the manatees again, and I did, sort of. But mostly what I got was further confirmation (where none was needed!) that the influx of people to this state is ruining all that was good about it. Even in backwaters like my home county, which is far off the theme park and sandy beach tracks.
It was depressing, and I didn’t even get any pictures worth sharing. Well, except this:
The sign is posted in a backyard that faces a canal. It’s reinforcing lots of official signs that tell boaters they must maintain idle speed, i.e., go slow enough to generate no wake so that slow-moving manatees can get out of the way of boat traffic.
When we visited, on a weekday, the canal was absurdly clogged with badly piloted rental boats. (Imagine what an absolute zoo it is on weekends!)
Most boaters we saw observed the idle speed restrictions, but some zoomed along as if they were the only creatures in the whole fucking world. That’s always been a problem, and over the years, the authorities have had to impose more restrictions to protect the river and its inhabitants from buffoonish and/or ignorant humans.
My dad ran a dive shop and marina on that river from the earliest days of the Carter administration until he sold the business and retired during the first Trump Error. During my adolescence, I was forced to work without pay (except for the roof over my head, as Dad frequently reminded me) in that shop. The surliest indentured servant imaginable, I had to talk to tourists all day and recite the river rules.
But apparently the situation became more dire over the past few years when I wasn’t paying attention. See, people are such goddamn inconsiderate lunatics that the authorities have had to not only impose more idle speed zones and ban boat traffic altogether in more areas, they’ve had to enlarge sanctuaries and further restrict where people can swim or kayak to give the poor manatees a chance.
The manatees have a favorite spring on that river. Coincidentally, it is also my favorite spring. My family used to picnic there back in the day, year round. Nobody owned it, as far as we knew. We’d just roll up in our shitty Ford Galaxy, unload a cooler, spread a blanket on the ground and hang out next to the turquoise waters of our own little Eden.
Today, if you want to visit that spring during the colder months, you have to pay $20 a head at a toll booth, park your car, get in a fucking tram with the other tourists and go gawk at the critters from a boardwalk. You can’t swim there anymore no matter how you arrive, by kayak or tram.
I don’t resent the authorities for paving paradise and putting up a parking lot. I blame the people who made taking drastic measures necessary — the assholes who ran over manatees with their speed boats, did depraved shit like carving “TRUMP” on a critter’s hide and threw empty beer cans and McDonald’s trash in the pristine water.
And yeah, lots of those assholes were locals, and the bad behavior has been happening for decades. I’m not blaming tourists or recent arrivals, just the assholes.
The population of Florida has tripled over the past 60 years, so the asshole population has grown too. In fact, I estimate the asshole portion has quintupled since the Republican Party of Florida deliberately turned the state into an asshole magnet to increase vote share.
I’m against the death penalty in all cases. But sometimes I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to allow Save the Manatee club members to post up along the riverbanks with sniper rifles and give them carte blanche to just shoot the fucking speeders and litterers and critter-harassers instead of robbing everyone of one of the most wondrous experiences in one of the most special places on the planet.
Anyhoo, Thomas Wolfe be damned, it turns out you can go home again. You just have to pay $20 and board a fucking tram to get there. I’m sad about it.
The end.
dww44
Well, that post was a bit reminiscent of one from the blogmaster. One state north of you and spouse and I have been complaining about all the cold that just won’t go away. And it seems we are in for another possibly wintry surprise next week. Much prefer if it’s a white flaky one and not an icy power killing one. This indeed is the first consistently cold winter we’ve had in many a year.
Steve LaBonne
I have noticed a general breakdown in consideration for others since, oh, probably 2016. Can’t imagine what the cause might be.
sab
When I was a child in Florida our vacations were always to Crystal River, where we paddled around in canoes or snorkled, looking for sea cows. Back then there was so much goldfish plantlife that power boats couldn’t really operate. The weeds tangled up the propellers. The alligators were still back in Louisiana where they belong.
My Ohio dad had wanted to be a marine biologist, but WWII happened so he became a physician instead.
Steve LaBonne
Bright sunny day, currently 20 degrees, plenty of snow cover because it has gotten barely above freezing for only a few hours in the last couple of weeks. A beautiful winter day for those of us who appreciate winter, and a much-needed break from gray gloomy skies.
No One of Consequence
Slow Citizen Kane clap, Ms. Cracker. Bravo.
-NOoC
Old School
I gathered from the sign that “idle speed” was enforced that way.
Matt McIrvin
that sign is hilarious.
A Ghost to Most
Water tends to concentrate people. Mountains tend to dilute them.
Matt McIrvin
@Old School: There’s an amusement park in Maine, Funtown Splashtown, where the sign on the chain-link fence surrounding their big roller coaster says “Is there life after death? Jump this fence and find out.”
Which was probably intended as typical gun-enthusiast bloviating, but the fact is, if you do that the roller coaster itself could well cause you to find out; that’s why the fence is there. (Just last year, someone got killed by Banshee at Kings Island in this way.)
Redshift
Ugh, that sucks. Sorry to hear that, BC.
Gravie
I was born in Florida just before mid-20th Century, and by the time I decamped the state for good in my late 20s, it had already been despoiled. Not like what you’re describing now, but the Florida of my childhood had been paved over and condo-ized beyond recognition. My special place was Pass-a-Grille Beach on the Gulf Coast, and I made it my mission on every visit to clean up all the detritus — including broken bottles, for god’s sake— with which the assholes befouled the crystal waters and white sands. I am so sorry about the loss of your magical spot.
blindyone
I’ve been wondering how the swimming with the sea cows went. Sorry that the “I’m too special to have to pay attention to signs that protect nature and my fellow human beings” folks ruined your experience. Over here in SoCal, these types are flying drones and attempting to drive into restricted areas for more fire porn pics. And their solution to everything is that our Democratic governor and LA mayor should resign. And we should listen to their advice about fire control and land management because last week they were experts on vaccinations, contrails, immigration etc. I am so tired of all of this.
rusty
After Trump won the first time, the level of asshole increased. “I’m free to do whatever I want!!”
I still have a picture somewhere, taken at 5:00 on a weekday at the local grocery store, peak time for people stopping on the way home. An asshole in a jacked up, crew cab pickup, had parked diagonally across two spaces reserved near the store for pregnant woman and those with small children. Of course it had a Trump bumper sticker. As I was taking a quick shot with my phone, I hear “why you taking a picture of my truck?” Of course it was a solo, middle aged, white guy. I ignored him and walked toward the store, resisting the urge to say “I don’t see any kids, so you must be pregnant”. It’s never worth tangling with assholes. More recently, my commute has several places where the road narrows from two to one lane, the general behavior is to go every other, but invariably there is the asshole in the big truck or SUV that feels they don’t have to let anyone in. Again, the numbers are increasing.
It is only going to get worse as they feel emboldened by this administration. I am writing this as a reminder to myself to just let the assholes go and don’t engage.
Doc Sardonic
@sab: We still had gators, the locals just tended to use
poachingnot necessarily sanctioned population control methodsBaud
Paddlers to the left of me
Boaters to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Old Dan and Little Ann
It’s going to be single digits in western NY after Saturday. I am going to get water balloons so my daughter and I can fill them up and squirt some food coloring inside. It takes a few days for the orbs to freeze, Then I use a box cutter to cut the balloon and what’s left is pretty. And cool.
zhena gogolia
@Steve LaBonne: We’ve been noticing that too. But we were just in NYC for 2 days, and people there were extraordinarily nice. Not a high percentage of Trumpers, I think is the explanation.
Chief Oshkosh
@Gravie: I will never in a million years understand how people can litter. Never. IGMFY people are the people who litter, as near as I can tell, and I don’t understand them, either.
Steve LaBonne
@zhena gogolia: New Yorkers are much nicer and more helpful than people in the rest of the country imagine. Which makes them not the kind of people who become Trumpers.
Ruckus
I was born and raised in CA and since my birth the population has grown 400%.
And it’s still the wild west…..
LA County has grown from just under 4 million to almost 13 million. It’s not a small county but it is well populated. And as seen within the last week, not all of it is comfortably habitable.
eclare
Goddamn great post. Nuff said.
KatKapCC
This makes me livid. Fucking sociopaths.
Steve LaBonne
@Old Dan and Little Ann: My wife loves to blow soap bubbles and watch them freeze in the air when it’s that cold.
Ruckus
@Steve LaBonne:
Just because the thing you are talking about is a complete and utter asshole,
doesn’tactually means we know what you are talking about.dlwchico
That spring sounds amazing. I’m glad you and your family had a chance to enjoy it before it got all touristy.
Tim C.
@Steve LaBonne: Correct. New York and Paris are the two cities I visited that were a little rough around the edges, but if you had manners, and in Paris if you even tried to communicate in French, the locals were very helpful to respectful tourists.
Ruckus
@Steve LaBonne:
I need to add that the sky here is an amazing blue color, not what we’ve seen here over the last few days. And only few dozen square miles are on fire or burnt. OK quite a few – over 40,000 acres.
Matt McIrvin
@Steve LaBonne: New York City is far and away the place where I have gotten the most kind help from random strangers. In the whole world. It’s not even close.
Of course, it’s often unsolicited help delivered in a very vocal manner. But that’s the NYC way.
Steve LaBonne
@Matt McIrvin: The main hazard for visitors to the city is having your ear talked off.
Steve LaBonne
@Tim C.: And manners in Paris means saying “Bonjour!” before you say anything else.
Matt McIrvin
@Tim C.: Been a long time since I was in Paris, but I found that being able and willing to speak a little terrible French went a long way in disarming them–they’d often switch to English if they knew it, but at that point the conversation was being conducted on their terms; I wasn’t imposing.
Old School
@rusty:
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a pickup parked diagonally across two handicapped spots. I didn’t note whether they had bumper stickers.
MazeDancer
Okay, that was splendid.
More long form, please.
Matt McIrvin
@Steve LaBonne: And yet, Trump IS a New Yorker.
But there are more people there who have been on the wrong side of people like him than there are people like him.
pieceofpeace
@Baud: Ha! My initial thought too!
John S.
@Matt McIrvin:
I’ve spent tons of time in many large cities, but thus far in my travels I have to give it to Seoul. I was absolutely blown away by how friendly and polite just everyday people were there.
Steve LaBonne
@Matt McIrvin: Nowhere is he more despised. And it eats him up.
TBone
I’m about to Find Out as I’m going to travel back to “Everybody’s Hometown” Media, PA to see the World Premier of DelCo The Movie very, very soon. My expectations are at DelCo levels for everything except FOOD.
I will see all my old haunts…hoping for no scary ghosts!
https://www.mediatheatre.org/shows-tickets/delco-the-movie
Trollhattan
Shirley, your governor can take the helm and fix this.
I’ll come in again.
TBone
@Trollhattan: you meant take the rudder – the helm is full.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Welcome to Colorado where the only good person here is the last one to arrive–everyone thereafter the person thinking that have contributed to the “ruining” of the state.
Fake magazine cover that nails all of it:
https://flic.kr/p/2qFya9c
The Pale Scot
Upvote to ∞!
Matt McIrvin
@Steve LaBonne: It seems to me that outrageously aggressive driving has increased as the vehicles get larger. People in jacked-up monster trucks that don’t really fit in a lane want to throw that weight around.
Jay
And to no one’s surprise, LA’s Uber Wealthy have hired private Firefighting gear and crews to protect their homes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cy08nqrev4zo
Tim C.
@Steve LaBonne: Exactly. When I went to France with my kids last summer, I drilled it into them. ALWAYS say “Bonjour.” So when we had gallettes and escargot pizza (Very yummy!) I was complimented on their manners…. no prouder moments.
@Matt_McIrvin: Yep! Exact same experience.
lou
@Steve LaBonne:
True story: I grew up in South Florida and learned to loathe NYC because transplanted kids at school would go on and on about how wonderful NY is and how inferior Florida is and we could do this or that in NY and you can’t in Florida and Florida sucks, etc.
I finally visited NYC in my 20s (loved it!) and found NYers the nicest, most helpful people. It was then I realized those kids were from New Jersey.
SamInWa
It makes me think that home isn’t just a place, but a time… and the other things that make up the ineffable quality of home that I can’t return to.
BellaPea
@The Pale Scot: I certainly agree with the sentiment that folks have gotten ruder and more obnoxious since 2016. Here in Tennessee, you see an abundance of huge trucks and SUVs on the road, trying to run you over and parking like insensitive assholes in the parking lots. I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next four years. And I remember when I used to be proud of the fact that most people in this state had good Southern manners. Not any more.
TBone
@SamInWa: that’s why DelCo the Movie is set in 2004.
WTFGhost
I love that you love the manatees and despise the assholes for all the good, kind, expertly-thought-out reasons I’d expected.
CliosFanboy
I just started walking with a cane, and just returned from a trip to NYC. People were generally very nice. In one deli, they insisted on carrying my uray to my table for me.
ArchTeryx
@rusty: Trouble is that gives the assholes an absolute free pass to be assholes. There are situations where it’s best not to risk your life, but most of the time, these assholes are absolute cowards. I’m very much of the “silence is validation” school when dealing with jackholes like Penis Pumper and his dick substitute truck.
TBone
I’ma call her Pam Blondi (Jesse Watters is crowing about straight white blondes being a harbinger because Carrie Underwood is inaugurating).
Pam Blondi
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondi
Old Dan and Little Ann
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: lol…. I lived in Summit County for 2 years at the end of the 20th century and people were complaining back then. It was the 1st time I heard the derisive term, “gaper.”
edited.
satby
@Steve LaBonne: The permission structure changed: from when being an asshole was socially discouraged to it becoming the aspirational goal of people who’s only possible talent is to be an asshole. Thanks to an entire party elevated one to the highest office.
Sister Golden Bear
@Steve LaBonne: A NYC friend put it well: New Yorkers aren’t nice but they’re kind. People from [insert region* here] are polite but not kind.
*Often directed at Angelenos and not unwarranted, but the last week has shown how we pull together when it counts.
satby
@Gravie: Pass-a-Grille beach was my mom’s favorite when she was still alive. We went there often when I visited.She passed away almost 10 years ago now, and I’ve never gone back. I’m highly unlikely to, but I’m sorry to hear it deteriorated.
Soprano2
It’s supposed to get frigid here starting on Saturday. At least they aren’t forecasting more snow. I hope all the snow we got has melted by then. The people across the street from us made a snowman that looks like one of those Easter Island heads.
Matt McIrvin
@Sister Golden Bear: “polite but not kind” sounds like certain parts of Old Virginny
Sister Golden Bear
@Ruckus: You’re probably aware, but for those who aren’t, LA County alone has a population larger than all but a half dozen states. By a large margin
Sister Golden Bear
@Matt McIrvin: My NYC had been in exile in Wisconsin and that’s how she describes the locals as well. Plus dealing with Midwestern Nice has definitely has been a learning experience for her.
Captain C
@Sister Golden Bear: One way I’ve heard it described is that [denizen from nice-but-not-kind place] will watch you bleed out while expressing their sympathy for you (eg. “I feel your pain. That must really hurt!”), while a New Yorker will stop the bleeding and save your life, but the whole time you’re waiting for the ambulance they’ll criticize all of the life choices which led you to that point.
bluefoot
I definitely think that people’s public behavior has deteriorated. I see this on the road, when I’m out listening to my friends’ bands, out on walking trails. I don’t know what it is. It started prior to COVID, but there was a big increase in bad behavior after things reopened in 2021/2022. It’s like people forgot how to behave in public.
I also think TCFG has given permission to certain people to treat others, and public spaces, badly. I am NOT looking forward to January 21st and beyond – up until now, the law has kept certain kinds of harassment and discrimination in check. That’s going to go out the window next week.
NotMax
@TBone
GMTA.
:)
Trollhattan
@TBone: Fetches a stick right nice, don’t she?
Quiltingfool
@Captain C: So, a New Yorker kind of acts like a parent? lol!
TBone
@Trollhattan: check it out – they’re saying Night of the Long Knives out loud now too
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/01/mike-flynn-demands-trump-execute-his
TBone
@NotMax: doh! You definitely called that one right!
NotMax
Yum. Dragged out the electric meat slicer from the depths of an under the counter cabinet to slice up about 3½ pounds of pork loin for sammiches.
Worth the effort although the appliance is a PITA to clean afterward.
catclub
Which is the opposite of saying it in 18th century England. “Good Day to you, Sir. I say Good Day”
geg6
So sad. I dove and swam with manatees in the Indian River on the east coast way back in the 80s. It’s probably the same situation there now.
Stevo
50’s-60’s with lows above freezing is perfect weather. We literally wait for that all year in new england.
banditqueen
Thank you for another lovely, evocative post. FL is such a strange mix of beauty and not-good stuff. I so want to see a manatee someday, and for some reason the images, your story, the sign ‘pleading’ for idle speed made me think of the song Belong by REM.
Betty Cracker
@SamInWa: Whoa. So true.
Betty Cracker
@banditqueen: Great song!
Ruckus
@Tim C.:
I’ve had the good fortune to travel a lot in my lifetime and found that most humans are rather decent if you don’t treat them like crap. I’ve traveled to above the Arctic Circle, 49 states, been to Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, UK, Spain, Portugal, Greece, France, Italy, Antarctica, Egypt, The Azores, New Zealand.
Not necessarily in that order or even in the same decade.
Human beings have different cultures in different parts of the world, but they are human beings. Some not worth the oxygen they breathe, and that is in every corner, but they are human. Some better, but they are all still human. Most of us work hard to be actual humans and not some deranged derelict, or worse. Some are better, some are worse at life.
Ruckus
@BellaPea:
There are bad drivers everywhere and in every country. There are bad people everywhere and in every country. Some are bad because they were raised as a second or third thought. Some are bad because they want it all and have zero to justify even a box of saltines. Some people should not be allowed to operate machinery. Of any kind, shape or form. I think it’s because they seem to always think they instinctively know how to whatever it is. And while there are humans that learn things at the snap of the hand, and learn well, they are rather rare. Most of us need at least a bit of time to learn how to do stuff harder than where to leave your human exhaust (yes some have yet to learn this), not to steal, (once again…) not to harm or kill, (and yes, once again) and on and on. The modern world requires a touch more skill to successfully make it through the day, or at least a different set of skills than over 100 or so years ago. And of course we now have more chemicals to make life a bit more serene but they sometimes make trying to be better impossible. And then there are those that don’t want to be better. I say they just don’t give two shits about anyone else. IOW, life as it’s always been.
way2blue
As a native of the SF Bay Area, I can sympathize with your shock & disappointment at your favorite spot being overrun and overused. I was in Mill Valley recently for a friend’s wedding celebration. Hadn’t been there in twenty years. Yikes. The overbuilding and car traffic in this lovely village with its narrow roads winding through the redwoods. Very sad. Kinda killing the goose who laid the golden eggs…
NotoriousJRT
@lou: I think kids have tough times with culture-shocky relocations. I grew up up in Maine and got earfuls about the state’s lack of “taco factories” from kids in a family that came from California. Our yankee manners of speaking were roundly derided by parents and then parroted by the kids. One day, fed up, I growled, “Around here, YOU’RE the one with the accent.” Mischief managed.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: that is so sick. It’s difficult to catch my breath
SteveinPHX
BC-
Brings back fond memories of Hopkins Prairie over east of you from 50 years ago. Had to practically break trail to get back into the area. You could spend days in there & never see anybody. It was over in the middle of the state just west of Lake George.
Last time I was there, the State of Florida had graded a road, put in camp sites, traffic signs, etc. But it was sure beautiful back then.
Rugosa
@Old School: When I still had a car, I noticed a lot of SUVs and pickups badly parked in the Home Depot lot. I figure two reasons: they can’t see the terrain that well, and they’re not skillful at handling the big machine. Well, three, because IGMFY.
Nancy
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Great idea.
leeleeFL
@zhena gogolia: As a former, and hopefully future, NYC person, may I say that most New Yorkers are extremely nice and always have been. The rep earned for us by assholes was not really fair. I would move back in a heartbeat if I could afford it, and if I could still find a job at my age!
Whomever
The worst are jet skis. Every sailor would like to shoot them on sight…