YOU MAY BE RIGHT, I MAY BE CRAZY

These lyrics from Billy Joel may well sum up the Oracle's reality testing or lack thereof. There was a time when I would buy a new car every six months (new to me not necessarily off the showroom floor) and had as many as 5 at a time. While I am no Jay Leno and most of them would be worth nothing on the collector market had I kept them, I had fun, most of the time. I can remember a few that I bought and got buyers remorse driving off the lot, but then there were some that I fondly remember. Not for the usual reasons of right of passage... the first speeding ticket, or the first real back-seat romance with Betsy Wilson, but because they were the external answer to an internal dream. Speed and agility sometimes, off road prowess another, or maybe Luxury and Bling.

At this point in my life, I crave simplicity. These 4 months in Nantucket have reinforced my belief that you don't have to be constantly entertained or surrounded by opulence to be happy. Sure, just being able to take off for 4 months is a luxury but beyond that, I have not walked as many miles in the past decade nor enjoyed it as much. Not becoming dehydrated on the way to the mailbox as I would have in Sarasota may have something to do with it but all the same I would not have walked an hour round trip for a sandwich back in Florida, as I did yesterday, even if there were a sandwich shop as good as Something Natural. I wrote about that place many times. Walking there is actually a sound idea because the parking is horrendous. The last time I was there in my car, I was one of 5 cars backing out simultaneously into the center of a circular parking lot. Think Mexican Standoff. It's way better now that the tourists have gone home. But I digress.

I have downloaded several pictures of the Jeep Wrangler 2-door from the internet and I photograph them on the road...and they are everywhere on Nantucket. It is like a white Toyota Camry would be in a parking lot in Sarasota. Despite the lack of individuality, it emotionally brings me back to those school yard days when all the kids would arrive on Raleigh English racer bikes with 3 speed Sturmey-Archer gears and wire saddle baskets filled with books. We would meet at the bike rack as we locked our bikes with a chain and the same model Master combination lock in chrome with a black face. 7 to the right, 23 left, 14 right...open. It's that kind of elemental simplicity. It is the antithesis of standing in front of the Casino in Monte Carlo, which I have done more than once, and watching the valets park one-of-a-kind exotic cars that cost an average of over $250, 000 and run into the millions.

So while the Kitty will continue to roll in style in a Mercedes-Benz, the next time you see the Oracle in Sarasota, he will probably be driving something like a Jeep Wrangler or a Mini Cooper...the ubiquitous Island cars here in Nantucket. You will be able to know it's mine as there will NOT be a surfboard on the top.