This is the second week back in Sarasota and the Oracle has not practiced what he preached. The necessaries of life seem to have be lurking in wait for me to "come home" and have pig-piled me and blocked my view of the beach. It was my intention to bring with me the "ISLAND" zeitgeist from Nantucket and to live on the island of Siesta Key in the same way. As Robert Burns would say " The best laid plans of mice and men aft gang agley." It is as if I never spent the last 4 months walking all over, riding a bike, and being in the sun. The deferred maintenance of ourselves and our precious possessions (Do I own them or do they own me?) seems to have jumped to the head of the line ahead of strolling down Crescent Beach or even sitting outside on the Deck. The Kitty had to have a little ophthalmological work done. Mike and Grace spent the weekend. And I put everything back where it came from after unloading the SUV on its return from ACK.
The Kitty drives a 2008 Mercedes E-class, one of the few cars we have leased rather than bought. It is traditional looking, runs great, and is very roomy inside. We leased it because a new model was coming out and we did not want to have the old one depreciate excessively because of the radical change. We saw the new model and drove it...twice. Let me just say this to MERCEDES...."What are you guys smoking?" In the interest of style and modern design, they lowered the roof line, raised the door sill height and caused the side windows to be 2/3 the area of our existing car ( can you say claustrophobia?) and the windshield to be raked backwards so much that from the front seat, it's like driving a Corvette. On top of that, they narrowed the seat back so it squeezes my ribs. We also drove the C-class. The interior room is almost the same. The exterior design is less rocket ship and more sports car, and the price is 2/3 of the E-class. Even though this is a smaller and cheaper car, the seat back is more comfortable. My advice to Mercedes... Fire the interior designer who is in charge of your new cars and hire an engineer.
Anyway, this is not a case of "BOO HOO. My Mercedes is dirty." We had trusted the company not to screw up their flagship car. I tried to explain to the dealer why I was not going to be writing a check to them this week but he did his best Deer in the Headlights imitation and clearly, he did not get it. Maybe it's because his stature was closer to the Kitty's 5'2", 100 pounds soaking wet than to mine, and his ass could go places mine feared to tread.... that is to say, he fit in the seat and could see out the front window.
So, we own the GLK 350 SUV and it is great. Excellent visibility, safety, style, and the seats are ginormous. It was big enough to carry the Kitty's shoes and clothes to Nantucket and back. That's pretty big. Why do I digress into the car thing again? This probably goes back to that old rite of passage where ones "wheels" take on great symbolic importance in setting the mood or transporting a person to a special place. The house we live in and the cars we are entombed in with the windows up and the A/C on have insulated us from the world outside. Today is Tuesday and I am going to the beach, even if it is only a one hour walk. Now if only Demetrio's sold lobster rolls.
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