One of the things you notice about American stores is that is that there is a ton of clothes available for fat people. While another blogger might refer to this as a sad state of affairs or a sign of American decadence run amok, I have another word for it -- convenient. You see, I too am a member of the great rotund diaspora and being able to walk into a clothing store and see clothes (ones without floral patterns no less!) in my size is a real plus (so to speak).
I picked up several pieces of attire, summer clothes mostly as I packed as a Canadian coming from a Canada that is still just thawing, and I was able to have my pick of the shorts, button ups, and Ts the stores had to offer. One oddity though: the Champs sporting goods had numerous shirts up to the 5XL size, but their pants selection only went up to 38. I wondered what strange creatures these must be... does Champs select product based on the Tweedledee body type?
After my short shopping extravaganza I headed over to Duval St, the tourist corridoor of Key West. It had the usual assortment of tourist shops (as in too many stores selling fart related t-shirts) with a couple of upscale stores, dozens of restaurants, and whatever few strip clubs managed to make it through the last purge of the inexorable march of family-friendly tourism. A couple of historical treats, like Ernest Hemingway's old house (complete with cat-descendants!) and a really not-that-bad-at-all pirate museum find themselves dotted around the area.
The big treat of the area comes at Mallory Park at dusk (or a couple of hours before then) when the park becomes a playground for dozens of street theatre performers. The first one I saw was this guy:
I picked up several pieces of attire, summer clothes mostly as I packed as a Canadian coming from a Canada that is still just thawing, and I was able to have my pick of the shorts, button ups, and Ts the stores had to offer. One oddity though: the Champs sporting goods had numerous shirts up to the 5XL size, but their pants selection only went up to 38. I wondered what strange creatures these must be... does Champs select product based on the Tweedledee body type?
After my short shopping extravaganza I headed over to Duval St, the tourist corridoor of Key West. It had the usual assortment of tourist shops (as in too many stores selling fart related t-shirts) with a couple of upscale stores, dozens of restaurants, and whatever few strip clubs managed to make it through the last purge of the inexorable march of family-friendly tourism. A couple of historical treats, like Ernest Hemingway's old house (complete with cat-descendants!) and a really not-that-bad-at-all pirate museum find themselves dotted around the area.
The big treat of the area comes at Mallory Park at dusk (or a couple of hours before then) when the park becomes a playground for dozens of street theatre performers. The first one I saw was this guy:
He was pretty good, and he ended with him juggling torches and machetes on top of the unicycle. I was pretty impressed until I noticed at least half of the acts involved being on something tall and juggling torches and machetes. They even used the same jokes (I called this one Great Balls of Fire -- until I got it right!). I did tip the people I watched, as I do support the arts, even the street kind. The crowds got thinner as the time wore on, and each performer only did his or her act once. The similarity of some of the acts must have seriously cut into their tips. That first guy made bank though.
More to come tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the sunset.
great sunset!
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