After Winter Storm Jonas paid us an intense, fierce visit, several of my New York friends decided to pack it in, retire, and relocate. Okay — if you can afford to retire, do it and enjoy the rest of your life. Now comes the great big decision: Where do you want to move? Stop to think about all those things you have now that you enjoy so much. Will they have those same things in your new city?
Here, in and around the Big Apple, there is baseball, hockey, football, and basketball. Hmm. Florida has all of that without the snow. New York has Broadway shows. So does Florida. There is a performing arts center in every major Florida city, and if you follow the schedules, you will note that Broadway hits’ first road companies make their way down south. The best restaurants? Every major chain is represented. Shopping? A mere mention of the word to any gal that ever visited Florida will bring a super-sized grin to her face.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of quality of life and healthcare for retirees. The study covered cost of living, quality of drinking water, crime, taxation, the number of cultural insitutions, and affordability. The Sunshine State came in first. Right now, residents of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando are marching around the breakfast table chanting, “We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1!”
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Many, many years ago — when I was just a little boy — my mother took me to the local super market… Stop! When I was a very young child, there were no supermarkets. There were grocery stores of all sizes, and in Brownsville, where I grew up, there was one grocery store located on almost every intersection.
We were there in a grocery store on Riverdale Avenue when she picked up a bottle of milk and asked me to select a breakfast cereal. I looked at the assortment, and I don’t think there were more than five or six. I remember Kix, Cheerios, Wheaties, Corn Flakes, and there was one that was, according to the commercial on radio, “shot from guns.” How the heck could they ever make a cereal by shooting it out of a gun? I don’t know, but I do know that one could find the answers to almost everything by Googling a question.
Only folks older than me could possibly remember Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice. I vaguely remember the ice box, air raids, the rumble seat, running boards, and five breakfast cereals. This morning, I wandered down an entire aisle of breakfast cereals and, not including the various sizes, I counted 161 different brands of cold breakfast cereals. Wow. Picture a youngster today having to make a decision of which brand he wants to eat. More important (to the mommies) which brand that is the healthiest?
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Which takes precedent, political friends with influence or the rule of law? Ask that at your next cocktail party and throw Hillary Clinton and her e-mails into the mix. You’ll have a discussion that will last all night.
This is the most interesting and exciting presidential race — for Republicans and Democrats — that I have ever seen in my entire life. Do you think the Federal Bureau of Investigation should tie up the Clinton e-mails once and for all, despite the White House’s interference? I am StanG
