Miami used to be where I lived. After a year in Asia and the South Pacific, I decided to return and sample the Miami life again.
Grab a front seat at an Ocean Drive restaurant on Miami Beach, and get ready for the show. You'll find rich people trying to look like middle class; poor people trying to look like they're rich; tourists, well, just looking like tourists. And then there are the celebrities with their entourages and ubiquitous limousines. It all makes for an interesting mix of people.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RuPYKX8RMqw
Miami as well as Miami Beach, is a place essentially to show off. Look at my fancy car, have you seen my Presidential Rolex? "Travel economy? Oh no, we always go First Class to Europe". Anyway, where was I? Not doing any of the above. Throwing steaks on the BBQ at my friends house in South Miami and downing coladas of Cuban coffee, was more my style. When you leave a city for four years, the extensive construction in the Brickell downtown area really hits you in the face. All those vacant condominiums waiting to be occupied by a diminishing financial labor force. As more of them go into foreclosure, the ripple is felt throughout the area. Knocking back a Corona, I was smug in the fact that I felt none of this ripple.
Watch Plato the dancing dog. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VWVamTSWvcg
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IecMvUjbIO4