Naples before the Rain.

Hi folks,

Well Thursday morning started off well before the drive across Alligator Alley from the west to the east coast of Florida. We stayed at the Comfort Suites and set off to explore Naples which to be honest is an up market town by the sea with lots of well to do people living there and it shows.

We arrived up a small street to look at the beach but in true American style it was made difficult to access it but we did.

We parked up and went to have a look, the beach had lovely sand and was squeaky clean to walk on.

Looking back from the beach you can see the parking bays at 25 cents for 10 minutes that made the point that tourists were not wanted.

The houses were large and well presented with lovely well kept lawns and flowers in their driveways.

Well what a post box to keep up with the neighbours, love the dog at the bottom.

Well what a front yard and this was not a big property by any means.

Down the road was another "private" beach, we had access but not easy to park anywhere. note no ordinary sun shades.

Even the boats had sun shades. Everything is untouched and security is high, in the normal run of things in the UK this would all have disappeared over night.

Idyllic scene on the beach but it was not for us as we lefted the upper class to get on with it.

This is one of the things about the states, the poor are destitute and you are frequently asked for money and you must always refuse.  The middle class just get by and the rich just get richer.  Speaking to a lady at the kite festival who had just come back from New Orleans she said that out in the suburbs people were still living in shacks with holes in roofs 18 months after the levies broke.

All in all we don't have it too bad at home, we spoke to a nice young lady in a bar and she earned $2 an hour, about £1.50 to us and relies on tips to make up the difference.

America has wonderful assets but I am sure they don't realize what a wonderful country they have.

As they say, "all sorts make a world"

Thanks for looking, hopefully the rain will stop tomorrow and we can finish our wonderful trip.

PS. just for Trev another one of those trees in a different location.

nite, nite, Luv Mike and Sue. XXX