I did the unusual last night. I went to Sloppy Joe’s. A rarity for me.

The place was packed. The music blaring and good.

I ate bad. Sloppy fries. French fries covered with ground beef, tomato sauce and melted cheese. To die for!

It was the end of an era. I noticed no one was smoking. No ash trays on the tables. Sloppy’s has permitted smoking for 85 some odd years. It is against Florida law for any establishment that sells food to permit smoking. Sloppy Joe’s got away with it for many years. The only Key West food serving establishment that has.

I attribute the freedom to the fact that Sloppy Joe’s was and is Key West history personified.

One wall has pictures of Ernest Hemingway. One big one. All I could think was that Hemingway was looking out and saying…..What the hell is going on!

The waitress told me no smoking was 3 weeks old. The law said stop!

My day was spent running errands. Walgreens, Home Depot and Publix. Stopped at Lisa’s afterwards. Wanted to see the new family member Jake. He has it made!

Lisa constantly mothers him. The grandkids love him. While I was there, he was outside in the back yard. Chasing 2 inch geckos. They were too fast for  him. But he kept up the pursuit!

I lunched at Blossoms. My whole day was spent eating not so healthy food. I enjoyed a Cuban cheese toast with tomato and a cup of Cuban coffee. The Cuban toast dripped with hot butter. So good! Bad food from a health perspective, however.

My first stop last night was the Chart Room. At first it was just me and Mary. Then they started coming in. Including Peter. Peter and I had our usual enjoyable conversation. We are two old guys. We were into medical problems last night like colonoscopies, prostrate problems and the like.

Bridget came in. New to me. I had never seen her before. Though she has been to Key West before. She is a tour guide. A special tour guide. She travels with groups of 30-40. High end type people. She and the group are staying at the Hyatt.

Bridget has an interesting job. She does not solely do Key West. She travels to all sorts of interesting places. Like London and Australia.

Bridget has an even more interesting background. As we all seem to do. She is originally off a 175 acre Maine farm. Then a farm in New Hampshire. Now a world travel guide.

I enjoyed Bridget’s company. I hope we run in to each other again.

Today is Tuesday. Tuesday is Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. Blog talk radio. Nine my time. One half hour of interesting chatter. Some call ins. Join me. I guarantee you will enjoy. Topics include all kind of current events and Syracuse basketball. Tomorrow night I hope to touch on the lack of truth in government as it relates to the deficit problem. You will be surprised at what I have to share with you. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

I have to hustle this morning. I have a doctor’s appointment at 8:30. The start of my annual physical. A two day venture.

Enjoy your day!