So you see, yesterday I went to lunch at Cafe Luna in Naples, a rut I haven't been able to dig myself out of over the past few weeks. I sit at the bar since I generally eat alone and if business is slow, or there is plenty of help, owner Ed and I chat about politics, earthquakes, his love life (he has a nice new girlfriend), real estate, the restaurant business, our mutual landlord, current events, the economy, whatever.
Well yesterday I saw him along 5th Avenue in a restaurant called Trilogy with two gentlemen. Apparently they were also restaurant owners. (So restaurant owners of a feather do indeed flock together.) According to Ed after leaving Trilogy they went to eat at a new restaurant by the name of Olio located in the Naples Bay Resort. (By the way, I patronize Olio when I can because it's brand new and I want to see them do well. Classy joint, but not unreasonably priced and they are open for breakfast.)
But anyway to finish this story ... Ed said that when it came time for the bill, one of the gentlemen asked the waitress to pick a number between one 16. She said seven. Then he asked the other two guys with him to take out their credit cards and count over seven on the numbers. Whoever had the highest number would pay the entire bill. So I'm guessing there was some anticipation going, maybe some slight heart-pounding. Ed got a 1. The other diner was also a 1. The guy with the idea scored a 9. Hmmm. Maybe that game should be initiated by people who have a majority of low numbers on their cards. Too funny.
That reminded Ed of the time there was a group of guys in his restaurant who had racked up a bill of $600. They all put their credit cards into a hat and asked the server to pick one. That person paid the entire bill. Yikes! That was a chunk-a-change.
Geez I didn't even know people played such credit card games. Kinda reminds me of those drinking games in college. Heck the only game I've ever played with my credit card is holding my breath and squinting my eyes tight to see if a receipt of some sort pops up after my card is swiped. Actually, as of late, handing my credit card over HAS been a bit stressful for me as a business owner since I rarely carry cash to save myself in a situation of such embarrassment. That must be why I patronize places where the people know me. I can always run back later with cash or pay next time. That's a cool thing about Naples once you hang here. It does have that small town thing going where we tend to trust one another.
Speaking of which, now that I look at the credit card I currently use, AMEX, I realize there are only 15 NUMBERS on it. Hmmm. So now I'm thinking that first game might not be so bad after all. I could always pick number 16! Alrighty then. I'm all set. Anyone ready to go to dinner with me?
The weather today in Naples as I look out the door of my 5th Avenue Downing-Frye office is a bit overcast and muggy. (I think I'm going to have to see where "muggy" as a weather-phrase came from. It is because the heat mugs you, as in stifles you? Never had that question come to mind before. After this post I'll look it up. ) But it still is a beautiful day.
And speaking of weather, I see that today the "weather" powers that be are going to predict how our hurricane season will be. The last two years they predicted horrendous hurricanes and we barely got a windstorm.
That was especially frustrating on the heels of Hurricane Wilma. Her arrival on October 19th of 2005 prompted a painful downturn in our market when people didn't arrive to buy places during the 2005-2006 season because of the media attention. They were just SURE Naples had been blown off the face of the map. I remember seeing reporters (and I understand their job because I was a reporter) standing in front of destroyed homes showing the devastation and thinking "Oh my gosh, Naples was destroyed around me, but where?" Then I realized these were a few trailer homes in East Naples. Of course we also some tiles lost here and there, and we discovered which structures had design flaws, but overall, no major devastation. Not even minor devastation. But then I saw water over cars and I was really crazed. Water over cars? Omigosh! My car's not underwater and I live on a canal? Where then? Let's see. That would be the underground parking garage in the 3rd Street South area of Olde Naples within two three blocks of the beach (under one of my other two Downing-Frye offices). Underground doesn't do well in Florida. That's why we don't have basements ... duhhh...
Actually the big pain was utilities being out for several days, but again I'm guessing because of our water table utilities are a bit tricky underground.
But in any case, people didn't come and we had extra inventory that season. Then came the downturn in the economy and the bad press in MONEY magazine and other magazines regarding appreciation which ultimately led to that nearly 3 year extreme pendulum swing the opposite direction and our 50% downfall in prices.
Now that we are getting busy again and people are like kids in a candy store snapping up the bargains, we don't need any prognostication to impede our forward progress. So hurricane predictors please, please, please give us a break.
At least now I think people realize that even a major category hurricane doesn't mean the end of Naples. Last time we were back in business in a week or so. Since we hadn't had a hurricane prior to that in 45 years, I think we've overcome the "fear of the unknown" aspect. We know now (for the most part) what will happen if a hurricane hits Naples. And we are even better prepared than last time in the case of such an occurrence. For one thing, we don't have our beautiful banyans along Crayton to worry about any more since they took off with Wilma. Now that was a Naples tragedy.
Well gotta get to work again. Drat that work thing. So until tomorrow... when my new post will, among other things, discuss the sudden relationship of God to real estate. Has God taken a second job? Tune back in to see what the heck I'm talking about!
