March 14th, 2010
Open Question: Why do people from the British Isles move to Florida?
I live in Florida. The Tampa Bay area. I am also an artist. I create surreal or fantasy landscapes in which I use a lot of photos of places like the British Isles and elsewhere in my work. Why? I like the hilly fairytale landscapes with the topiary gardens, ruins and hedgerows, etc. I would love to live in the British Isles and walk among those places.
I realize that it gets cold and it is frequently cloudy there. I like a cloudy day now and then but too many can be depressing. Here in Florida, it is sunny most of the time. It is also hot and humid most of the time. We need to have the air conditioning on at least eight months each year.
What I mainly dislike about Florida is the terrain. It is flat and modern housing developments are everywhere.There are no mountains at all and very few hills or valleys. To me, this gives one a sense of perspective when you are up on a hill looking over the landscape. Here in florida, out in the country (what’s left of it) it is just flat palmetto scrub and thin pine trees in the interior. The beaches at sunset are nice when they aren’t too crowded but otherwise you cannot walk anywhere. If you approach a field or lake that hasn’t been developed yet, you aren’t allowed to get too close because they are always fenced off with ‘no tress-passing ‘ signs everywhere.
Yet I meet people from England or Ireland who have moved here and it baffles me. Do you realize how truly beautiful your countries are?
