A keen observer with a curious and analytical mind, Fernandina Beach resident Pat Keogh, an 81-year-old New York City native, still views life through a Bronx lens and an acerbic wit.
Pat grew up dependent on public transportation.
He sold beer at Yankee Stadium to pay for tuition and books at what was then Manhattan College. He relied on trains, busses, and the subway for transportation. His Irish immigrant parents never owned a car and neither did Pat until he was 22-years-old and living in Washington D.C. where he worked during the day and attended Georgetown University law school at night.
He didn’t buy his first car. It was a gift from his then in-laws to their daughter, who they felt was being deprived by not having one.
Pat considers driving a waste of time that can be devoted to other things like reading, writing, or talking to fellow public transit passengers.
About two weeks ago, instead of flying or driving to Miami to visit his grandson for his 22nd birthday celebration Pat hopped on an Amtrak train in Jacksonville for the seven hour 400-mile trip.
Once back in Fernandina he summed up his trip observing: “When you visit south Florida and travel around on public transit and Lyft how can you possibly believe in DEI? Everyone is from somewhere else, and they are all hustling and playing the game by the rules. I was one of the few white supremacists and everyone was nice to me. Tough to find a victim when everyone is glad to be here. Had the grand’s birthday party in a Cuban joint. Great people. Only regret is I did not ask the folks to sing Happy Birthday in Spanish. This is a great country despite all the lefty efforts.”
He appears to have genuinely enjoyed the trip.. “ I boarded the train at the Amtrak station in Jax and got off in Deerfield Beach,” he said. “There was free parking at the train station in Jax.” 
“You really have to work at it to believe there is basic conflict among the American people,” he concluded.
“Depending on your destination the station guy sits you at your designated spot on the platform. On the return trip In Deerfield,” he said, “they sat me next to an older (80) lady of complexion. The station attendant who is black did the introductions; ‘Barbara this is Patrick’.”
“Her Parents were from Jamaica, and she was raised in Brooklyn,” she told Pat. “She retired from the phone company and was just back from her second home in Jamaica and was heading to Jax to visit a brother. She’s survived two husbands and doing pretty well. Barbara and I were able to suppress our mutual hatred just long enough to shoot the breeze about growing up in NYC,” he said , of his new acquaintance, tongue planted firmly in his cheek.
Pat and I reminisced about the days when fellow passengers on buses and trains would strain their necks to read the paper over your shoulder, and how we found it annoying, even though we couldn’t explain exactly why.
Pat is quirky about paying for newspapers and puts an entirely new blush on the term “frugality.”
“I always marvel when walking through airports now how few if any people are reading a newspaper,” he observed. “I used to be able to fish newspapers out of the trash cans. You can’t find a newspaper in a trash can nowadays. I have to buy them. What’s this country coming to?”
Pat who frequently writes a column on various topics for the Yulee News discussed ways he thinks local papers can increase circulation: “There either has to be a way to drive folks back to print papers or find ways to enhance their ‘on line experience’ and create circulation.”
“Back in the day when the children were high school athletic stars we used to buy lots of local papers to send to relatives. We would simply send the e-version today, I imagine.
“I use coupons. Seems that’s a good way to generate traffic. The other might be to give local students a column. How about a column for the local writers groups or club reports? Then there’s the libraries, new issues and book reviews. Librarians are all closet writers.”
Pat notes that Austin Texas, where he has another home near two other grown children, has “a great public transit system all on a phone. The grands got good at it and liberated their parents from driving them. But when they tried to convince their buddies they were told ‘the bus is for maids and laborers.’ Can you imagine?”
“By the way, no security check on Amtrak,” he said. “I could have brought a bazooka on board. What’s with that? A cabin makes more sense for two on a long day trip. I’ve rented sleepers for the over-night to DC. Meals, your own john, and towels come with it. Then out in the coach there are lots of my people, i.e. the blue collars and the complexioned. I like mixing it up but for seven hours you might need to get stuff done.”
Pat, who had and still has extensive real estate holdings in Fernandina including restaurants, and successfully sued the City of Fernandina over its extortion-style impact fees, is the author of several books on personal finances. These include Make Your Family Rich; Why to Replace Retirement Planning With Succession Planning”, “Live the FINER Life; Financial Independence Never Ever Retire” and the teen version, “Hey Kid!, Wanna Own Great American Businesses?”
All are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble & www.makeyourfamilyrich.com
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A Side Of Pretentiousness: Lois Chappell Winkler, a name that resembles a church bake sale item, served a dog’s breakfast in her April “Amelia Islander” restaurant review headlined “Art Culinarian.”
One dish described by Ms. Winkler would have traditional diners fleeing the place in terror such as the “Carpaccio of Squash with Burrata, which came alive….” Eat or be eaten is that selection’s motto.
Continuing her description of the meal prepared in the home of a local chef, she outdid former U.S. VP Kamala Harris in the word salad department, asking readers to choke down the following literary gobbledygook: “We had discussed out pescatarian preferences,” she wrote prior to being served the plated meal that resurrected itself.
She continued adding: “….Balsamic pearls, known as balsamic caviar and filled with concentrated balsamic flavor and a dot of Vanilla Crunch.” She later described the balsamic pearls as “exciting.” What? How could they be more exciting than the previous course “coming alive?”
Oh well, moving right along. The one serving that made sense was scallops, which Ms. Winkler said “….were salty-crispy outside and tender inside. I assume doing it the other way round requires much greater effort.
“Finally,” she concluded, “ we enjoyed Grilled Octopus with Chimichurri and Butternut, and with the crispy end of the tentacle was delicate tuile, which might have been a lacy slice of edible coral.”
Wait? You can eat coral? Really? I did about a minute’s worth of research and learned that folks shouldn’t eat coral for a couple of reasons. One, it can cause digestive and dental issues, and two it’s harmful to the maritime environment to harvest it. And, I’m assuming, it tastes like a fish lollipop and has the texture of a conch shell.
I anxiously await the next serving of Ms. Winkler’s literary eintoph.
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Things I Wish I’d Said: “If a word in the dictionary was misspelled, how would we know?’ – Stephen Wright.
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Oops: Do the the leftist loons vandalizing and burning Tesla automobiles know they are destroying each other’s cars?
Most of these automobiles are owned by folks on the left obsessed with the climate change scam. There’s probably not one conservative among these pyromaniacal vandals or the damaged and charred car owners.
It’s ironic that most folks buying a Tesla do so to reduce their carbon footprint. But burning one creates a larger carbon foot print than driving a fleet of gasoline powered cars.
As long as no one is hurt during these illegal acts of arson and vandalism let’s sit back and enjoy it as these morons turn their psychosis on each other.
When it comes to tariffs, President Trump is a creature of habit.
He first rolls out new levies with bluster. He claims they will solve a major problem: They’ll help stop fentanyl trafficking across the Mexican and Canadian borders. They’ll bring back manufacturing. They’ll rebalance trade. They’ll collect trillions in revenue.
Soon, the markets panic. Investors worry about the higher prices and lower economic growth that tariffs will cause. Stocks tank. Business leaders call the White House to complain — or, worse, vent publicly about Trump and his methods.
Then, the president rolls back his plans. From the start, the president has faced one key question about his plan: What’s the point?
Dave,
I enjoyed hearing of your friend Pat’s AMTRAK adventure from Jax to Miami. One question, however. Once in Deerfield, how did he cover the approximately 43 miles remaining distance to Miami? Deerfield Beach is adjacent to Boca Raton, and a lovely stretch of wealthy South Florida, but Miami is still a ways to go. Does the same train continue on to Miami? Inquiring minds want to know!
Yes.
Dave, I recall when a largish section of the Miami Metrorail was finally finished. It was an impressive flash of gleaming white metal (as I remember it) always unencumbered by passengers: I never saw a single silhouette in any of its pristine windows. Perhaps it still, decades later, makes its rounds in the same ghostly state, perhaps not. But that may be why the Jacksonville southbound train extends to Deerfield and no farther.
I started taking the train from Jax to Orlando to then Uber to Sanford when flying on Allegiant. I love it and agree with not driving. How I would’ve loved riding a train to my job at Baptist Jax from the island of we had such a thing. Imagine reading, relaxing or chating with others instead of fighting traffic on crazy I95. Great article, Dave!!
Dear Mr Scott,
I’m also from the Bronx and often dumpster dive for used papers. I would very much like to meet this Pat guy. He sounds like my kind of guy. I’ll bet he’s a fun time on Friday nights. I hope he likes cheap red wine. Could you set up a meeting for us to meet. You have my email and private information.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Dave:
The beautiful people at the Nassau library system will now loan you a mobile wifi gadget. Great on train trips. Wanna make friends? Give your fellow passengers the password. Nothing like being the train car’s hot shot (spot?)
“I always marvel when walking through airports now how few if any people are reading a newspaper,” he observed. “I used to be able to fish newspapers out of the trash cans. You can’t find a newspaper in a trash can nowadays. I have to buy them. ..”
Guys, the same can be said for cigarettes. What’s this country coming to?
Dave, why so nasty every time you set your eyes on someone? It’s no wonder you are such a big fan of Trump and the MAGA movement. Such a nasty, nasty, nasty person you are. Not sure what your problem with Ms. Winkler is, but your criticism of everything about her from her given name to her writing style and food choices sounds more like the work of an angry adolescent than that of a true man. Besides, who the heck are you to point fingers when you consider mullet a culinary delight?
Thankfully, my liberal education and WOKE thinking has resulting in my having the wherewithal to fly private thus making the question of how I would react to finding myself on an Amtrak train with Mr. Keogh or his likes.