Goes vroom

The economy continues to go putt-putt-putt, but we have a little spurt of fuel here.

Some say it's other Floridians, coming here because it's close if not cheap. But in any event, the bed fillings were up in the last few months and Fantasy Fest is supposed to have been good at least on the dollar end.

For me, there's no better barometer than the number of rental scooters and bikes at the inns and cottages along the block. They tell me that the people flew in, used a cab, felt flush enough to rent a house, are going to restaurants and the grocery, and have enough left over to cover relatively costly temporary transport.

I'll take a hundred of these, staying for a long weekend, over a thousand cruise-ship passengers thumbing the goods in the T-shirt shops for a five-hour port call.