Tybee Island, from the inside looking around

There are pros and cons to living on an island. As one might be able to ascertain from my profile, I live on the lovely Tybee Island, Georgia. The beaches are nice, the food is excellent, and the atmosphere (except on holiday weekends) really cannot be beat. I've never lived near the ocean and had only seen it a few times before we moved here. I am not water people. I've never owned a boat and have no raging desire to do so. When I lived in Dreary Erie I liked to go down to the pier when nobody else was around (typically around 3 AM since I worked nights) and I'd sit on a bench and play my acousic guitar or just listen to the waves lap. It is a calming noise, as any "nature sounds" alarm clock will attest.

I thoroughly enjoy riding my bike on the island. Quite a lot of the island is set up with 2 lanes going both directions and I often take one of these for myself. There are plenty of side streets to ride that have low speed limits and people that are more likely than not to wave or at least smile. I've not eaten a single bad meal yet on the island. I'm a big fan of food so this point is a weighted one. I've eaten meals in just about every price range and enjoyed them all (well, I'm not counting the Arby's on the island, I never did really care for them.) The bars are decent and the drinks are plenty stiff and cold. The bars get crowded on the weekends but I'm not one for galavanting on the weekends with the tourists anyway so that's not a really big problem with me. There is a quaint grocery store on the island that reminds me of an A&P from the late 70's that was in my home town. Their prices are reasonable for a small town grocery store (Tybee's population is only about 3,500) and there are even multiple liquor stores to choose from.

There are some things I do not like about "Island living" moreso than Tybee itself. First of all, anywhere you have oceanfront property you are going to have overpriced housing when they get a view of the ocean. Overpriced housing begs for millionaires, of which we have quite a lot. Probably percentage-wise we have far more than our share. Sure, I get to see the new cars on the island before I can see them on the showroom floor, and I see more classics than Jay Leno. I get to see Vespa scooters and more $5,000+ bikes than you can shake a stick at. I get to talk to people who spend their weekends in real island locations, like Jamaica and the virgin islands. But with all this comes the millionaires. If you've ever met a millionaire you know one thing about them. They are assholes. It doesn't matter if they are in their house, in a restaurant, or stuck in traffic -- They are an asshole. They're quite certain the world revolves around them and their money and they think their millionare clout and money can buy them anything (although getting them to part with any fraction of a percentage of that stash is like taking cookies from the cookie monster ... oh wait they already did that, bad analogy....) Anyway, ask any restaurant server or bartender. I'm sure they'll back me up. Sometimes I'll be having a conversation and there's one of these types in the vicinity and they'll seem interested until someone directly looks at them or engages them in the conversation. At that point they will create an air of aloofness with an expression that clearly states our conversation isn't worthy of their time or consideration, even if you know they have been interested and engaged in it from the onset.

I'm not rich people. I make a very good wage and am proud to earn it. But I drive an older car that is [gasp] a 3 cylinder-gas saving-economy over luxury- metro. That's right, I said metro. I guess I just don't fit in with Land Rover/BMW/Mercedes people.

All I can say is that at least it isn't Hilton Head Island.