It´s Okay
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3/24/2008
Tampa is a huge sprawling city with six lane highways everywhere. I lived in a cheap studio there for years and there was a lot of noise from car radio music. Like everywhere else, you must have a lot of money to live in the good places in the Tampa metro area, such as Clearwater beach. Of course, it is especially hot in the afternoons there and it´s best to stay inside. The humidity lasts from June until October. Winter and spring are the best times to be there. There are some good bike trails in some of the parks there. I enjoyed walking in the parks in Florida and Tampa. The police can be heavy handed there and I was stopped three times to check my driver´s license without any reasonable suspicion. I lived there from 2000 to 2007. I´m a loner most of the time, so I´m not an expert on the social life there. The races don´t necessarily get along there all the time, so be prepared for that. When I went to the grocery store, I felt like I was in Babylon. There are lot of people thrown together there from all over the world with nothing in common except their humanity. Tampa does have some good natural health food stores which are less crowded. Don´t move to Tampa if you are looking for more homogeneous communities. The beaches are good and I liked Clearwater beach and Brandenton Beach the best. Don´t leave anything valuable in your car at night. Get a steering wheel lock for your car. My car was broken into 3 times while I was there. The traffic is terrible there because millions of people live and drive in Florida and millions more will just keep on coming. The cheapest housing is around New Port Richey and Spring Hill, but they are far away from the Tampa metro where all the work is. There is an old grand movie theatre called Tampa theatre which shows arty films with left wing political messages. It´s fun to go there sometimes. There´s Ybor city which is where all the young folks go to get drunk and stoned. Watch it down there if you are alone. Your fellow human beings can be dangerous. There´s a goth bar in Ybor which is fun to go to if you in the mood to see some freaks and ogle the goth girls. I enjoyed walking the Hillsborough river levee in the evening and at night. They don´t seem to have any restrictive hours there. I would live in Bradenton, if I could do it all over again. Housing is fairly reasonable, but then again not many make much money in Tampa to afford a good place to live. And oh yeah, did I mention that it´s overcrowded there? It´s not a walking city either, so be prepared to join the masses on the highway. The food is generally good there. I like the cheaper restuarants such as Ryan´s, Golden Corral, Steak and Shake, and Sweet Tomato´s has a great salad bar. Nature´s patch in Clearwater is a good health food store and Wild Oats in Tampa is there but it´s pricey. The people are neither overly cozy or hostile there.
sp68 | Cherryville, NC