Florida Panhandle

[Oraisteach]

Anyone live or have lived in the Florida Panhandle, around Tallahassee?  Apart from hot and humid, what's it like there?

May be making a move there.

If I do, I might see if I can check out some hanging chads.

[Oraisteach]

Funny, TYP.  Actually I am hanging up my teaching boots.  My wife most likely will be transferring there.

Gated community?  I'll take any community that doesn't suggest "Deliverance."

[JBM on the 21]

Lived in South Florida for a few years - Talahassee is a big college town (Florida Sate or University of Florida - not sure which is there) College towns in the US tend to be very lively spots (most of the residents tend to either be students or employees of the college and they tend to make up the majority of the population to begin with which leads to a very progressive  atmosphere.
Plus it is the State Capital (of Florida) so that adds another dimension to it. You will enjoy it.

[Bud Wiser]

I used to go there every year to a company I dealt with down in Lakeland. They seem to think that Clearwater is the b all and end all of the panhandle.  I didn't like the place that much, noise of them rockets and all that not to mention those 'Gators.  You won't need a gated community, the cops there are first class, I remember one night a fella from Cork committed a small transgression and I was driving and they followed us in unmarked Pick-Up Trucks with big roll bars and about ten spotlights on top and dragged us out of the car and nearly shot the poor foooker from Cork.

I found the ordinary everyday Floradarian to be OK once you weren't black. I was there the year of the OJ Simpson trial and in every pub they were gathered around televisions shouting and roaring on the prosecution and wanting OJ to fry as if they were some southern football teams animal supporters.  As a teacher you may run into a few problems as well, like when I asked a whizz kid in the Butchers Shop restaurant in Orlando where I could get fags.  Another day I was in Tampa and I wanted to see how friendly the people were so I burried the two hands in the trousers pockets and went along the footpath, sorry, sidewalk saying "Howya" to everybody and they just looked at me as if I was some f'n martian after getting a free ride on a shuttle return flight as a stowaway.

Other than those few little observations I suppose it could be a grand place for anyone to live, at least its not everywhere you can drive your car onto a beach and fill it up with diesel.

[FL/MAYO]

Live in South Florida as well, JBM is correct in his analysis of Tallahassee its a big college football town (Florida State) and thats what they live for each year. Florida itself is a great spot during the winter but the summers are brutal unless you love heat and humidity. The panhandle would be a very conservative area along the lines of the deep south, Florida is probably the only state in the south where the further south you go the more liberal it becomes. When I retire I am getting the feck out of here as the summers are a killer. Good luck with the move.