I saw this cartoon by Steve McGinn on Facebook yesterday. It made me laugh because it’s true and funny, but it reminded me of a guy who lives here in town. I wrote about him back in May.

There’s this guy who rides his bike around town naked. Or almost naked. For maybe 25 or 30 years, he has been riding from one end of the city to the next, all over Miami, in a flesh colored thong, so he appears naked and basically is. He’s about 65 now, so picture it. And no, I don’t have a picture. But if you ask anyone in Miami about the naked guy on the bike, they’ll know who you mean. And just recently I saw him all dressed up in a top hat and tails and learned that he is an undertaker and the top hat and tails are his work clothes! Such a juxtaposition.

I’m thinking of this cartoon because toward the beginning of the pandemic, last May, I was with a friend at a bar, which was closed, but had an open pick-up window for food pick-up, and my friend was talking to the naked guy who was the only person on the street with a mask! He wasn’t naked at the time, he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. But I found it funny that about 12 people where there and the only person wearing the mask was the usually naked guy – all covered up – on his face that is.

Today and for most of the year, they have been strict and everyone must wear a mask if not eating or drinking. I’ve been admonished more than once by the bar/restaurant staff when my mask slipped.

As for the naked guy, the gym won’t allow him in wearing a thong anymore, he has to have a shirt and shorts and whenever I see him at the bike shop in town he is in a t-shirt and shorts.

But just as the cartoon above says, “no one cares anymore,” I guess after 30 years of seeing this guy ride around all of Miami in a flesh-colored thong, no one cares anymore. But it was a funny thing to see him being the only one with a mask. I haven’t seen him riding his bike lately, but I wonder if in his thong he is actually wearing a mask while riding.