The busy lives of the Idle Rich in old-time Phoenix


I've always had a fascination with rich people, and I'm pretty sure that most people do. I remember a TV show called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", which left an impression on me, and I wondered what those people were like IRL (In Real Life). I've met a few of these people, and after pondering it, I've come to the conclusion that they're just like anyone else I've ever met, either relaxed and easy-going, or nervous and anxious, and either busy, or not.

Speaking for myself, I've been lucky. I never wanted to be poor, and I never wanted to be rich, and I got my wish. I know that I fall into that middle area that understands what it's like to panic about being able to pay the rent, and I also have experienced the opposite, which was best summed up by a song which said, "Too much time on my hands."

In my twenties, I got to see how people who had to work all of the time lived. I had a neighbor in Santa Barbara who lived in what I called a "World of Total Work". He had a nine-to-five job, at the local community college doing landscaping, and at night he did night watchman jobs at various places around the area. He slept in his truck. I have no idea how long he had been doing that before I met him, and for how long afterwards he did that, but it was an important lesson to me that I didn't want to do nothing but go to work, sleep, go to work, sleep, etc., etc. So I turned to the Idle Rich to see what they did. Many of those people tended to go to a lot of parties, stay up late, drink a lot, and socialize, but that never interested me. I'm a morning person, and I chose golf.

Let's time-travel back to old-time Phoenix, and spend some time at the Ingleside Inn. It's 1913, and I'm staying there for the season. That is, I'll be there in the winter, and then I'll probably wander over to Monte Carlo, or somewhere. I really don't know, I'll think of that later. It's a beautiful January morning, and I'm heading over the links. I will see you there!

Good morning! Would you like to walk along with me! A golf cart? No, this is 1913, we walk. No, of course I don't carry my clubs, that's what the caddies do. Ah, and here he is now! By the way, you don't look very good this morning, did you go to one of the bottle parties? Yes, I understand, social obligation, noblesse oblige you might say. No, I wasn't invited. Old Buffy is still offended about my comment about the tyres on his Rolls-Kinardly. I'll probably see him in Cannes, and probably by then he'll be over it.

Caddie! What do you recommend here? A mashie-niblick? I'll take a full swing here, watch me tear the gutta-percha of the ball, and hit it all of the way to the Camel Back Mountain!

A good round! I'm going to write down 72. Yes, it's my usual game. Would you care to join me in a cocktail? Funny! Yes, of course there'll be room enough in it for both of us. Gin-and-tonic? Then what say we toddle over to Buffy's place for more restoratives?

You can still play this course, it's now called the Arizona Country Club. Members only.

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