Missing More of Miami.

Miamians like designer dogs, great thoroughbred hounds , or little moustachio'ed things with hair-do's who live in handbags. They also like more exotic pets. There is the monitor lizard who sits in his owner's bike basket,his stubby legs on the handlebars, glaring with saurian splendour at passers-by, and flicking his purple tongue. There are the ones that got away. "White Ferret Lost. Reward" pasted to a wall. My favourites are the feral cats, bow-legged but unbowed, who lurk on the beaches and construction sites. What they think of the pampered pooches can only be imagined. As one dozes on the beach shadows pass over one's torpid body, and only by the sound can one tell if it is a 'plane overhead, or a pelican.

For a landscape artist, Miami has little to offer. There is only so much one can do with huge skies, indigo seas and palm trees. The only challenge left is to paint them worse than anybody else. The artwork that really conveys the sense of South Florida is the Mojito.An Everglade of muddled mint,a balmy splash of rum, the citron sharpness of lime, and ice-cubes that reflect stacked clouds and tranquil waterways to perfection. Order two, and look at one while you drink the other.