New England is a land of both change and of constants. Take the weather, for example. A few weeks ago, the entire six state region was sweltering under intense heat, with humidity so thick that one might have been tempted to cut a cubic foot of air with the kitchen scissors. I think you could have actually done it. Today, (that would be Monday, September 4th.) it is sunny and brisk, with a stiff east wind from the ocean. Yesterday, it was rainy and raw, what some of us locals call ‘a clam chowder day’, which is to say it’s a great day for a cup of the tasty, body-warming, New England concoction. This is the first reminder that like all summers before it, this summer must come to its inevitable end. But, the weather forecasters are saying that more summer-like weather will return in the mid-week, so don’t pack up the O’Brien water skis just yet.
The ‘exodus’ from Cape Cod has already begun as I write this. This is the time when all the summer folks leave the cape for the season, closing down the cottages, (at least, I think there are a few left. They haven’t all been bulldozed and turned into trophy mansions.) packing up the various summer items, and heading back to the Boston suburbs, often making it just in time to get the kids ready for school tomorrow morning. (Kinda sucks, doesn’t it kids?) Folks who live on the cape year round have mixed feeling about this day. On one hand, they love to be free of all the congestion and traffic jams that plague the cape during the summer. On the other hand, it’s those tourist / yuppie dollars that make up most of the cape business. Talk about a tough call,,,
Of course, night comes much sooner now than it did a few weeks ago. On the last day of July, it was still daylight at 8:30 PM. Like most people, I always manage to convince myself that this will never end, but three weeks into August, I realize that no, sunset will do what it has always done after all. Now, the sun is setting at 7:30, with total darkness coming almost right after.
This is not such a bad thing though. I find twilight to be one of my favorite times of day, especially when I’m out riding.
Some things never change. Four years ago, I wrote about the Massachusetts Governor’s race, and how the antics of the various candidates reminded me so much of the Three Stooges. (‘The Three Stooges Run For Governor’) Well, the present selection of candidates for this year’s race is not much better. If asked today who I would vote for, I would draw a blank. The lone Republican candidate, and the selection of Democrats, (plus one independent) are saying the same things, and presenting themselves as ‘ordinary citizens, just like you’. So, this is something of a constant, I guess. Let’s see, cookie-cutter politicians, endless nepotism in state and local jobs, roadway construction projects that seem destined to go into infinity,,, Yep, some things never change.
I’ll take a guess that the weather staff at local TV stations have already had ‘the meetings’. These are the meetings where they decide which designer parka (with the station logo, for all to see) they’ll wear, when they make those ‘on the spot’ reports during the height of whatever snowstorms we get this winter. They’ve decided which news babes will draw the job of appearing on camera, in one of those parka’s, by the side of a highway. They’ve decided what this winter’s buzz words will be. Am I right with my guesswork? I’d love to know who are the marketing consultants are for the tv weather people.
The summer ends, school begins, sunset comes sooner than you want it to, making you say to yourself, ‘It’s over too soon’. And you’re right to say this, because it always is over way to soon.
Bruce B.
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