Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Labor Day and the Change of Season

Labor Day officially starts fall. It used to be that’s when all the vacations were done and all the kids were back in school. That’s changed over time. This year most Maryland and DC kids have been back in school for two weeks. Labor Day also marks the return to normal traffic.

During the summer (although I’m told by people this has changed over the past few years) traffic lightens up. After Labor Day, it returns to normal. Nothing brought this home to me one year when I was riding my bike. I would ride from my house down to National Airport and then on to my gym. Getting to the Mt. Vernon bike path in Virginia had been fairly easy in the summer. There are a couple of major roads into the city you have to get across once you’re on the other side of Memorial Bridge. I went for my usual ride the Tuesday after Labor Day and crossing those roads were anything but easy.

Then there is what I call the altering of the sense of time. This happens after Labor Day when the days start to bet noticeably shorter especially in the evening. While 8:30 or 9 in the middle of June doesn’t seem all that late suddenly in September it seems later in the evening. This is of course because in June at this time it’s still light out. But in September by 8:30 it’s dark out.

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