Though I think of myself as summer’s biggest fan, I’m hoping that by the time you read this things should be returning to normal in our "quiet" little tourist brothel.
Kids are back in school, you don’t need an accountant to decipher the ferry schedule and locals have regained majority status. It’s suspiciously harder to plan anything outdoors after dinner without running head-on into twilight but it doesn’t matter now because you can watch TV without that annoying sun-glare wrecking everything.
I feel safer too because I’m less likely to come around a blind corner to find an Audi stopped beside a deer, oblivious to me and the loaded dump truck not far behind. Maybe even the stern-looking people that give me the evil eye when I drive by their unleashed dogs will disappear too.
I will miss a couple of fashion phenomena that only occur during the summer months. You can probably guess the first one but has anyone else noticed the number of people sitting on the patio at the Garden Bay Pub or walking around the shopping centre in Madeira Park with their inflatable life preservers on?
It seems to be a fascinatingly common bit of pretentiousness among yachties and probably one only noticed by curmudgeons like myself, but it never fails to make me want to take their picture. Perhaps a T-shirt that reads, "We’re off a yacht and shan’t be staying long." Not to bother though… we know you’re not from here.
I can say all this now because I’ve had my fill of summer and look forward to the change of pace that fall brings. I know I’ll soon be missing it again because no matter how busy and exhausting summer seems to get here, we can always count on the serene hibernation of a Pender Harbour winter to recharge us in time for next year.