August 5, 2008 - When the long weekend is over and you are expected back at the office... how do you deal with the depression? Do you put your nose down and get to it, or look at the piles of stuff and wonder if you should just wait until after lunch and the End-Over passes. (The End-Over is the painful symptoms that follow a long-weekend. An End-Over is not quite a hang over, but just as sad... They most often happen each Monday, but symptoms are more severe, and require more treatment on the Tuesday after a long weekend.)
Summer in Vancouver means racking up as many patio hours as possible before we need to return to work, saying good-bye to the Summer, the sunshine, and welcoming the rains of Fall, Winter and Spring. In attempts to push off the End-Over for as long as possible, Monday night of the long weekend is spent on a patio. Any patio will do. Coffee shop patios are good. Restaurants, bars and pubs are even better. In a pinch, you can hang around on the curb beside a street vendor hot dog cart. A patio (or curbside eatery) is a patio (or curbside eatery). Last night, a friend and I walked the dogs in search of the perfect patio to while away the last of the long weekend, and stave off the start of the End-Over. Not a unique idea by any stretch of the imagination. There was no patio table to be found, and the hot dog carts were put away for the night. The End-Over was near.
Today, we are back to work, and our noses are to the grindstone. Now I understand why today is Work Like a Dog Day. It will take really good treats and a promise of another long weekend to motivate me today. I would rather work like my dog. Since his retirement from active service, he works hardest on napping and playing.
Getting to work is another story all together. Traffic isn't any lighter in the Summer than it is in the fall. It used to be that the number of cars on the road dropped in the Summer months. Now, every day is rush hour. The only really noticeable difference is that rush hour starts earlier for the ride home. By 1500 hrs, folks are heading home, to the beach, to the bar, pub and restaurant patios, or home to mow the balcony. Imagine what that commute would be like without traffic control? The first traffic light was installed today in 1914 in Cleavland, Ohio. I wonder how bad the commute was in 1914 that they needed traffic lights? Thank god for the red, yellow and green. If you do make it to a patio for the evening, raise a pint for Traffic Light Day, and imagine how long it would have taken you to get there if not for the lowly traffic light? You might not have arrived in time to get a table.
Summer in Vancouver means racking up as many patio hours as possible before we need to return to work, saying good-bye to the Summer, the sunshine, and welcoming the rains of Fall, Winter and Spring. In attempts to push off the End-Over for as long as possible, Monday night of the long weekend is spent on a patio. Any patio will do. Coffee shop patios are good. Restaurants, bars and pubs are even better. In a pinch, you can hang around on the curb beside a street vendor hot dog cart. A patio (or curbside eatery) is a patio (or curbside eatery). Last night, a friend and I walked the dogs in search of the perfect patio to while away the last of the long weekend, and stave off the start of the End-Over. Not a unique idea by any stretch of the imagination. There was no patio table to be found, and the hot dog carts were put away for the night. The End-Over was near.
Today, we are back to work, and our noses are to the grindstone. Now I understand why today is Work Like a Dog Day. It will take really good treats and a promise of another long weekend to motivate me today. I would rather work like my dog. Since his retirement from active service, he works hardest on napping and playing.
Getting to work is another story all together. Traffic isn't any lighter in the Summer than it is in the fall. It used to be that the number of cars on the road dropped in the Summer months. Now, every day is rush hour. The only really noticeable difference is that rush hour starts earlier for the ride home. By 1500 hrs, folks are heading home, to the beach, to the bar, pub and restaurant patios, or home to mow the balcony. Imagine what that commute would be like without traffic control? The first traffic light was installed today in 1914 in Cleavland, Ohio. I wonder how bad the commute was in 1914 that they needed traffic lights? Thank god for the red, yellow and green. If you do make it to a patio for the evening, raise a pint for Traffic Light Day, and imagine how long it would have taken you to get there if not for the lowly traffic light? You might not have arrived in time to get a table.
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