The unofficial length of summer is 105 days. Fifteen weeks from Memorial Day until Labor Day. You do remember summer, don’t you?
More than 100 days ago it was Nov. 18. That day gave us an indication of what winter would feel like in Hoboken this year when an overnight batch of flurries left an innocuous but ominous dusting. In 2001 it didn’t snow until late December.
You just knew then that Hoboken was in for it after it began to get brutally cold well before Thanksgiving. Since then, over 48 inches of snow have fallen. Last year, only the amount of an Irish curse materialized all season. A grand total of three inches.
It’s been wintertime in the mile-square for more reasons than just the weather. The economy continues to aimlessly drift along; a system not yet recovered from the trillions lost due to the terror attacks, corporate scandal, war jitters and an internet industry that is worth as much as a Rangers playoff ticket. Walk around Hoboken on a weekday afternoon and you’ll see an inordinate amount of young adults wandering the town in Costanza sweats and ski jackets…the number one fashion choice for the unemployed.
A not-if-but-when war with Iraq also looms, but not many people in our pubs and restaurants seem to be talking about it. Apathy rules over everything not related to domestic terrorism after Sept. 11.
Events that were once considered big news don’t seem to have the same engrossing effect. A showdown with Saddam? Whoop-de-damn-do. In a way, a justified final confrontation with Iraq feels like the time the U.S. basketball team overwhelmed Angola in the ’92 Olympics, winning 116-48 without breaking a sweat. The only worry locally about an Iraqi war will prompt blowback attacks against us here in the New York area by those sympathetic (homegrown protesters not included) to a Muslim country being attacked. If Sept. 11 is any indication, terrorists never need an excuse to strike.
The threat of attack is part of our everyday lives now. It is this fact that makes this winter still feel like spring is 1,005 days away.
Apathy was also in full swing when a space shuttle broke apart last month, killing seven astronauts. The sentiment of most residents was measured sadness, but little shock; after it, was determined terrorists were not responsible for its demise. The story blanketed the news for days, but it didn’t seem as traumatic as it did with Challenger’s tragedy in ’86, almost having a "been there, done that" feeling. After the Twin Towers fall, anything else is almost benign in comparison.
This final stretch of winter is always the toughest to endure. March is a tricky month that takes longer than most because of an abbreviated February and spring starting on the 21. March is a time when it is expected to get warmer, but like the movie Chicago, it ends up being one bad scene after another.
Back in the good old days spring break was there as an extreme seven-day preview of summer. Now, the reality escape for Hobokenites was the 15-hour drinking binge that begins and ends with a St. Patrick’s Day parade held two weeks before the actual holiday.
Summer now sits approximately 90 days away. To think that a warm sun actually exists is almost a ludicrous thought, particularly after getting popped with 20 inches of blowing snow Presidents’ Day weekend.
A winter of discontent? Indeed.
Sometimes it takes the kind of world filled with ice and anxiety to appreciate an afternoon of rollerblading in Sinatra Park, or an evening with a gentle breeze and a Corona on a restaurant rooftop.
For at least the next few weeks, duct tape, a down comforter and Dewar’s will just have to do… – Joe Concha