September 3rd, 38 degrees Celsius. Unbearable.
And the forecast for the rest of the week was more of the same.
I'm thinking "End of the Summer" and work will get back to normal, a little more manageable, but - well, I'd forgotten a few things, like the Queen City Car Show and Shine, hundreds of vintage automobiles, Cadillacs, E-type Jags, Model T's, Hot Rods, a hobby for retired men, keeps them out of the way of their wives in the garage. Like my watches it's for love and not money, there's no way any of them will see a return on their love and investment, it's a passion.
September 4th, smoke from the Ymir wildfire fills the valley. Thick, so thick that my eyes smart and water, my throat chafes, and I've spent a lifetime preparing for a world on fire with my cigarettes, only this is a bit much. The good side is that summer has left the building, daily highs are reduced to around 25 degrees and in the evening temperatures drop below the low teens. Wintry nights followed by prematurely autumn days.
Sunday the auto show is over, instead the town is treated to the “mufflers are gay” motorcycle posse….fortunately it's just a quick ride through, they just wanted to wake everyone up.
Work, the vestiges of summer clutching at my shirt like Glenn Close rising up from the tub in “Fatal Attraction” - Friday, dead, other server leaves, I’m surprised with 3 walk-ins, 2 five tops and a party of four, no sooner than she’s out the door, always the way it is. And Saturday I go in to discover the day server has been hammered, place is a mess, takes an hour to restore it - and yet in the evening it doesn't happen. I've anxiety from the summer, the past few weeks, well, they've been brutal and without respite, and with every hotel full you have to be prepared, look what I just walked in to, only it doesn't happen, and maybe, just maybe we're back to normal.
The town, the air of Mordor, Mt. Doom, smoky, usually this would have happened a month, 6 weeks ago, so we had a pretty good run.
And the early fall sees me abandoned by my crows, there are plenteous falling and crushed hazelnuts and acorns on the street, no need of my peanuts, so after a few days I resign myself to my solitude, only they're back, waiting for me to show up without nuts so they can chide and chastise me, I go back upstairs, get some more nuts and we get the game on...