Summer Is Shutting Down

 

by Pa Rock

Man of Many Fans

Summer officially comes to an end in about three weeks, but as someone who came of age working in the tourist industry, I always considered Labor Day Monday to be the final day of the season.   When the tourists left our little cabin court by the river on that Monday in early September, we quickly got to work cleaning the cabins one last time and shutting down for the winter.  School would start the next day, and our lives would be completely transformed until Memorial Day weekend in the spring when the tourists would start flocking back in.

Now the schools are air-conditioned and start before Labor Day.  The buses here were rolling last week, and that left me feeling sort of sad.  It was too damned early for the kids to be going back to school.  But I'm old and I no longer clean cabins or teach school or do much that amounts to anything.  I guess I just need to keep quiet and stay out of the way.

It was uncomfortably hot here the first couple of days of last week, but by Friday the temperature was beginning to break.  That was fortunate because on Friday our creaky old air-conditioning unit went on the fritz and was dead by the end of the day.    Businesses were closed by the time the AC breathed its last, and as I sat at the computer that evening trying to figure out who to call the next day, it quickly became apparent that ALL of the places that service or sell air-conditioning units are closed on Saturday.  

(When my father sold window air-conditioners and other major appliances fifty years ago, he could have never closed on a Saturday because that was the day that the people who plucked the chickens and hammered mobile homes together had a day off.  It was our busiest day of the week.  Today people who punch the clock on a regular basis still normally have Saturdays off - but now lots of business owners apparently think they also deserve the day off.  That's the attitude that helped Walmart kill off Main Street.)

But crappy business practices are basically none of my business.  I just need to keep quiet and stay out of the way.

West Plains does have a few alternatives to Walmart for weekend shopping - the various "dollar" stores - and I went to a couple of those on Saturday and bought some fans.  Also, my son had a portable air-conditioning machine that he had previously purchased in a junk store, so we didn't suffer.  The weather Saturday was pleasant, there was some rain that evening and Sunday morning, and now we are at Monday and the weather is still pleasant.  All things considered, it was a great weekend for the AC to go kaput!

(One of my California cousins commented on my air-conditioning situation and the fact that the weather was cooperating, and noted that I have "good summer karma.")

The air-conditioner places were all closed on Sunday so the business owners could stay home and watch their neighbors go to church, and today is a holiday, so I will make a few calls but hold no hopes that anyone providing a potentially life-saving service like air-conditioning will be working on any day when they can avoid it - so maybe tomorrow.  I have my list ready.

It's not too hot out today - yet.

Things will get better.

I just need to keep quiet and stay out of the way.