Snowbirds
It’s that time of year in these parts that we we receive the mass migration of snowbirds.
The Oxford Dictionary definition of a snowbird is: “a person who spends the winter in a warmer climate, especially an old person from the north of the US, or from Canada, who spends the winter in the south.”
Sarasota’s population grows by 40% in the winter and it’s just about now sat in traffic that you notice the northern state registration plates almost outnumber those from Florida.
Cars get driven off large trucks at the side of the road that are shipped down south from upper state New York. The normally sedate Sarasota Airport is awash with blue rinses and handbag dogs.
Suddenly a five minute drive takes fifteen minutes, roundabouts become a lottery, supermarkets are busy when it should be the exclusive time for workers and families and seniors outnumber the students in coffee shops.
I can’t get a reservation at my favourite restaurant and the queue at the prescription counter at the pharmacy is a mile long.
The snowbirds may well add to the economy but they also drive up prices and I can’t bear looking at their white limbs as they should respect the winter and put trousers on!
I hope today they were shivering queuing for their ice cream as it was in single digit celsius today as we had a cold snap that brought a morning frost. I had trousers on and a big fleece walking the dog this morning.
I’m not a fan of the snowbird as you can probably tell, but they are back and they are a year older!
Don’t be too hard. Some of us who watched Sam Bartram play and still inhale that Valley air from time to time, also fly south when that air carries too much of a chill and joints ache just a little too much. Also things don’t Costa too much! This snow bird lark is the destiny of us all if we make it through to our pension. Must stop now; off to the Pharmacy to join the queue. Keep up the good work.
Fair play mystical.
How about I meet you in the bar instead of the pharmacy next time you are down my way.
As the years roll on, becoming a ‘snowbird’ seems more and more attractive to me.
Any ‘snowbirding’ I might do would not be in Florida unfortunately. Cost and duration of flight rather inhibiting.
More likely Southern Spain. Though the Spanish are getting all arsey and don’t want us anymore. Marvellous innit. Sixty years we’ve been a major source of income for the Spanish, now they’re telling us no more tourists Senor.
I wonder how warm it is in Bournemouth in January ??
Not that warm, Daggs 😃
You can be thankful to your President Donald Trump that Canadian snowbirds will be in short supply in Florida this winter, making line ups shorter and lowering tourist dollars keeping price affordable. Enjoy the recession.
I like Canadians.
I didn’t vote for him, but he has turned off a lot of tourists, but I do look forward to picking up some cheap property.
Here in South Africa we have a similar phenomenon where Europeans arrive for 6 months as our weather warms up. We call them Swallows because they fly south for the winter.