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I was driving on I-95 early this morning – a fresh, cool, sunny day – and thinking about license plates. There’s not much else to do when you’re stuck in rush hour traffic at 7:30 a.m. And I was thinking how many out-of-state license plates I’ve been seeing for a few weeks now. And also about how tourists and snowbirds seemed smart enough to stay off the interstate at that time of day. Everywhere I looked there were only Florida plates. For a while. But not long after this, South Carolina rolled by. Followed immediately by Pennsylvania. I guess even snowbirds have places to be in the morning.
But what I was thinking about, while parking in a 65 mph zone and sipping coffee, was how we local residents always talk about the explosion of out-of-state plates this time of year. It’s our way to measure when the northerners have come down here in droves, a window into the busiest part of the tourist season. “Have you seen all the foreign plates?” local folks will ask each other, as if South Florida visitors are from another country. Or maybe another planet. “Wow, it seems early this year.” That’s the inevitable response. Maybe it does get earlier and earlier, the annual tide of refugees from the cold and slush. I’m not sure. I only know that, well yes, the rush seemed early this year.
I began to notice Quebec plates in larger-than-usual numbers maybe two months ago. And Ontario plates. And Michigan. And New York. And Pennsylvania. And Massachusetts. And other “foreign” places. As I’ve said before in these blogs, I’m glad to see you, all you visitors and snowbirds. You add an annual jolt of electricity to South Florida and, whether they’ll admit it or not, most locals recognize and welcome this at some level, I think. But the point I’m making is that we notice when this happens. And it sure already has happened this year and the license plates are one unmistakable sign. When a car of South Carolinians has to brave I-95 during rush hour, they probably aren’t just passing through. They’ve come to live with us for a while.
But what I was thinking about, while parking in a 65 mph zone and sipping coffee, was how we local residents always talk about the explosion of out-of-state plates this time of year. It’s our way to measure when the northerners have come down here in droves, a window into the busiest part of the tourist season. “Have you seen all the foreign plates?” local folks will ask each other, as if South Florida visitors are from another country. Or maybe another planet. “Wow, it seems early this year.” That’s the inevitable response. Maybe it does get earlier and earlier, the annual tide of refugees from the cold and slush. I’m not sure. I only know that, well yes, the rush seemed early this year.
I began to notice Quebec plates in larger-than-usual numbers maybe two months ago. And Ontario plates. And Michigan. And New York. And Pennsylvania. And Massachusetts. And other “foreign” places. As I’ve said before in these blogs, I’m glad to see you, all you visitors and snowbirds. You add an annual jolt of electricity to South Florida and, whether they’ll admit it or not, most locals recognize and welcome this at some level, I think. But the point I’m making is that we notice when this happens. And it sure already has happened this year and the license plates are one unmistakable sign. When a car of South Carolinians has to brave I-95 during rush hour, they probably aren’t just passing through. They’ve come to live with us for a while.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 1:05 PM
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