The Weather and Times Ahead

Life has become somewhat unbearable and uncomfortable on the hot pavement of our sidewalks here on Beacon Hill. 

The hot weather has not affected the tourist's walking through our neighborhoods admiring the rich history and architecture.  They take pictures of door steps and cobble stone streets, meanwhile residents are doing what they can to survive and thrive during this heat-wave. 

Just the other day I walked by one of the biggest tour groups.  I politely asked the two girls taking pictures of my dogs where they were from,"Argentina" they said and the others were from all corners of the world.  Weather is small talk on the street, and if asked, how are you doing today? 

It's very hot is the most common answer.  Although there are many solutions to surviving and maintaining the city life during the heat.  Leaving the city is sometimes the answer, by boat, plane or car depending on ones resources and financial liberty. 

Some residents work in an office like setting and the hot weather becomes a temporary distant memory of enduring slight discomfort.  Air conditioner's and central air are almost a necessary utility to sustain comfort indoors.  However, there are those residents who have to rely on fans and open windows, and hope a slight cool air breeze will sneak in and blow amongst the humidity. 

After a while everyone acclimates to their own level of comfort and swap stories with neighbors about the temperature and how they have managed it. It is the official July summer in the city and everyone has a different version of their own summer. Some go away and take a vacation but others stay and watch the city change as the crowds fluctuate and the surrounding business's go into summer mode. 

There are always the regular smiles and faces of common neighbors, and a simple hello will add an instant moment of relief for that up hill battle we climb here on the hill. 

The fourth of July passed and the neighborhood barbecue hosted by our friendly business neighbor at Beacon Hill Plumbing.  Although, there are many more events in the city, but the barbecue had a special neighborly bonding overtone experience linked to it where the burgers and hot dogs tasted better with neighbors. 

The weeks of July have gone by so fast since those celebrations... and now it is almost the end of July, proceeded by early August so there has to be more to celebrate and manage during the summer with before we invite the fall into our daily lives and routine. Some friendly faces at the convenient store have gone away. 

It was just a passing in time, and a usual stop for coffee and a quick morning chit chat taken for granted until one day that friendly worker moved on.  Surely, we live in such a transient fast pace, kind of world and everyone must move on and even the Chinese restaurant which was a weekly delight to enjoy is now morphed into a high-end lunch, and evening cocktails type of popular place to meet these days. 

Some residents may have noticed these changes and others may not have been impacted at all and live on streets further away.  Change is a constant sign of the times, the streets change with new cars not driven here before and vendors delivering different new and popular products to a consumer market that always changes. 

There is always the familiar and reliable source of people or business's that are here today but maybe it will be gone tomorrow, it's hard to predict the outcome of what the future holds and if anything will affect the local scene.    

Change is imminent and the media is always trying to report change and the most shocking sensational news of the day! There is an overwhelming amount of information, news, entertainment to choose from these days. Ranging from the Internet to the many choices of digital channels, and satellite dishes hidden discreetly, to the cell phone and smart phone,  ipod and ipad. 

There are many ways these days to information and communication and each one trying to captivate and inform our lives faster and better than ever before.  However, there is a price to pay in either dollars or a possible outcome in not wanting to engage anymore with friendly people or neighbors.  Those few words spoken at the store getting coffee didn't seem like a big deal then, but now I miss those days almost like old friends from school or a good neighbor that just moved on. The world is at our doorstep, in tourist fashion to the global news in world politics. 

There are some who are so highly involved in a world so far away from the streets, but they live two doors away.  The streets once told a different story some twenty years ago and there were different kinds of bonds between neighbors.  Some may say that they were better, but others would argue to say that the now is better, and we are better informed and have more access to information and faster ways to get things done. Like the land line telephone to many televisions on the curb waiting for pick-up and disposal, new times require new technologies. 

There will always be the rich history that exists within these streets but the way the history is recorded, documented and communicated has many more ways with more devices everyday.  Everything always changes and that is a constant part of our life here on the hill versus the suburbs, coastlines, or another country.  Local change happens and it may appear to be just another day on Beacon Hill, but something is always different here like the weather.  The only difference is the predictable forecast for the days ahead.