Columns

Column: Groundhogs, airlines and please, spring

TOM HASHAGEN
TOM HASHAGEN

As I write this the sun is shining brilliantly, but at 13 degrees with 30 knot winds, amplified by swirling “snow devils.”

I am glad I have enough stove-wood in for a bit. By the time you read this, we might still be digging out from an additional Groundhog Day blast. But don’t worry, we’re on our way out of winter. Really. The weather guys tell us that the coldest temperatures of the season are recorded between January 10 and February 10, meaning that we’ve already gone past the middle of that trough, which would have been January 25.

So by next Tuesday the worst should be over and we can start looking forward to spring.

Weather always gives us something to talk about, and like good news, good weather doesn’t get a lot of press. Bad news and bad weather do. One of my favorite writers is Frank Bruni, who, in a New York Times editorial last week, highlighted all the complaining that went on because the worst blizzard in the history of the world didn’t materialize to its fullest extent.

But with fewer dire predictions and a full-on smash of wind, snow and tides, oh, what finger-pointing and screaming would have ensued. A classic no win or, “no wind,” situation. That said, I do agree that closing the New York City subway system for the first time in 110 years was a bit over the top. I’m just trying to imagine snow filling up the subway tunnels.

In this space several years ago I recounted our trip to Manhattan to see “Jersey Boys” two days after Christmas with most of downtown at a standstill because of a 2-foot snowfall. It was like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. You could walk right down Broadway with virtually no traffic. In fact the only thing working was (ahem) the subway.

Groundhog Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I still call my relatives every year to wish them glad tidings before opening presents and singing Groundhog carols. Every year the media goes crazy with the “Punxsutawney Phil” thing from Pennsylvania. Last year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio famously dropped “Staten Island Chuck” at the Staten Island Zoo and the groundhog died of internal injuries not too long afterwards.

The Wall Street Journal has revealed that the USDA recently determined that “the Zoo violated the federal Animal Welfare Act in 2014. The agency cited the use of an ‘untrained person’ to handle the groundhog.” Only in America could this happen.

This is a glaring example of what happens when politicians get involved with perfectly legitimate holidays.

For example we never had Easter Monday or Columbus Day Monday, or Memorial Day Monday until Washington started meddling with them. We just used to have those days off. Strangely, some holidays, like Veterans Day, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving are exempt from this peculiar practice.

I’m not sure why this was started but I suspect it has something to do with shopping. School officials wreak havoc with the calendar every year, with actuaries going crazy trying to prognosticate years in advance when the school vacations are so hotels and airlines can charge the highest prices.

Oh, and that reminds me. If the largest expense for a jetliner is fuel, and fuel prices are 35 to 50 percent lower than a year ago, why haven’t the ticket prices dropped? Did you ever notice that when some conflict or natural disaster happens, the price of gas jumps within minutes of the news?

And then when the reverse happens it takes months for the cost to retreat? Now with gasoline at levels we haven’t seen for years there’s all this handwringing about the oil companies suffering losses and how this is bad for the economy. I would love to suffer as much as an oil company.

It seems like in February, everyone leaves. Even the music, which I’ve got to say has been in pretty good supply through most of the winter, takes a little break for a few weeks. The jazz jam at Bay Burger moves to Wolfer Vineyards for the month and Nancy Atlas is off from Bay Street until March. But you can still catch an open mic at Freshampton on Monday nights and Eastbound Freight will be at Sylvester Manor on Valentine’s Day, the first of three house concerts over the next three months.

And starting February 21, the “Live on the Vine” Winterfest begins its six-week run with over 100 performances at 20 different venues. This amazing festival has grown from just jazz to many other genres and provides the music lover with a plethora of choices. The best thing is that at the end of March, when Winterfest ends, restaurants start stretching and yawning, getting ready for spring!

So really, if you have to hang here for the winter, there’s lots to do if you look. But right now I’m looking out my window again, and I’m thinking, “Caribbean!”