January Blues

January is perhaps the quietest month in Point Roberts. It's usually the coldest month, of course, and that doesn't help, but beyond that it's just kind of dim. Nothing much happens. Last January, we, personally, were being catapulted into a medical adventure, which made January anything but dim, and some people are obviously getting to have that kind of experience this January, too. In fact, only the other night, we heard the sound of the medevac helicopter coming into the fire station, and thought about that poor family that was having way more excitement than is good for anyone.

But, such experiences notwithstanding, it is plenty quiet around. Lots of people have taken off for the winter. About a quarter of our quilt group disappears at this time of year to places with more natural heat. I checked the Community Events Sign this afternoon, and there are no events. I looked at the bulletin board at the International Market, and found that there were plenty of empty spaces for announcements. In fact, so much space that there were two copies of one announcement posted. That just wouldn't be an accurate description of the bulletin board any other month. Very quiet at the library today, too: only me and the librarians while I was there.

BUT, there is yet one very lively place in town. Both last Saturday and the Saturday before that, I drove by one of the private mail companies and the line of people waiting to pick up packages was way out to the street both days. Around Christmas, this would not be surprising. But half-way through January?

Apparently our neighbors to the North are using their credit cards overtime in the U.S. All the cars parked round the package center had Canadian plates. Saturday is the day you have time to drive down to P.R. and get gas, butter, and your most recent cross-border internet purchases, I'm guessing. The U.S. and Canadian dollars are pretty much of equal value these days, so this may be an excellent time to shop if Canadian dollars is what you are long in. Also a good time to fight back against January's dreariness.

We've been being frugal since the fall of 2008, but apparently now we're tired of it. We have frugality fatigue, and when you put January on top of that, well, No Wonder! they're lining up at the package delivery center. Point Roberts used to be the place that Canadians came to to drink. Now, it's more like to pick up their shopping.