Sunday, November 30, 2008

Tis the Season!

OK, it means different things to different folks, and to me it now has an additional meaning as an employee of the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.


On Thanksgiving day, it has been traditional to ensure that there are some lights put up on the house before going to bed. While a lot of folks have been sleeping off their l-Triptophan overdoses, or have sat glued to the big holiday games, I have tried faithfully to usher in the Christmas season by putting up some lights, regardless of the weather. This year there were a couple of unique challenges; the first being that we I can't drive nails or screws into the coach in order to mount any lights and the second being I be careful about amperage and load management (after all, I no longer have a 200 Amp service panel).

Not to be daunted, I did get 400 lights strung on the coach and to an adjacent tree using those 3-M Command tabs. The lights were burning brightly by sundown, and I did it in shorts and a t-shirt this year. That's a first ... ever.

But what really rang in the 'season' was the sound of Robin playing "Sleigh Ride" on her keyboard. The evening was graced by the music of Christmas and carols filled the coach and spilled out the door into the park. We're thinking of having a caroling time and inviting the neighboring campers to the place for some sing-along action. It's going to be quite a different feeling of the Christmas season, as we adjust to warm air and palm trees. Maybe not much of an issue for Californians and natives of frequent visitors to Florida, but quite different to those of us accustomed to snow shovels and deicing fluid in the windshield washers. We will adapt.
Robin and I are also learning that there is a new meaning to the word "season" here in FLorida. It's a term used in the air traffic control circle defining the time of year when the state's population increases dramatically with the influx of 'snowbirds' from around North America. The traffic count (number of airplanes handled each day) will rise dramatically fro just after Thanksgiving ti just after Easter. This is the high season for tourism, hotel rates go up and everything coss a little more because the population is cmprised of a higher percentage of seasonal tourists.
We've been told that we will even see temporary help from other air traffic control facilities come in to the Center to help the full-time controller staff cope with the increased traffic loads for the next few months. Today Robin and I spent about four straight hours observing the phenomenon first hand, and the traffic density was markedly higher as airline schedules change and private and charter flights increase to bring the folks escaping the cold weather.
So, we are coming in to the 'season'. Hang on :)

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