Snowbirds are coming back

Thank goodness October has arrived. We who live here year round will finally be getting some cooler weather but can expect to get some of the treatment that those who are a bit better off that we are financially otherwise known as the "Snowbirds" receive when they arrive.

Of course we expect to see most of the lower prices of the past 4-6 months to rise. Gasoline will likely go up 5 to 10 cents a gallon and the eateries will soon be putting out their new increased priced menus. The visitors will not know the difference.

The bright side of getting our winter visitors back is that many of those who have been out of work for the past many months have an opportunity to start looking for a job again with the merchants needing some extra help for at least a few months.

Good for business
Our friends who own the businesses that we have been faithfully supporting during these very hot months will start making a profit again, albeit we have been doing without some of the things we enjoy because the owners cannot afford to have those things unless they can pay for it with huge crowds of winter customers.

The malls and shopping centers, which have been looking like they are going out of business with the lack of customers, and closings of many stores will again have more people wandering through their stores for at least the next five to six months. We will have to remember to remind ourselves to get started at least a half hour earlier to get anywhere because of the increased traffic; at least the county will start getting some increased revenue with more tickets being issued to those who think we drive too slow and speed limits are there to violate.

Perhaps the Realtors will get some customers interested in purchasing some of the unsold and/or foreclosed houses which have saturated their listings because some of the past part-time visitors could not afford a winter home and a summer home simultaneously.

Remembering
Some of us will be taxing our memory banks when attending the functions our clubs will again begin having to greet the part-time members back with the right names. Now would be a good time to start remembering them and writing down their names on a scrap of paper and putting in your wallet so that you don't have to go around asking someone else, "remind me who I was just talking to?"

Now don't get me wrong or criticize me for the above banter. Highlands County and Central Florida desperately need these snowbirds each year to keep our economy going. Especially since those who have been living on the East and West "Gold Coast" started moving here to get away from that congestion and crime. I also came here almost 20 years ago because of the friendliness, smallness and lack of traffic, and by doing so added to the already growing population of the early 1990s.

There were maybe 20 restaurants in the area when we moved here, and today there are about 200 eating establishments in the area. There are more than 300 churches of all denominations listed. I do not have a 1990 directory but I'd guess there were not more than 50 churches back then.

Still, Highlands County is considered small and friendly, except there are 32 pages of attorneys in the phone book.