One of the great events that happens in the City every year is the exodus and return of the masses around Labor Day. It does slowly build over the Summer, that you slowly begin to notice fewer and fewer people around. Subways are a little less crowed, and the lines are just a little shorter at the grocery store.
Then, like clockwork, or magic, everything changes on the Tuesday morning after Labor Day. People are everywhere again. The subway is packed, lines are long, and the City has returned to frantic full capacity. For me, how naïve I feel, forgetting what that packed feeling is like. This year had a nice bonus; another heat wave with extreme humidity. It’s just gross out.
This year, I did notice something new. I now work in the Financial District, and this is the first Labor Day down here. This morning when I was walking down Wall Street, I was shocked by the lack of tourists. All summer, I had been navigating tour groups, and errant wanders with their cameras, along with clearly distraught people looking at maps. Nothing this morning.
This morning, it was just all of us locals who work down there.
