We're back! For the month of August, Washington, D.C., was a really nice place to live and visit, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Streets were quiet, ...
If you were late for work this morning, had a fender bender or arrived at the office angry and exhausted, welcome to Washington after Labor Day. Schools are back in session and the roads are clogged with thousands of yellow buses, and many more parents dropping their offspring off to school.
The Pentagon parking lot filled up even earlier than usual. Roads like 270, Route 66 and the GW Parkway, which were speedy ways to get around in August have returned to their parking lot status.
The same sort of thing is happening all over. In Philadelphia, Austin, Seattle — in cities large and small. But Washington (and you already knew this) is different.
In the summertime, and especially in August, the D.C. area “loses” some of its most interesting residents. It is said that the beautiful people head for LA and the not-so-beautiful head east, specifically to D.C. Many who come here — politicians, lobbyists, journalists, lawyers and think tankers — were class presidents. They made it big and came here. The Type-A type is once again everywhere.
People who don’t choose to (or can’t afford to) leave D.C. in August are rewarded with minimal traffic, room in restaurants and often less aggressive drivers and driving. Tens of thousands of people associated with Capitol Hill — from members and their staffs to agency types who must work with them — make a difference when they leave. And when they get back.
So if you couldn’t take a trendy August vacation to the Cape or the islands, chances are you had a pretty good time, in a pretty nice town over the last few weeks.
Now its back, sadly, to Washington-style reality. And its only 112 days till sequestraton!
NEARLY USELESS FACTOID
By Jack Moore
Did you know — September is National Chicken Month, according to EatChicken.com, which praises the “most versatile, cost- effective, tasty protein you can make.” But be mindful of how you prepare it; September is also National Cholesterol Education Month.
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Mike Causey is senior correspondent for Federal News Network and writes his daily Federal Report column on federal employees’ pay, benefits and retirement.
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