Rhythms of the City/Country

[jjquantz]

As many have observed, one of the great luxuries of retirement is being able to run errands when others are at w*rk. However, it takes some time to learn the local behaviors. I've noticed a few things about Northern Virginia that strike me as odd after spending the first 47 years of my life in the Midwest.

1. In the Midwest, prime grocery shopping time is Friday afternoon/evening. The weekends are busy, but nothing like 5:00 PM Friday. After several years of avoiding that time slot out here, we discovered that the grocery stores are all but empty at that time of the day/week. Saturday mornings aren't really too bad either, especially before about 10 AM. (See #2)

2. People out here don't get out of bed in the morning. Diners in the Midwest open at 5:00 AM (or earlier). Out here, many breakfast places don't open on weekdays until 7:00 AM and on weekends not until 8:00.

3. The only truly dead days for traffic in NoVA are Tuesday - Thursday. On Mondays, rush hour seems to stretch an extra hour later in the morning and the overall level of traffic is definitely higher than midweek. By lunchtime on Fridays, traffic is worse than on the weekends. I blame this on the proliferation of telecommuting and flexible work schedules.

Anyway, have any of you have noticed local quirks in traffic patterns, shopping habits, etc. that you didn't expect?

 

[Ronstar]

When I was working, I never expected my little home town to have traffic problems. But at 8am and again at 3:30 weekdays, school traffic is insane. Shopping locally isn't too bad, except Walmart is real busy 9am - 6pm almost every day.

 

[RobbieB]

The freeways in CA are wonderful 10 to 2 -

 

[Bamaman]

Our grocery shopping starts at Aldi's, and rush hour is every day @ 10:00 a.m.--all older retirees. And it never fails that they stop their grocery carts and block the items I'm shopping for.

Although we're in a 140K person community, we really have little rush hour. All the factories start at 7:00 a.m. and get off @ 3:30 a.m. With three major lakes within 16 miles, many workers just carry their fishing boats to work with them.

 

[Fedup]

Costco near me is always near empty on Monday.

 

[Music Lover]

I'm an early riser and will do most of my errands 7:00 Saturday morning when traffic is light. Although our city isn't that big, the road system is a mess and rush hours and weekend afternoons are a disaster. I go out of my way not to have to be on the road between 3:30 and 6:00.

Costco is ALWAYS busy here...they open at 10:00 on weekdays and usually 100 and sometimes 200 people are in line waiting for it to open. I still go at 10:00 but get my what I need very quickly and am usually at the checkout by 10 after which avoids the long lineups.

 

[Walt34]

Traffic in the morning here is very light but gets progressively heavier as the day goes on, peaking at about 5:30. After 7:00 PM or so it is easy to get around but we're normally home for the day by 3:00 PM.

 

[kcowan]

school traffic is insane.

Yes it is amazing how the pickup and delivery service for the little angels screws up traffic patterns!

Funny how we observe and learn how to avoid irritation in retirement!

 

[kcowan]

The freeways in CA are wonderful 10 to 2 -

In 1974, we had to get from North Wilshire to Newport Beach for lunch with an Avco executive. Left at 10:30 and returned at 2:30. Not much productivity in those days because the car ride was dead time. Xerox Compuspeed told us that we were travelling at 18 mph during rush hour! Took 2 hours to get from North Wilshire to North Hollywood, a half hour drive off-peak.

Now I go out when I want because I don't want to feel trapped by LA Freeways.

 

[kcowan]

Costco is ALWAYS busy here...they open at 10:00 on weekdays

Slackers! Any Costco worth its weight opens at 7am...that's when commercial traffic is there.

 

[brett]

I seldom vistit the mall and will not even consider it after Nov 15.

If I have to do some shopping we will go to a large downtown dept. store on a Saturday or Sunday. The store is empty, parking is free on the weekend. Never, ever bother with the mall on a weekend. No point.

Costco is always busy. We avoid at lunch times, Fridays/weekends, and those days around the 15th and 30th of the month when many people in our city get paid (oil industry).

Visits to the grocery store are done in the mornings. We often go to the mountains...Banff etc. but we never go on weekends or holidays.

 

[Nightcap]

We're now at the season of the year when you have to plan to leave home. If you need groceries, you'd best hit the road no later than 7. Trips off-Cape are reserved for the middle of the week, never on weekends. The summer people are here! They'll be gone by late September, having left behind an appreciable amount of their disposable incomes, so it's all good.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I think I might choose work rush hours vs school start and end hours (of course that overlaps work rush hours in many places). Combine the cars picking up, the crossing guards, and the school busses, and there's an extra ten to twenty minutes. Some of my regular routes have three big schools on them so multiply accordingly. At least work commuters know what they're doing.

DH's two-stoplight country hometown has only school traffic (lots of farmers who have a rather short commute!) so we enjoy driving there a bit more.

 

[Koolau]

Our rush hours are reasonably predictable, but they are affected by Fed/State holidays (the latter of which there are many) AND the university (UH) holiday/break schedule. When UH is down, the traffic is reasonably manageable if you avoid the heaviest part of normal rush hour. Local holidays make traffic lighter, but some area will nearly always be tied up with a parade. We have parades for everything here.

Since it's always summer, there are always street/under street repairs going on. You will not likely make a trip of 10 miles and NOT encounter a cone zone - often on a major artery. All this makes traffic a bit unpredictable.

I have been told that our Costco(s), Walmart(s), Sam(s) and Home Depot(s) are the busiest (in terms of sales volume) of any in the USA. I believe it. Even with extensive (free) parking, all these stores are problematic for parking for much of most days. At Christmas time, they become almost impossible.

These are some of the rhythms in Paradise. I much prefer the rhythm of the waves, so try to avoid as much traffic as possible. YMMV

 

[pb4uski]

We noticed an odd difference when wintering in Sarasota (and Naples too)... up north the prime time for golfing is weekends and as a result greens fees are higher on the weekends than on the weekdays... in Sarasota and Naples greens fees are lower on the weekends than on the weekdays.

As for traffic, none here in our rural area at home but we avoided the morning and evening commute times if at all possible when we are in Sarasota, particularly in January through March.... damn snowbirds!

 

[John Galt III]

My traffic was always predictable 20 years ago... always none! Which was great! But massive influx of newcomers has it bumper to bumper almost all the time, from about 7 am to 9 PM. I swear it is always about the same level of traffic at any given hour, between 7 am and 9 pm. Only exception is from Sat night around 11 PM until Sunday at about noon. If I ever find it so empty, I just drive around and daydream of the good ole days when it was always like that! I'm in a suburb of a city of about 800,000.

 

[Breedlove]

My problem is I have 3 schools within 5 miles of me and kids no longer ride a school bus . Seems every mother has to deliver and pick up their child. At specific times traffic will back up 1/2 mile .
Now Memorial weekend is upon us they have brought out the large flashing delay signs ( Be aware high traffic Delays will be occurring due to graduations from 05/24/2017 thru 05/29/2017 ) . We have a large Center outside our neighborhood and it is doing most of the graduations for west Houston . These graduations go from 8:00 Am until 10:00 PM

Time to go to the ranch !

Blaaaaaaaa

 

[bclover]

Mine I think are more of a suburban mouse vs. city mouse. lol.
when we lived in the suburbs, everybody was up and at it but 8 am on the weekends. drove me crazy. then I realized with young children and malls this was the way to go. Now that we live in the middle of Center city, 8 am on saturday and sunday is dead quite. we don't have a lot of school buses as many kids in Philly use public transportation to get around.
City traffic is always insane but since I walk darn near everywhere it's not a big problem

 

[CaptTom]

I've always noticed traffic patterns, and tried to avoid the stressful ones. One year into retirement, I'm noticing even more. Here in suburbia the school slow-down can be brutal. One town has three schools within a short distance of each other. Also in that triangle are two major intersections where there's always gridlock. When the police stop traffic for the buses, you may as well walk home.

Frankly, I'd prefer commuters to retirees on the road any day. Commuters know where they're going. They know the way. They know the road. They're on a schedule. Nothing personal, but let's face it, our cadre isn't so predictable.

But by far the worst is tourist traffic. Seems people leave their common sense at home when they go on vacation. Oddly enough, the out-of-state plates have been swarming our roads all year, even though this weekend is the traditional start of their reign of terror. It's actually a very accurate leading economic indicator.

The timing for shopping is tricky, too. Not only do you have the after-w*rk mob scene, but you have the after-school surge, and the aforementioned 15th and 30th of the month crowd.

One powerful memory of the day I retired was leaving early after I'd turned in my badge, and heading over to Home Depot to pick up a few things on my way home. As I walked in, I noticed three other older guys with grey beards walking on the same trajectory. That was the moment it sunk in... I was one of THEM!

 

[John Galt III]

Correction to previous post: I was out at 9:30 PM last night (Friday) and the roads were relatively bare!! Maybe things aren't as bad as I stated previously.

 

[target2019]

Anyway, have any of you have noticed local quirks in traffic patterns, shopping habits, etc. that you didn't expect?

We live about 1 hour from the (NJ) Jersey shore. Friday afternoon through end of rush hour is horrible as many head for the weekend at a shore home or rental. Thursday rush hour now also includes those going to the shore. Much heavier than the Mon-Wed trek eastward. What has changed is many people are working remote on Friday, especially in the summer. So they leave as early as possible to get to the sand and surf.

 

[Sunset]

My problem is I have 3 schools within 5 miles of me and kids no longer ride a school bus . Seems every mother has to deliver and pick up their child. At specific times traffic will back up 1/2 mile .
......

+1
Not only do they park a lineup of cars all down the street, but some pick their kids up so the kids don't have to walk 3 blocks... I was behind one as it double parked to pick up little Johnny so he didn't have to walk all the way down the line, and then it drove just 2 blocks and turned down dead end street.

I had to walk a mile, uphill even in Winter (with snow) grade 3 onwards...

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I live 1 block from my Catholic Church's kindergarten -8th grade school. I think i live in a terrific neighborhood, the public school is 4 blocks from me is rated 10/10. It seems every students mom or grandfather is waiting outside for them to exit like its a kidnapping zone. Some how the guardians that drive to pick up the kids all own monster SUV's. If you live in the parish you cant be more than a few blocks away to begin with. I know that from 215pm-3pm my driveway will be blocked , double parking and triple parking is everywhere. The bright side is that every one so far is nice. i havent gotten "the finger" yet when i ask them to back away from my bumper when they are in my driveway. All my other neighbors dont have driveways they street park, they dont dare venture out with their car at those times they wont be able to get down the block to get a spot.

 

[braumeister]

People around here have a habit I've never understood. Every morning they put little Susie in the car and drive her half a block (seriously, like 200-300 feet) to the corner where the school bus will pick her up. Then they park the car right at the stop sign until the bus comes. Other cars have to work around them. Even on really nice days the child is not allowed out of the car until the bus arrives, but the parent will get out and enjoy the fresh air (often smoking a cigarette).

In the afternoon, they're back parked at the corner again. When the bus delivers the little angel they drive the half block back to the house.

This is in an upscale neighborhood in one of the most affluent towns in the county. Quiet, uncrowded, with the lowest crime statistics in the state.

Like everyone else here, I walked three miles to school uphill both ways, wind always in my face during a perpetual blizzard, starting with first grade, so it all mystifies me.

 

[Dash man]

The Philly suburbs are pretty predictable and avoiding rush hour is easy. Weekend traffic is a mess and a good time to stay home. Wintering in SE FL is bad in tourist areas around the public access beaches. Avoiding those areas and knowing the drawbridge schedules makes life much easier.