More on Southampton

Southampton was the first English colony in the state of New York, founded in 1640. I’ve always said that if I didn’t live in a big city I’d want to live in a college town or a resort town, because they have more going on than other small towns. Well, this is my chance to experience what a resort town is like in the off-season. Maybe resort town isn’t quite the right term – there aren’t resorts per se – but the population quadruples in the summer, with second-home owners and renters. I wonder what that will be like. Then again, the population of Azrou supposedly quadrupled in the summer and it didn’t feel that crowded – it was hard to tell though, because people were inside in the winter and outside in the summer regardless of how many people there actually were. And here there are weekend people too. Anyway, so far I have felt like being inside in the late winter/early spring. In fact, I’m amazed at my capacity to stay inside. In Azrou no matter how cold it was I always went outside. Then again, it was usually warmer outside and colder inside in the winter. Here, there’s heat. I also think the picture window has something to do with it – I look at the ocean all day and feel as though I’m outside. That first week that I was here, I thought that by the time I got away from being here for a week and a half it would be spring. That was a little too optimistic. Anyway, I did leave the house more days than I stayed in.

My first day here, it was rainy, windy and cold. Stayed in. The next day, I just walked around the property. Turned out that wasn’t really a walk, but I had a bad headache that day, so that was enough. That was just getting fresh air. It’s a big house here but not THAT big (though to get to the main street from the private lane shared by this house and two others, it does become a walk). Another day, I rode my sister’s bicycle into town. I’ve never cared for cold-weather biking and this confirmed it – I thought my ears and face would fall off. But it was good to get into town and replenish groceries. Another day, the caretaker stopped by and he drove me into town. I walked all of the retail streets, checking out the store and restaurant options, and walked back – it’s about an hour’s walk; fine for a nice day, but on a nice day, if I’m going in both directions, it would be a lot quicker to ride the bike! I also did a short beach walk one day. Short because it was so windy that sand was blowing in my face and getting in my shoes and I enjoyed it not at all. So that wasn’t really a walk either. I don’t have access to a car here, though I was thinking it would be nice to rent a car sometime and drive around the East End – I’ve been around a bit on visits of the past but there is more to explore; I especially want to see Montauk and Shelter Island. There is a taxi service too and I have used it when the caretaker wasn’t available – so between that and the caretaker I don’t feel isolated, and I feel that there is someone there if I need them.

It’s raining again today. I’ve seen a lot of license plates with “Southampton Storms” on them and thought, well, sure, if the sports teams are named Storms that says something right there! I looked it up just to make sure and it turns out the sports teams here are the Mariners – Storms is the name of a car dealer here. I realized there probably are no more storms here than there are in general on the east coast in late winter/early spring – it’s just been so long since I lived here, and Morocco was so dry (though they had the stormiest winter in sixty years after I left) that I think I just forgot!