Friday, February 13, 2009

Another Sad Consequence of Global Warming

Tour-group teens are the bane of my commute.

I cannot abide those dubiously groomed, floppy-haired kids gaggling about and shouting, gumming up the Metro escalators during rush hour while their chaperones pretend to be somewhere, anywhere else.

Well, I encountered my first tour-group teenybop horde at 8:14 this morning, on the 13th of February. Generally, they don't show up until April or so. In fact, several passengers and I commented to each other that tourist season started early this year.

So, does this mean that the Tour Horde Teenagers have seen their migratory habits align northward with global warming, much like birds?

Or does it just mean that I'm old and crotchety for complaining about those darn kids who won't get off my lawn/station platform?

12 comments:

Jamie said...

You are old and crotchety. You must learn to stop worrying and love the tourists. They put food in our mouths! Without them and their fat tourist wallets, our insanely high taxes that pay for crappy schools and EMS technicians would be even higher.

Hammer said...

It's even worse when they're on Shannon's lawn. They keep mistaking her for a garden gnome and try to steal her.

Shannon said...

Jamie - No wonder that random tourist tried to shove a sandwich into my mouth today! He was just being literal.

Hammer - Wanna know a secret? I AM the Travelocity gnome.

Lemmonex said...

It is true, Hammer. I have had to touch up some of the chipped paint on her.

FoggyDew said...

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say "crotchety" (hehehehe). Perhaps a bit piqued is a better description, also, a cuter word. Not that you a, woman, are cute because that would be sexist of me to suggest such a thing. Anyway, maybe they're Canadian and came south for the warmer temps.

Shannon said...

Lemmonex - That's REALLY what we did at Girls' Night, no? We had a pillow fight, then you touched up my paint.

Foggy - If there is one word on this Earth that I am used to, it's "cute."

rachaelgking said...

I noticed this yesterday, too... presumably because of the better weather? They're everywhere!

Anonymous said...

The bane of my existance is the hord that hang out on 10th street between E and F streets. They take up the whole damn block. And they WON'T move when you say excuse me. So i just push them out of the way(I'm serious). I'm thinking out throwing a cherry bomb in the crowd to see if they scatter like geese on a airport runway.

Malnurtured Snay said...

Every tourist season I try to push at least three or four in front of trains. Obviously, I only do this when I don't have to be back on the Metro until the next day.

The Pumpernickel said...

I think those groups annoyed me even when I was that age...so does that mean that I was prematurely crotchety?

Meh, I think they're just super annoying.

Shannon said...

LiLu - Like VD!

Patty - I've run into that group too! I just remember that I was once a teenager myself. Then I'm so busy cringing with shame that I climb right into the gutter, where it's less crowded.

Pumpernickel - I'm prematurely crotchety...and have premature gray. Coincidence? I think not.

Anonymous said...

One of the saddest moment's of the spring is that day I realize the tour buses have returned. Usually around Cherry Blossoms.