It Must Be Spring ‘Cause the Big Blue Plastic Bags Covering Parking Meters at Hampton Beach Are Gone

By now you're through the worst of April 1st. Somebody pulled some dumb prank on you or you on them and everyone had a good laugh. Now let's move on to more serious stuff. It hit 50 degrees today! It's all very exciting when the sun is shining, the snow is melting, bears are waking up and the big blue plastic bags covering the automated parking meters at Hampton Beach get removed.

That's right, as of today the park and pay system at Hampton Beach is back in business. Beach traffic is still pretty minimal, but the meters being in operation is a sure sign of things to come.

Bet you didn't know this... The meters are part of the state park system. The town has nothing to do with the meters and doesn't directly benefit from the money spent to park. Of course the town benefits from the tourism the state park generates, but it's a little weird to see parking meters in a town that aren't owned by the town.

At any rate... It's a harbinger of Spring that the meters are operating, even if only a little right now. It won't be long before we see tourists who have trouble with English trying to figure these things out. Followed by locals trying to assist them until the realization that if they can't read English, they won't do any better with you yelling instructions at them.

Happy Spring!