Spring is Here! St. Patrick's Day in Southie

What I love about St. Patrick's weekend here in Southie is that I feel like this marks the official start of springtime in Boston.

Why?

With the sun shining and temperatures forecast to hit the mid-50's, it should be a great day. While the weather doesn't always cooperate to help prove my point, today we are in the clear.

Each year, it's really the first time in months that the neighborhood comes alive with packs of smiling people walking about. Folks have emerged from their indoor caves and are celebrating the first of many days spent outdoors. The long stretch of the Boston doldrums - from after New Year's Day through all of January and February - is over.

It's also usually the final few days of parking chaos in Southie. I'm still wondering which is worse - snow parking or St. Patrick's weekend parking. It's debatable. While people expect snow parking madness, I feel that this weekend always catches folks off guard. Every year, the out-of-towners begin filling our resident spots by Friday evening. Either way, my car usually remains unmoved for days, as it has done for the past three days.

Street cleaning begins in a few short weeks, erasing much of the sand and grime that has accumulated since Thanksgiving, and the Solo cups and random remnants that will magically appear as a result of this weekend's drunkenness.

Others might declare the start of Spring as the official date (March 20th), others might wait until the night of baseball's first pitch or for the Sox home opener. Marathon Monday is another quasi-official start of Spring.

But for me, it's today!