Here's an anecdotal story from the Memorial Day weekend. I hope it's not more than that.

My wife and I had dinner at one of the restaurants on the Strand in Kingston early Saturday evening. Wonderful weather. Glorious night. Perfect for a holiday throng. Except there wasn't one.

The restaurant at which we dined was about half-filled. After dinner, we noticed one spot doing a fair amount of business. The others were virtually empty.

Saturday evening on a perfect holiday weekend.

Maybe traffic picked up later Saturday night and on into Sunday and Monday. If not, with the cost of gas making everyone think twice about spending on travel and entertainment, it could be a long summer hereabouts. As I said, I hope not.