(not my picture, click for source)

Well, not really the last days. I mean, that won't happen until after Labor Day, right?

No, what I am referring to is the last few days before August 15, when the students come back. Summer is this haven in Madison, when the streets are suddenly clearer, the traffic moves through the downtown streets faster, and the terrace isn't quite so packed.

Post-August 15? Swarms of skinny, little things picking their away towards their buildings, lugging vats of coffee and talking on their cell phones while wearing leggings and giant Uggs. Gangly boys with fitted baseball caps on, in various states of unshavenness, iPod earphones insulating them from the outside world. More Wisconsin gear than you can shake a stick at, as parents drop off their little darlings for their first taste of freedom.

Oh, yes, It's coming.

Today, I rode my bike across the Isthmus, to my bank. I passed several moving vans, hitched carts behind cars, and people clearly unused to driving in the downtown area. (Yes, you are in my bike lane. I get my own lane here. Welcome to Madison.)

There's lots of trash too. I saw a discarded box of cold medicine, lots of cold medicine. Like someone had spent all winter sick and wanted to try out different kinds. The box had a lot of full bottles; some almost empty too. And next to this assortment of multi-colored goo? A wire reindeer strung with Christmas lights. Merry Christmas to the chronically congested.

It's inevitable.

The garbage is now just starting to accumulate. People are starting to panic. There is only a few days left to move, and suddenly that drawer full of string and tape, of rubber bands, of the duct taped remains of your Halloween costume, that bottle opener bought for that party back in October that you used once until that guy puked on it, those pens and coupon books you got at the beginning of the year and never used, suddenly it all needs to be evaluated and pitched. Students in this area are famous for it. Strange things end up curbside.

Last year, Mayor Dave invited a local radio personality to go dumpster diving with him. They found an iPod. On it, the world's worst songs,things that people probably shouldn't admit that they like, let alone keep a copy with at all times just in case they'd like to listen to it. Hopefully that poor student is long gone, or else he/she will have died from the embarrassment.

I had a friend who waited until the end of his lease every year to find another place. Most students have had their leases signed months ago. There isn't a U-Haul available in the city, I can guarantee it. Hotel rooms for the 14th? 15th? Nope. Gone. People who know people with trucks and SUVs are worshipped. There are people, right now, contemplating how exactly they can get that mattress to the new place. Maybe a skateboard and a friend to help steer it. Maybe a few pieces of clothesline to tie it to the top of the car. After all, it's only a few blocks, right? Maybe they have successfully swiped a laundry basket from the dorms and are planning on using that to ferry their meager belongings. Some just pile their things on their front lawn, and stay there until their lease starts the following day. Guarding them. Defending them from the overly enthusiastic trash pickers.

It falls on a Friday this year. That means that there will be no holding back; no waiting until somone's parents can get off work or can drive; no, it's too easy to take a long weekend and get it done.

They are coming, and there's nothing we can do about it. Face the wind and hold on. It's going to be a bumpy ride.