The Mast-Head: Finding Quiet

East Hampton has seemed especially crowded for this time of year. With Christmas on a Thursday, many in the summer house and weekend crowd must have decided to head east and stay here through the New Year’s holiday.

Not that their being here is something to complain about, but there’s a difference. Drivers on Main Street, for example, have had that certain, uh, tentative quality since Dec. 24. Those of us here on weekdays during the depths of winter will know exactly what I am talking about.

Outside the movie theater on Sunday night, I had to hit the brakes as someone driving a sleek, low Porsche who had stopped half in the roadway to let out passengers suddenly moved back into traffic, causing the car in front of mine to swerve to avoid contact. Then, the Porsche driver swooped to the right onto Fithian Lane, without signaling, at the last minute. You don’t see that on a February Tuesday.

The part-time folks also have a certain cut to their jibs. The people walking past our office are a little more turned out. The outerwear on the children being taken in hand to the library next door seems just a smidge more fashionable.

At Georgica Beach on Sunday afternoon several groups of dark-jacketed people stood near the jetty watching equally dark-clad surfers riding chest-high waves. The onlookers’ furry hats and cellphone cameras pointing this way and that gave them away. Or so I supposed; there is really no way to know these days.

However, the quiet places are still quiet, some surprisingly so. The other night, my eldest child and I decided at the last minute to go to Montauk for Chinese food. On the ride from Amagansett we saw only two or three other cars. There was Wok ’n’ Roll, and when they, a young couple, left, it was just us and the waiter.

We didn’t see another vehicle all the way home.