Stormy Weather...

The song has been my backdrop today.

We started with a highly baroque thunder storm this morning. There was abundant cloud in one part of the sky, but the rest was bright or wispy and when the wisps became soft rain I didn't think much about it. However - about 15 minutes before I needed to catch my bus - a drum-roll of thunder announced something different was on. I saw the clouds and ocean coming in from the south were the same green-brown gray, and watched as a bolt of lightening spanned the distance from mid-cloud to water, about 4 seconds away. The blast of thunder shook the house, and I had leaped to the middle of the apartment before I realized I'd done so. The next 20-30 minutes were something else - lightning from 2 to 7 seconds before the thunder, but all of it incredibly loud.

I suppose it is because there is nothing to muffle the sound - it just explodes across the surface of the ocean. Dinnerware and glassware in the kitchen cabinets rattled. Papers vibrated off the desk and drifted to the floor. The toilet lid fell down. I caught the coffee maker just before it made a dive to the floor, having 'walked' to the edge of the counter with the rather incredible pounding.

With the first thunderbolt I'd scampered around unplugging things, and when the rains started they seemed to come in from all sides.
I'd long ago had a dog that hated thunder and would drop and flatten herself with each boom. That is sort of how I was - way more than a wince, or a duck. My ears sort of blanked out with the roar. It was breathtaking - and none of it was right on top of us. That will really be something!

No way was I stepping outside in that stuff, so I waited the half hour for the next bus. Riding in we could see double rainbows against the clouds, and South Road was flooded about 8 inches deep in one spot, forcing very slow movement, with a lot of cars and bikes making complicated reverses to find another way around.

I've these lovely windows in my new office that are like frames for performance art in the sky. Today's cloudscapes were dramatic and gorgeous, and it will be interesting to see what shapes up with Uncle Bill getting closer.

We do look likely to get some of Hurricane Bill's impact, and people have started making preparations. A direct hit doesn't look likely, but even being 150 nautical miles west of us - the current forecast - will mean wind and rain.

No hurricane warnings as yet; the usual reminder to check your emergency kit went out, and the hardware stores were apparently the place to be today. Emma offered to get what she thought I'd need, bless her - none of it is 'bus-able' - and given Bermuda's prices I have a $150 worth of hurricane supplies, including a $60 ice chest (your average 48 quart Coleman), a $25 length of rope and $27 bucket (when the power goes out - as it will - the pump won't work, so we tie the rope to a good bucket and lower it into our cistern), tape for the windows, batteries for my 'torches', and, bless her, a not-large-but-adequate rigid plastic storage box.

I am working on the nonperishable food and ample water supply - I'll fill the tub and sinks and all containers. As we all have experienced, having damage - trees down, roofs torn off, windows broken - is one thing; being without power another. I've always been fortunate and not had much of any of it to deal with, and the worst house situation occurred while Trevor and I were in France, so my ever-reliable sister took care of it and didn't tell me until I'd gotten home.

So I will spend time between now and Saturday early morning putting things into storage, getting the rugs rolled up and on top of the fridge/cabinet (that may be a feat!), moving stuff away from the windows, putting up plastic. My landlord doesn't feel the need, apparently, to put anything on the windows or otherwise prepare the place. It may be kind of fun, since I have little 'stuff' here, no property or vehicle to be concerned about.

I'll post pictures and updates while I have internet service and power - but come late Friday don't expect to hear for a while unless we get lucky. And don't be worried that you don't hear, either - phone/cell service is also unreliable in the best of times. I'll be back on when things have righted themselves again.

Til next time!