Storm approaching

Right now, this is great stuff! Today has seen blue skies and squalls sharing a sky, warm temperature but a decent breeze - it is picking up. The sound of the surf was noticeably louder when I woke this morning, and tonite it is much more pounding-sea-hitting-rocks than waves-lapping-on-coral-beaches. I keep thinking I'm hearing thunder. Rocks the ground a bit like thunder, too.

So some photos. One of those clear sky/thundercloud moments, and then views of the waves basically across the street and also perhaps 5 minutes walk away, if that. It is getting rather wow-y.

Presently it seems it comes the closest early Saturday morning, and presently it seems it will stay sufficiently distant that the impacts on us will be heavy rain, tropical storm winds with gusts of hurricane strength. I have to spend time tonight doing as much of the storm prep as I can manage. A large (and heavy) role of heavy-duty construction plastic, and 12 case files, are part of what I brought home tonight.

Unfortunately there is a 'situation' from work I also have to devote what will be rather a lot of time to tonight.

Don't know how long to expect we will have power. Right now things feel like any other day - in fact it has been gorgeously beautiful, even with sulky-looking skies.

Th am Uncle Bill forecast - better all the time

Hurricane Bill is a category IV storm and remains a potential threat to Bermuda as it passes to our west on Saturday. South facing shores will see gradually rising swells and surf today with winds increasing through Friday to Tropical Storm Force Friday evening. Bill should pass and begin moving away later Saturday.

HURRICANE BILL is a potential threat to Bermuda. Current Position: 21.6N 60.3W approx. 689 nm SSE of Bermuda Max Sustained Winds: 110kt gusts 135kt Closest point of approach to Bermuda within 72 hrs: Date: 8 am Sat, Aug 22, 2009. Distance: 171 nm to the W

Wednesday Evening storm report

"Hurricane Bill remains a potential threat to Bermuda. The first onset will be increasing swell and surf on South Shore late tomorrow through Friday. Tropical storm force winds are likely to develop late Friday into Saturday, with possible gusts to hurricane force, especially around showers. Light winds, a few showers, locally thundery, prevail meanwhile."

Bermuda Weather Service Tropical Update HURRICANE BILL - Advisory #18 Issued: 6 pm Wed, Aug 19, 2009

NOTE: You may have to click your browser refresh button get the latest image. Forecast track may be liable to large error - please monitor for further updates HURRICANE BILL is a potential threat to Bermuda. Current Position: 19.8N 57.6W approx. 847 nm SSE of Bermuda Recent Movement: WNW or 305 degrees at 17 kt Central Pressure: 947 mb / 27.96 in Max Sustained Winds: 115kt gusts 140kt Closest point of approach to Bermuda within 72 hrs: Date: 5 am Sat, Aug 22, 2009. Distance: 177 nm to the WSW

Wednesday Morning storm update

Our weather service report is characteristically calm, almost bland:"Hurricane Bill, now a Category 4 hurricane, remains a potential threat to Bermuda. The first onset of the hurricane will be increasing swell and surf on South Shore beaches late Thursday through Friday. Tropical storm force winds are expected to develop late Friday into Saturday. Otherwise light winds and a few showers will prevail."

The storm's projected path has shifted away from us (i.e. towards the US), and this is an instance where distance is a good thing. The nearest it is now projected to be within 72 hours is 213 nautical miles, on Saturday morning - last night was 150 nautical miles.

Perhaps buying hurricane supplies is like carrying your umbrella when it looks like rain, or washing your car - your chance of needing them drops.

Red dawn, a semi-clear sky with piles of clouds like sailing ships. It has rained recently - the streets are still wet. I've just given all the porch drainholes a good clearing out, and now hear the splish splash of water draining out of all 12 of them - six on my private porch, six on the walkway porch. It has been pooling and obviously slow to drain, so clogged drainports seemed a likely culprit.

Now, at not quite 7, I will go get ready to scoot out on the 'early' bus.

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!

From my window...

Here are a few pictures - the new office, and, more, the view from it. I am on the 4th floor of our building, across from Parliament.

Relocation

-








Moved to my new office Friday, the first of several shifts to be made as space is reworked. I'm actually no longer within the physical walls of the department, but have an extra office in the Ministry suite. Eventually, the understanding is, the Permanent Secretary and her clerical assistant and the couple of consultants used by the Ministry will move over to where the Minister's offices are now located, and the Department will reopen the doorway connecting the spaces and wrap the administrative offices along the corridor. As such, there will be periods of disruption probably throughout my tenure with the department.

Nonetheless, what I now have is an office about 3 times larger than my last landing spot, with a wall of windows that look out over Parliament and its surrounding park - no water, but an eyeful of vaguely Tuscan architecture and green park. (I didn't think to take any pictures Friday, but will do so this coming week.)

I can, and will, complain a bit about being separated from the rest of the staff (I'm across the elevator lobby from the department, and a two-key-card walk away), and this being an east-facing office I get full sun in the mornings, so things heat up. But it is quiet, I can keep the noisome overhead lights off and just use task lighting, much my preference, and it is indeed a generously sized space. Could do with at least one more file drawer - I left a four drawer lateral file cabinet, this has a two-drawer.

My director showed up about half an hour after I'd settled in after lunch, which astonished me - he isn't known for any particular chumminess - but we exchanged stories for a while. Later others come over to inspect the digs and make jealous comments - my good fortune is due both to not supervising anyone directly and to being perceived as someone who is sufficiently self-motivated and disciplined as to continue to perform reliably in such an off-on-my-own location. One of the kids presently in the central 'bullpen' will move in to my old space.

A coworker, lovely guy who is in charge of building control, had noticed my note on the stuff still in the old office that I would be taking it to my apartment once transport was organized, but doing so required transport, as it was not bus-able stuff. His second visit over was to offer to meet me Saturday and we'd put the heater, laundry basket, plant pots etc in his car and deliver us all to South Road. We worked it out that he would pick me up from Emma's in St. George's after today's painting class - he lives in St. George - and we'd run this errand. Being in the business we are in, we did manage to stop for a couple of site visits on our way into town.
Turns out a former girlfriend (long past - he is now married) lived in this apartment. Such a small world here.

Anyone see any of the Perseids? We had clear skies, and I'd dragged a blanket for padding out onto the veranda and watched the sky for parts of two nights, tho without much luck in seeing anything. But t is cooler outside, and if one ignores the sensation that bugs are exploring your bedding it is comfortable. A cot would probably have come in handy.

Bit of a wild ride home on Friday's bus - I was reviewing reports when others on the bus erupted in shouts - the driver had taken the road Rt 3 follows at the split, instead of the Rt 1 direction. To get back to where we could pick up the route required about a nine point turn, in Friday evening rush hour traffic, so I'm sure the pressure was on. Came out of that okay (tho I'm glad I wasn't in a rush - probably 10 minutes extra), and settled into routine again, when something flying not very well came hurtling down at us - a plump, upended chicken, frantically trying to haul herself out of the way. Several of us squealed, but no thumps were heard, so I'm hopeful that last barrel roll carried her out of harm's way.

Before Emma's today I pottered around town taking more pictures, mostly in Somers Garden, so I've posted a handful. Enjoy! Also a work in progress, and some bits from the studio.