Hurricano!
Since I grew up in the southeast, I’m not unfamiliar with hurricanes (or as we called them “El Hurricano el Grande”).
The one where I drove to NYC and back
I forget which one this was. Fran?
For whatever dumb 20-something reason, I drove up to NYC to visit Eric(W). To clarify, visiting Eric(W) is not a dumb thing, but I’m also not sure I had the money to be traveling and also I was stupid.
While up in NYC, I see on the news that a hurricane is about to wallop the town of Wilmington (NC) where I tragically I was keeping all my stuff and cat. So, I jumped back into the car and drove south to try and get home to close my windows.
When I crossed the border between VA and NC, the hurricane was just waiting for me. I called my grandmother, who lived somewhat close by, and asked if I could stop by.
The next day:
- My car got bumped in a parking lot and messed up a headlight
- I drove down I-40 to Wilmington and what normally was a 3 hour drive was now a 6 hour drive as the interstate and side roads kept being flooded.
- The church steeple across the street from our apartment fell and smashed on the street. Somehow it fell away from our building, the historic fountain, the historic mansion, and didn’t squash anyone.
The one where we napped
According to the Wikipedia, this must have been Emily. Or Bertha? Crap. I wish we had Facebook back then.
Two things:
(1) Everyone’s pal Jungle “Jim” and I went over to our pal Matt’s apartment to get beer during the hurricane. On the way back, the storm picked up and I remember the amazing train/locomotive sound of the wind coming up the street as we ran home. At that point, I said, “never again will I go out in a hurricane”.
(2) The power went out. We had beer and food and working gas stoves so we gorged and then slept through the afternoon as the hurricane rattled the windows.
The one that just happened
Sandy. So, our rickety old building has (so far) survived and been solid. There was more wind than rain, which is fine as the building likes to leak from time to time.
A friend of mine just texted me to say that his parent’s house in Long Island was literally destroyed by a tree. Sad. Mere blocks from us, people had crazy flooding as well.
We’ll be out of the office for a while I think.
