04 September 2008
Weather Report
The storms are supposed to get here as soon as tomorrow. They say we ought to be expecting high winds and water. I don’t know what that is going to do to the pool, but I have a reasonable idea.
The people on the radio are recommending extra batteries, canned goods and diapers. I don't know about the last, but I will keep an open mind.
The timing is bad. If we are going to have awful weather it ought to come when we are supposed to be working. It impacted the Republicans- naturally, no one wanted to be seen conventioning when Gustov’s storm surge was threatening to drown New Orleans again.
The delay in the program piled up the speakers last night, and we had to wade through the also-rans. It was interesting. Patsy Mink s poke, not as one of two Republicans from Hawaii, but as the only Republican female. Rudy Guilliani was at his charming best, and Mitt Romney seemed to be staking out some real estate on the extreme right wing in anticipation of a McCain defeat.
This is a dicey time for the Grand Old Party, and for us, too, since there are two more storms headed for landfall somewhere on the US Mainland, and all that water is going to go somewhere.
The race to the Last Plunge is looming, two precious weekends when the pool is scheduled to be open. Constant vigilance is required. If the weather s narls and thunder booms, Jakob will just padlock the gate and go back to the Czech Republic.
The implications are significant. It could result in a records search of the pool logs to determine who the last one in the water was in the regular season. The Streak- first in, last out- could be in jeopardy.
I feel like Cal Ripken must have felt after he passed There could be an asterisk in the record book for the 2008 Season, the last one that Ms Hamilton will bring world-class mahogany tan to the pool deck. It is the end of an era, and it is uncomfortable being there.
I have set up an easel in the lobby and asked Rhonda at the desk to keep it updated as we get closer. I posted what I could from the National Weather Service to help people plan the weekend.
FRIDAY...PARTLY SUNNY IN THE MORNING...THEN BECOMING MOSTLY CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S. SOUTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH. FRIDAY NIGHT...SHOWERS LIKELY WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE. EAST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH...BECOMING NORTHEAST AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF RAIN 70 PERCENT.
I finished tacking the notice up when one of the new people wandered by looking shocked. Teena is a pert young African-American professional lady. She just bought the little efficiency where I first lived in this building. My crazy landlord apparently moved on after seizing the place back from me and terminating my lease.
I suppose that is what got me into this, since I had to scramble to find another place for all my crap, and wound up listening to her cursing me as I dragged the last shopping cart full of junk away from the door.
She had a storm of her own, of course, and I was not unsympathetic. Apparently the evil step-daughters insisted on selling the house when her husband died, and she needed a place to be. I resolved never to be homeless again, which is how I wound up owning one so small you had to go outside to change your mind.
Teena was looking at the flyer about the Special Assessment. She looked at the weather, and looked at the flyer. “Where am I going to get $3,500 bucks?” she asked. “I just spent everything on buying the apartment.”
“What did you pay?” I asked. I have a morbid curiosity about how much money I have lost. She told me, and I sighed, hoping that the number represented the bottom of the bubble. I brightened a bit when I considered that I had a patio, and she didn’t. It might be worth a couple bucks when I have to cash out of Big Pink.
When I got back to the building, Rhonda was going off shift. She had an update from the Weather Service.
SATURDAY...SHOWERS LIKELY WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDE RSTORMS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE. BREEZY WITH NORTH WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH...INCREASING TO 20 TO 25 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF RAIN 70 PERCENT. .SATURDAY NIGHT...SHOWERS LIKELY WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. CHANCE OF RAIN 60 PERCENT. SUNDAY.
I was plotting the course of the two storms entering the Carribbean and looking at the long range forecast when the Vice Presidential nominee got a chance to speak. After all the stuff that has been said about her this week it was interesting to hear her start off with a roar. She must wear those glasses for effect, I thought, and understood what John McCain must have been thinking when he picked her.
She immediately kicked Senator Obama in the shins, and didn’t stop for more than a half hour.
I looked at the forecast one last time before bed. MONDAY.MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S.
I know what this all means. A few days of Indian Summer during the work days next week, and then the rains will come again.
Damn.
Copyright 2008 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com