17 August 2007

Dean

There
are
some
things
in
life
that you can never prepare for.

Even if you have packed everything you possess in plastic
bags, moved to a 'safe' place, stored your 3 buckets
of water and have enough tinned goods to feed an army,
turned off the current, bought candles and kerosene,
secured all livestock, trimmed trees,
stocked up on medication, brought in the veranda
furniture, topped up your cell phone and finally found
your birth certificate, passport etc.

and given that you live in a house with solid walls, hurricane clips
holding down the roof and are up in the hills, not close to the sea,
in an area where there are never any landslides and the river
won't wash your house away, even if you did all of this in plenty
of time, or you actually keep all of these things ready, just in case,

none of the above,
nothing,
can prepare anyone
for the
gut wrenching, heart pounding, nerve stretching
fear
that grips
at the approach of this indescribable,
relentless,
unforgiving

energy.


(I don't mean to scare,
although, in my wickedest moments
I would quite like to see one particular
'Tropical Update' presenter from the Weather Channel
removed from the saccharine smiles studio
and into the eye of the storm.)

9 comments:

  1. Okay, this post is terrifying me. Are you in danger? Is a hurricane headed your way?

    ReplyDelete
  2. OOOPs, sorry if i've given the impression that Dean is threatening Grenada, it's not and we're all fine.
    My thoughts are with all in the islands in it's path though and my post was simply to express how it feels in the hope of creating awareness and support for those that need it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought of you when I read about Dean on the net this morning (you, and the father of a dear friend of mine who also lives on Grenada) I hope you escape this one. From what I have seen of the island, it's beauty far outweighs the danger, but still....

    Be safe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My mother often told me - beratingly - that I almost completely lack self-preservation instinct. I guess it might be true, because I somehow always fail to feel scared when a natural (or other) disaster is approaching, I am so curiously anticipating being a part of it. It happened in California with earthquakes - I would do almost everything the instructions tell you NOT to, in order to see better what was going on and feeling in awe. It then happened in Texas - both with tornadoes when I lived outside of Austin, when 5 different tornadoes hit at the same time in the same area, two of them passing one and one-and-a-half miles from my home, wiping out a newly built grocery store (boy, was it weird ro see pickup trucks hanging from oak trees) and an entire neighborhood - I did not hide, but watched transfixed. Later, the same happened with a huricane Rita: when the evacuation order for my barrier island came, I was both waaay too sick (with denguesque symptoms after a business trip to the tropics) and too loaded with unexpected responsibility (a stray cat moved into my bedroom - when I was sleeping - with four newborn kittens - apparently seeking a safe-haven from the waves, which already taken out the entire wide beach and started taking over the dunes in front of my house... so I had no choice but to to take care of those trusting creatures) to feel scared. My mind was too preoccupied with the thought of how to evacuate myself and my new "lifestock" alone and with about 101 degrees fever. Lol.
    Seems like right kind of distraction might save you from being fearful. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Deb,
    thanks, we're very safe. Dean just gave us a light show with some extravagant sound effects last night.

    It looks as though Jamaica is the one to watch out for.
    Zooms.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Minerva,
    sounds like you have lived an interesting life- where do we get to read about it?
    I think Dengue might be a bit too much of a distraction for me but, if you care to check out the link, La Gringa has some very interesting info on that topic.
    warmest regards
    Zooms

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, zooms, for the "interesting life" comment, but in my home country of Poland, when it was under communist rule, we used to jokingly warn each other when someone exceeded not only the (extremely meager) allowable but also (slightly more generous) tolerable limits of criticism of the regime, asking the "offender" : "you wish to have an interesting life, huh?" thinking of - at the very least - imminent 24 hours jail time without any charge. So "interesting life" to me still propably means something entirely different that it does to you.

    As for reading about my interesting and "interesting" life:I am sometimes encouraged (twice even by a publisher) to write a memoir, but - in order to be fair to my heritage etc. I should probably write it simultaneusly in three or four langaguages - actually, three or four different versions, because things that need explanation when told in English do not need that when told in Polish, or in Swedish. I am still capable to do that, I think (with editorial help, of course), but ... who would I delegate the task to, once I got bored with it?
    So how about glimpses in blog comments instead ? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think that glimpses in blog comments would be perfect Minerva and thank you for enhancing this blog with them.
    warmest regards,
    Zooms

    ReplyDelete
  9. lol.. why you wishing hurricane on the people! Lol..
    Seriously though, you definitely hit the nail on the head with your description of what people go through when "preparing" for a hurricane. I did most of that stuff and more today.
    I saw neighbours cutting down trees, re-modeling. Instead of making additons to their houses they were making subtractions.

    ReplyDelete

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