homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

SNAFU:

All is well so far. A steady rain is falling with no wind yet as Charlie steadily approaches Wilmington on our southern coast. Winds with up to 60 MPH gusts through midnight tonight are predicted here as the storm passes over us. There will also be hard, wind driven rain. We will likely lose all power sometime late this afternoon or early evening. These storms are not as predictable tracking wise as are the effects once they are on top of you.

Heck I couldn't even begin to count the number of hurricanes on both hands that I've weathered over the years. Growing up in the fifties in storm prone eastern NC, hurricanes and tropical storms were a part of life.

Just about everyone had TVs by then and the hurricane trackers were learning more and more with every new storm. Not only were we made aware that a storm was headed our way days in advance we could watch it's progress on TV. At least tentative preparations and plans were made early enough. Thus began what was to become a serious storm watch tradition from the capital to the coast. We would sit there in the black and white glow of those 17" cathode tubes and watch as the storms came closer and closer.

I remember hurricanes were actually considered fun when I was a little kid. Certainly this was because I was well cared for, kept perfectly safe and I didn't have the worries of the adults. It was also fun because, right or wrong, everyone seemed to think that our house was the most substantial. So all the relatives and neighbors came to our house with their kids to weather out the storms.

We kids just had a big party. When the power went out we had flash lights or played tag or hide and seek in the dark. Of coarse there were periods of total silence as everyone in the house sat quietly, the kids with eyes as big as dinner plates listening to the wind whistle or after something big had just crashed down somewhere outside. Then it was playtime again. Well it was for us kids, anyway.

After the storm was past we had a veritable field day splashing around in the water and climbing in the fallen trees. I remember a gang of us older kids wandering about from home to home looking to see whose trees had fallen. I do not remember seeing any dangerous downed power lines. Surely there were some about the city but not in our neighborhood. I will never be able to enjoy such storms in that manner again of coarse. As adults have far too many responsibilities and serious worries.

Certainly what we expect here is not so bad compared to what the western coastal areas of Florida sustained yesterday and last night. As we prepare for our own rendezvous with nasty Charlie our hearts go out to those families who lost loved ones and to those communities suffering from storm disruptions and damage.

We still have not heard from our friend who is visiting in St. Augustine. We have our fingers crossed and our thumbs pressed for her and her family.

Look out my friend, there will be more than enough of Charlie left over to share with Virginia and Maryland after he finishes with us.

Z2:

Welcome home. That was 104 degrees F. and quite warm indeed even by our standards. I suppose it was dry heat? If the humidity were high it would indeed be intolerable for Europeans or Americans.

That sounds like an interesting read. Most folks will be aware of his bestseller titled "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". The history of our American West from 1840 to the turn of the century is rich with interest. Hollywood has made that era the subject of countless films. As a result, we all grew up wanting to be cowboys or cowgirls because the real story of that rough riding experience was never truly portrayed in film.

Books have saved many a high altitude plane trip from being a total bore for me. Funny, I would rather read about history or historical biographies than anything else yet I read very little about our own other than books about our Un-civil war and all those other wars. As for European history I enjoy reading about the Napoleonic era and of coarse anything that has to do with air warfare and especially the BoB.

Speaking of Custer, you are correct that much new light has been shed upon that tiny bit of the rich history of our old west. One of the privileges of getting long in the tooth is watching as the history we were taught years ago as sacred fact is re-written by ourselves and our children. As the great physicist Jacob Branowski observed (here is a paraphrase)"Facts are only as sound as the current technology of the time is able to determine." Of coarse politics and human nature sometimes conspire to keep true facts about certain events from being widely known. Plus there are always folks who stubbornly refuse to accept new slants on old ideas.

Folks, the time is 10:15 AM and it is getting noticeably darker outside. Tornadoes are a real threat from this point on today. We have already had several deadly funnels spawned in eastern NC over the past 2 days by TS Bonnie. Several unfortunates have lost their precious lives already even though hurricane Charlie is still stirring up the Atlantic.

Who says Friday the 13TH (yesterday)isn't really unlucky. It was lucky for some, the survivors that is. And painfully un-lucky for the others....

Our youngest grandson became two years of age yesterday. Fortunately and yes luckily for all we held his birthday party last Saturday.

OK I'm just rambling on but it is comforting somehow to type all this. Just ignore it if you wish, I won't blame you. Go read somewhere else. We'll be fine of coarse and it will be just an inconvenience to most and perhaps even an interesting phenomenon to our younger crowd.

I'll be checking in here from time to time until the power goes out as it inevitably does with these big storms. The question Always is how long will the electricity be off. SNAFU, the storm is heading your way too so please do the same.