Mixed in with the relief that this island was once again spared the effects of a hurricane, I'm somewhat ashamed to say, is a feeling of disappointment that once again I missed the thrill of a passing storm. I remember Hurricane Iwa in 1982. I was working for the post office at the Honolulu Airport, and even though most businesses and government offices were closed, we were considered essential, so I drove to work just before things got diciest. The sky was a gray-green color I've never seen before or since, large items were flying through the air above the freeway, the winds were pushing my little VW Rabbit around...and I felt completely exhilarated. Ah well, probably just the low pressure.
Now everyone who feverishly checked and re-checked the satellite images and forecasts has to go back to...whatever it was they did before. Normal life. How boring.
But normal life is still good. This is part of the trail I walk 5 days a week. Not too shabby.
It's some compensation for missing horrendous damaging wind, rain, and surf, I suppose.
1 comment:
John - I know how you feel, it's hard to understand something until you experience it yourself. I was also looking forward, in a weird kind of way, to experiencing a real storm. Then again, I'm also glad I didn't. A bit of a conflict of interests.
A very good friend of mine who now lives out this way experienced a really bad storm on the mainland some years ago. I think it was Hurricane Andrew but I need to check that with him. He ignored all the evacuation warnings and stayed home and was even interviewed by CNN over the phone right in the middle of the storm. He has sworn since then never to stay at home during a hurricane again.
Makes you wonder - despite all the horror stories about hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, it's simply human nature that wants to experience these things first hand.
Tom
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