Last Thursday started out normally enough here in Richmond. I'm never one to pay too much attention to the local news, especially when they go into panic mode, so even after 3 days hearing about how Hurricane Isabel was possibly going to wash the entire state of Virginia into the Atlantic, I wasn't overly concerned. In fact, Thursday morning started with me falling down outside my apartment building, leading to what is now a kickass bruise and a skinned knee.
Anyway, we got out of work at noon on Thursday. There was already some general blusteriness (is that a word?) going on, and it had started to rain. I sat myself down for some quality time with Y&R, but the local news stations all had TEAM COVERAGE of the hurricane. This included my favorite part of any hurricane coverage, the correspondent out at some beach telling us all that "The wind is really starting to pick up!!" It's especially good when they wear hats. I don't know what leads these numbnuts to believe that gale force winds will rip trees out of the ground, but won't blow hats off their heads.
So, at about 3 pm, as I was watching a Lifetime movie starring the incomparable Jennie Garth, the power went out... it's been out now for a week. My office has power, which I'm torn over. On one hand, I can get online, and experience fluorescent lights, and generally have something to do. On the other hand, I have to go to work, which I could do without.
Things around here are still a mess. Trees and telephone poles are down everywhere. Worse yet, there are traffic lights out all over town, so there have been lots of accidents involving people who don't understand that Just Because You Don't See A Red Light Doesn't Mean You Can Barrel Through The Intersection. I'm smack in the middle of a pretty large area without power, including my apartment complex, a couple of residential subdivisions, and an office park. The cool part is the nighttime visibility that we're getting as a result of the lack of light near us. I've seen stars over the past few nights that I know I haven't seen in years.
It could be worse, of course. I could have had a tree fall on my car. I could have had a tree fall on ME, for that matter. My apartment could have flooded. All in all, a week without power isn't all that terrible, I guess.
Snaps to the Amish. I don't know how they do it.