Paradise Lost
I guess like most Floridians I’ve been through enough hurricanes to know that the majority of people over react. I guess that is good, since being in the path of a category 3 or larger storm can cause some real devastation. I didn’t expect much from Frances, but in the end it did some damage to St Augustine. While the damage was mostly roof tiles and beach erosion, for me personally the hardest challenge has been living without electricity.
I think civilization hangs by a very thin thread and a lot of that has to do with modern conveniences. There was a reason why this swampland we call a state was largely unpopulated prior to the invention of air conditioning and ice. I haven’t had either in days. Of course, I’m at work and I don’t think I have ever been so happy to report for duty. The cool AC and the abundance of information available through the internet has really made me appreciate what I’ve been without lately.
Some time after midnight last night, after sweating off a good 10 pounds, I decided to create a screen for my window. For those of you who live in places without millions of subspecies of creatures that think your flesh as the staple of their diet, opening a window without a screen in Florida is moronic and downright suicidal. So I sliced an old tee shirt and with a roll of duct tape created a screen. It was an invention MacGyver would be proud of. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much at all. Sometime after 4 AM, I trekked to Wal Mart to see if maybe they had battery operated fans. I don’t think anyone has laughed as hard as the guy working the graveyard shift in sporting goods did when some sweaty moron with bed head asked him that ridiculous question in the middle of the night.
Finally, I managed to sleep in my car with the AC going for an hour. It was the best quality sleep I had all night, but like ice and warm food, gas is a hot commodity right now. So I had to conserve it and crawl back into my miserable hot bed. Luckily the cold shave and shower this morning really cooled me off. Somewhere between the kids you see on UNICEF ads with flies around their heads and the lifestyle most of the free world is leading right now exists a group of refugees at the mercy of Florida Power and Light. Granted, things could have been much worse and in the grand scheme of things living with fewer amenities for a few days pales in comparison with the way most of the world lives. Like I said, civilization as we know it hangs by a very thin string. Just do yourself a favor and buy a battery powered fan ahead of time.
I guess like most Floridians I’ve been through enough hurricanes to know that the majority of people over react. I guess that is good, since being in the path of a category 3 or larger storm can cause some real devastation. I didn’t expect much from Frances, but in the end it did some damage to St Augustine. While the damage was mostly roof tiles and beach erosion, for me personally the hardest challenge has been living without electricity.
I think civilization hangs by a very thin thread and a lot of that has to do with modern conveniences. There was a reason why this swampland we call a state was largely unpopulated prior to the invention of air conditioning and ice. I haven’t had either in days. Of course, I’m at work and I don’t think I have ever been so happy to report for duty. The cool AC and the abundance of information available through the internet has really made me appreciate what I’ve been without lately.
Some time after midnight last night, after sweating off a good 10 pounds, I decided to create a screen for my window. For those of you who live in places without millions of subspecies of creatures that think your flesh as the staple of their diet, opening a window without a screen in Florida is moronic and downright suicidal. So I sliced an old tee shirt and with a roll of duct tape created a screen. It was an invention MacGyver would be proud of. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much at all. Sometime after 4 AM, I trekked to Wal Mart to see if maybe they had battery operated fans. I don’t think anyone has laughed as hard as the guy working the graveyard shift in sporting goods did when some sweaty moron with bed head asked him that ridiculous question in the middle of the night.
Finally, I managed to sleep in my car with the AC going for an hour. It was the best quality sleep I had all night, but like ice and warm food, gas is a hot commodity right now. So I had to conserve it and crawl back into my miserable hot bed. Luckily the cold shave and shower this morning really cooled me off. Somewhere between the kids you see on UNICEF ads with flies around their heads and the lifestyle most of the free world is leading right now exists a group of refugees at the mercy of Florida Power and Light. Granted, things could have been much worse and in the grand scheme of things living with fewer amenities for a few days pales in comparison with the way most of the world lives. Like I said, civilization as we know it hangs by a very thin string. Just do yourself a favor and buy a battery powered fan ahead of time.
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