I drove south. The Polar Vortex let up and it started warming up once more. I played the Pixies' Dolittle, and the Hal Willner Son of Rogues Gallery, which left me with sea shanties in my head and craving for Men O' War and suchlike, so went to Audible and downloaded Simon Vance reading the Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles.
In South Carolina this morning, the man at the next table said, "Well, that was winter, all two days of it". The drive was uneventful... almost uneventful...
The strangest and scariest partof the drive was the final few minutes: the final mile of the road I reached, the road that the house I'm staying in is located on, was flash-flooded.
But I'd been driving for most of the previous 48 hours. And I'd just stopped and bought groceries. It seemed unthinkable not to keep going. I didn't stop and think about what happens when you stall in floods, or that a Mini is not a very high car, and I was not thinking about having to wade to safety if the Mini did stall...
So I kept going, and by the time I realised it had been a mistake, and that there was sometimes over a foot of water, it was too late.
In retrospect, only an idiot would drive an overloaded Mini for a mile down a badly flooded road, in the vague belief that the flooding would get better sooner or later.
And only a very lucky idiot would have made it quite safely down a flooded road, without accident, all the way to the place where he'll be staying.
And I did. Lucky idiot.
The house I'm staying is (I am happy to say) relatively high off the ground. The car is parked at the bottom the steps up to the house, and I am hoping it is still there tomorrow morning and has not floated away.
I'd planned to start jogging here tomorrow morning. I may be wading instead. We'll find out.
...
I loved this story about the Australian scientists' apology for not spending more time researching dragons. You may like it too. From their blog: http://csironewsblog.com/2014/01/06/accelerating-our-dragon-rd-program/
And I was relieved that Time Out gave Amanda a five star review for her show. I do not miss her yet, but soon.
In South Carolina this morning, the man at the next table said, "Well, that was winter, all two days of it". The drive was uneventful... almost uneventful...
The strangest and scariest partof the drive was the final few minutes: the final mile of the road I reached, the road that the house I'm staying in is located on, was flash-flooded.
But I'd been driving for most of the previous 48 hours. And I'd just stopped and bought groceries. It seemed unthinkable not to keep going. I didn't stop and think about what happens when you stall in floods, or that a Mini is not a very high car, and I was not thinking about having to wade to safety if the Mini did stall...
So I kept going, and by the time I realised it had been a mistake, and that there was sometimes over a foot of water, it was too late.
In retrospect, only an idiot would drive an overloaded Mini for a mile down a badly flooded road, in the vague belief that the flooding would get better sooner or later.
And only a very lucky idiot would have made it quite safely down a flooded road, without accident, all the way to the place where he'll be staying.
And I did. Lucky idiot.
The house I'm staying is (I am happy to say) relatively high off the ground. The car is parked at the bottom the steps up to the house, and I am hoping it is still there tomorrow morning and has not floated away.
I'd planned to start jogging here tomorrow morning. I may be wading instead. We'll find out.
...
I loved this story about the Australian scientists' apology for not spending more time researching dragons. You may like it too. From their blog: http://csironewsblog.com/2014/01/06/accelerating-our-dragon-rd-program/
And I was relieved that Time Out gave Amanda a five star review for her show. I do not miss her yet, but soon.
Labels: Flood, I could always build an ark