Whipping up a storm
There is a bit of a wind coming.
Now we aren’t talking Category 5 Hurricanes or anything like that, just some wind and rain.
The meeja of course are going into a frenzy. A day or two ago they started warning us of impending doom and that they even had a name ready for this new wind. Wow! Then they became more confident and declared that the storm was officially called Callum. We then had a Yellow Alert but this has been upgraded to and Orange Alert. Double wow!
It’s only a bit of wind and some rain, for fucks sake.
I had the grave misfortune to see the beginning of the news on TV3 last night. [I refuse to call it Virgin Media One as it’s too much of a mouthful, and it’s a naff name anyway.] TV3 is the young people’s tabloid television of the airwaves and in typical TV3 fashion, the storm was the lead article. They breathlessly announced the impending doom with words like “catastrophic”, “deadly” and “extremely dangerous”. They all but told us to buy all available bread and take to the bunkers.
It’s only a bit of wind and some rain, for fucks sake.
I’m waiting for them to “upgrade” the storm to a Status Red. We will a be told to stay indoors and hunker down and under no circumstances are we to venture outdoors. As I speak [?] Crisis Management Teams are meeting around the country. Crisis? Get a grip!
It’s only a bit of wind and some rain, for fucks sake.
Ironically I have to go out tomorrow. I have my first hospital appointment in about twenty five years and I’m not going to miss that. I have to get my eyes looked at [and there loads of jokes in that!]. By all accounts the journey will be interesting, with trees, lorries and inside out umbrellas flying through the air as I drive.
Fuck it.
It’s only a bit of wind and some rain, for fucks sake.
Sounds like your news people and meteorological folks ought to be required to be in Florida and/or the southeast coast of the US when a cat 4 or 5 (heavens forbid a cat 5) comes ashore. Hell, even a cat 3. Then they can talk about what a real heller of a storm is (like the one that just hit Florida…again).
Of course I know you folks over on your side of the pond can get some real hellish storms now and again, one of which I experienced up close and personal.
I happened to be riding around on the North Sea during one of your category 4 equivalents. Three days of fun and thrills transiting the North Sea from north to south in a bottom heavy boat with a round hull and no keel with waves so big you never knew which way the boat would go next. Zero feet to one hundred and fifty all within a few seconds with over 45 degree rolls…
…good thing it was a submarine.
People pay a fortune for that on a roller-coaster, and you got it for nothing?!
What annoys me is the hype over storms here. They treat storms as impending doom, urging us to stay indoors, closing schools and cancelling public transport. Storm surges are a different matter and I feel sorry for those on low lying ground, but all these crisis committees and disaster planning are a bit much.
In our more affluent times the sky is full of trampolines during a decent storm. Complete with the safety enclosure net.
Now we have reverted to the flying wheelie bins.
The people who used to go into the church because they like controlling other people are now to be found in the public services. Holy Days of Obligation, when they were in charge, have been replaced by storm days when they are in charge!
I suspect there is more than a grain of truth in that. Or rather they realised that people could be bossed around, and seeing as religion wasn’t doing the job too well any more they decided they could try.
Incidentally, the storm passed and was basically just a damp squib. We were then supposed to have heavy rain and flooding in the east all afternoon, but it was dry as a bone, with all the rain falling in Wales.