A photoblog and other things

Most of this morning has been spent catching up with workmates and what their experience with the hurricane was. Although many have had their power restored, some haven’t (including myself) and it actually shows. I made a fairly good effort to make it look like stuff was normal by shaving this morning and this has fooled people into thinking that I have power back. It is taking me a while to get any sort of intelligent thought back into my head though.

I’ve got drinkable water back now in the house but it looks like I’ll be eating out for a while until power comes back. I must say though I don’t mind not having electricity so much as I’ve been occupying myself with other things like playing guitar. The great plus with having electricity though is that I could edit and post pictures I’ve taken online, but in the interim you could always look at these pictures of destroyed major transmission lines from the Florida Power and Light website. Oh and it’s not like I’m the only person who’s taken pictures of Wilma’s effects.

I’ve just arrived in Orlando for a halloween festival and I must mention just how glad I am to be out of South Florida. Hurricane Wilma was the first real hurricane I’ve experienced. From watching amazingly stong winds blow down trees early Monday morning to living without electricity, phone or drinkable water until I left this afternoon, it is something I don’t really want to experience again. The experience was worthwhile, yes, but that’s enough thanks. One of the most dangerous things I’ve had to do is drive around without working traffic lights. The traffic lights weren’t working not only because there was no electricity, but because in a lot of cases they just weren’t there anymore. Trees everywhere were down. Powerlines were strewn across roads. The scenery changed so much that I drove past an entrance to a street because I didn’t recognise it anymore – and of course a lot of the street signs had been blown down. There were massive lines for car fuel at the few pumping stations that were working (there was no power to pump the fuel so some stations had to get backup generators in). The only time I really bothered with a car was to visit friends and to find reception for and to charge my cell phone. All the other times I travelled about was on a mountain bike to pick up water or get cell phone service.

Forget all the rest of the hurricanes I’ve been through, they were nothing compared to Wilma’s effects on South Florida. For the photo curious I have lots and lots of pictures but I don’t have the tools to post any of them yet to my flickr account.

So now I’m looking forward to a hot shower, decent water, hot food, working traffic lights and no curfews… and hopefully when I return to Fort Lauderdale Sunday night I’ll at least have some of those little conveniences back.

Adios.

Hopefully I’m able to hit “publish post” before the power goes out this time…

Wilma is nearly upon us (as in, the worst is yet to come) and not long ago I was woken by the howling winds outside my bedroom window. It’s still pretty dark outside. I added another notch to my belt of experiences in the US, that of putting up hurricane shutters. I was able to convince my flatmate yesterday that this would be a good idea so we spent a few hours figuring out how the shutters got put up. That was a downright pain in the arse but we got the big windows on the bottom floor shuttered up as well as a top floor window that was pretty large.

This hurricane is also pretty interesting as it’s the first strong hurricane that has come through these parts since I’ve completely moved to the US. So, my feelings about hurricanes are a little different this time. I’m not as excited about them this time around because I’m living in my own place (well, I rent) and I have my own car which I worry about.

I did get the opportunity to have a hurricane party with a couple of friends Saturday night. We had lots of good food and drank a few hurricanes. It was a fantastic night and I even learnt how to dance a bit of salsa and meringue as the host of the party was also a latin dance teacher.

Wow, it’s getting really windy out there now. I can hear debris being blown about and when it was dark before you could see a massive flash of light as a transformer blew and the power cut out. The power always seems to come back on though.

This is the 6th time I’ve attempted to post this update due to power problems. I’m going to hit that “publish post” button quick smart as I think power around here ain’t going to be on for much longer.

Ok, so I’ve just arrived at work and I’m feeling a little better this morning, but I think I need some music medicine to get the rest of the bad demons away. I’m going to see if this little concoction will work:

Writing to reach you – Travis (to match my mood)
Easy – Faith no more
I feel loved – Depeche Mode
Sweetness and light – Itchy and scratchy (classic track that one)
I still haven’t found what I’m looking for – U2 (awesome, awesome song)
Last train to trancentral – KLF
Anything but you – Way out west (awesome dance track)
No leaf clover – Metallica
Hold your colour – Pendulum (wickedly awesome DnB from some Oz guys)
Feelings – Shy FX and T Power (nice DnB track)

Yeah, I reckon that’ll do quite nicely.