Storm Gods Not Angered, But Certainly Piqued
Rather nasty storm last night on the frontier. I was certainly surprised, because weather is usually mild here. Even summer thunderstorms blowing in from the west or south that start out violent have vented most of their anger and energy on New York or Connecticut- as so many of us will- before they get here. Typically we'll get some snarling, but it's brief and only signals sustained rain to come.
Last night was different. Between 2.30, when I was startled awake by what sounded like a tank's main gun firing (CRACK!!!) beneath my window, until the worst had blown over and I got back to sleep around 3.40, was sustained electrical disturbance and violent atmospheric shockwaves therefrom. Or what I used to call "thunderinlightning".
With me not being accustomed to sustained atmospheric violence, the storm gods certainly had my undivided attention. I couldn't remember the last time I experienced such a storm; there wasn't even that much rain, really. But it was certainly the first time I noticed the smaller subtleties within the larger cacophony.
Different thunders: sustained, tearing ones; low rumbling ones; sharp violent ones. The tank gun "CRACK"s were sudden and powerful but over in a split second. The low rumblers were like artillery, shaking the entire house for several seconds and even feeling reverberations in my own chest. Others still did all of these things at once, or maybe simultaneous discharges made it seem so. Oftentimes with many every minute. And it went on...and on...and on, for over an hour.
It was the light show though that made a true spectacle. Everything was dark, with no ambient light, then lightning flashes would illuminate the whole room, but just for a second, in that purplish glow only lightning delivers and in a weird, pulsating strobe. And as with the thunder, several times a minute for an hour.
The whole experience was Studio 54 on the eyes and the Western Front on the ears.
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YEAH!
YEAH!
I was already awake because my dirtbag neighbors and their twelve year old daughter were awake and fighting at 3:30 AM, when I heard an explosion that sounded like Boston had been vaporized.
Then came the real show, just like you said. The best were the ones that sounded like rocket attacks: "zzzzzzwwwwwwoooooooooOOOOOOSHKRAK!" At least it drowned out my asshole neighbors.
Asshole neighbors can be alot
Asshole neighbors can be alot of fun. We should post about that sometime. The biggest thing I miss about moving from my last place was the kooks who lived next door.
Oh, and the wild eyed, perpetually shirtless Jerry Garcia-looking guy who lived on the other side of my building and once swore, screaming at the top of his lungs, that he was going to kill me. Actually his exact words were, "You're a dead man! Dead MAN!! DEEAAD MAAAAANNN!!!" as he beat against his windows from inside his apartment.
Man I miss that place sometimes.
Um, right- the storm. As I lay there thinking about all the flash bang, it just reinforced the rather obvious fact that nature can be terrifically destructive. I remember in the Iliad, Homer describing destruction that war unleashes to that of a violent storm. I imagine that was the most destructive thing a seafaring society could experience. And you know what- that's plenty.
PS Great job by the way on your approximation of rockets' sounds with your keyboard!
Great descriptive technique.
Great descriptive technique. Put me right back in the middle of a storm we had about 4 nights back. Not unusual for Florida.
But I dunno about the most destructive thing a seafaring society could experience. I was once out on a boat in a storm that provided some very lovely waterspouts (they are known as tornados on land). We did manage to avoid them, obviously, since I'm still here talking about it.
Got to New Hampshire a little
Got to New Hampshire a little later, about 3:30. I guess we're a little behind the times up here in the great frozen north :-). But then, it wasn't quite as noisy here, either, so there are compensations.