My Choice

Stephanie said to pick one and hate it more. I picked, but not exactly in the way she’d intended: I hate weather extremes.

(Well, I have a sick obsession with watching anything about extreme weather on TV, which is also why I’ve seen Twister about 5 times and why I wrote down the opening day of The Day After Tomorrow in my calendar and saw it on opening day, but in real life? Not thrilled with it. Except thunderstorms)

I hate that one month during the winter where being outside will cause various appendages to fall off, hitting the icy street with an audible ‘clink’. I hate that time during the summer where it’s too hot to be outside and yet inside, even though the A/C is on, your sheets are clammy (at least they’re cold-clammy, not hot-clammy). I hate not being able to breathe freely, either because the cold’s so bad it takes your breath away or it’s so smoggy, you can taste the air.

Gotta admit though… that thunderstorm we had last night was rather incredible. A little before dinner, I looked out the window and saw a beautiful, tall cloud that looked like whipped cream that’s been whipped to the point of almost-solidity. Thought briefly to myself that it looked like one of those tornado clouds you see in shows on the Discovery Channel about storm chasers, except white (and white clouds are by definition innocuous, right?) and went back to making dinner.

An hour later, I was watching an equally tall cloud the colour of charcoal (way less innocuous) chase its way across the sky with the speed of the bullet train (well, maybe not quite, but it sounds good) and then the lightning started. When I was living in Denmark and watched old Hollywood movies, I always thought the thunderstorms were… shall we put it diplomatically and say “depicted with excessive artistic licence”? Essentially, I thought the beautiful one minute, insane storm with high winds, torrential downpour, continuous lightning and thunder that rattles the windows the next, was someone’s idea of an archetypal thunderstorm – a complete fabrication. The best kind of story there is: take reality and then crank it up to 11. Couldn’t possibly be like that in real life could it? Imagine my surprise when I moved here…

Anyway, the storm last night was incredible. Scared the crap out of the cat, though. Literally.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Scott and I watched the storm from my bedroom. Typical 11 year old reaction with a worried look and shaky voice:
Is this a hurricane, tornado?

No, came the definitive, reassuring reply. Isn't the sky incredible? Look at the clouds, look at the lightening. Don't worry we're safe.

Oh, well then, can I play PS2? Sigh. Maybe one day he'll remember this moment with his children except they'll ask if they can transport to some exotic locale.

One thing I did learn was from you. I didn't know that one shouldn't talk on the phone during a thunderstorm. I thought that was an urban legend. So, now I know....

Next time, I challenge us to stay on through the entire storm.
12:25 PM
Anonymous said…
Weird: Other side of the country but we had a thunderstorm too. They are way more rare in Vancouver than Ontario way. I guess being away from weather extremes has left me waxing nostalgic. Just like I love the ocean, I love having nature remind me that I am another speck of dust. That way, the dust specks collecting around here, are not dirt, they're like relatives.
12:42 PM
Anonymous said…
Aw, poor kitty. Ours didn't twitch a whisker, but then she is pretty much, as far as we can tell, deaf.
7:01 PM
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