florence
The thing about having completed a dissertation whose subject matter dealt with insured losses resulting from hurricanes, is that it turns the author into a hurricane-crazed geek who suddenly finds tropical storm warnings, nautical miles, and Saffir-Simpson scales the most fascinating things ever. I feel like a plane-watcher. Or worse -- a trainspotter complete with dorky anorak, thick-rimmed glasses, and notepad. But at the very least, I can proudly claim to be a geeky hurricane-watcher with a gorgeous Burberry trenchcoat -- note not anorak. So there.Hurricane Florence is due to hit Bermuda at 11.00 AST today. The thought of it is making me queasy, although I admit to refreshing the National Hurricane Center's forecast and public advisory webpages every few hours with some degree of anticipation. I have been terrified that the somewhat inevitable power outages will mean that I won't know whether my boyfriend is safe. I have also been harbouring absurd fantasies about storm surges swallowing all of Bermuda whole. Additionally I have been rather concerned about my soon-to-be office, which happens to sit on the harbour, and is likely to flood in such events. In other words -- my already-overactive imagination has been running rampant. This is not helped much by the images of locals boarding up windows with plywood, and people wavering in the wind on a blustery coastline (grab a palm tree, people!) that my boyfriend has been sending to me -- since viewing them I have been getting increasingly nervous. I've been trying to reassure myself that Florence is not a Katrina, or Rita, or Wilma, or any other cutely-named bitch of a storm. But -- as my 77-page dissertation tells me -- hurricanes are never predictable. Forecasters have been warning that Florence is getting bigger. Erm, thanks.
All of this is set to happen on a day when absolutely everything could go wrong. I am submitting my dissertation today, which sounds easier than it actually is. It will be an all-day event in Oxford, and that's only if there is enough toner in the printer cartridge to accommodate the printing of over 300 pages of material (I am required to submit more than one copy). Thinking about everything I have to do in Oxford with regards to finishing any unfinished business exhausts me so I won't get into it here. And it is September 11th. Which means that -- call me paranoid -- as much as I want to avoid society in general, I have no choice. There. I said it.
Let's hope that the tomorrow passes quickly and quietly. I can't wait to be done with all of this so that I can actually enjoy my last week in London, as well as try to secure a flat in Bermuda. But that, my friends, is another story for another day...
L'Esthete @ 00:56
