John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 39 - 08/27/99
As so often is the case for me a visit to New England has once again been followed by a bad cold. My wife takes pains to remind me that I tend to get sick when I return home from any vacation. In fact, I can recall several vacations where I had nasty colds while we were away, including a really miserable trip to Disney World back in the 1980's. Someone at work suggested that it may be that one of the members of my wife's family is trying to do me in, which also could be possible.
In any event, when I have a cold, I don't sleep very well, but finally on Wednesday night I was able to get to sleep only to be awakened by a torrential thunder storm at around 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning. I can never before recall our house actually shaking with each clap of thunder. These thunderstorms that we have seen over the last week are not exactly what we need to help our drought situation. More often they lead to flooding rather than any serious absorption in the parched ground.
We are now faced with a real dilemma. Hurricane Dennis is predicted to hit the North Carolina coast over the weekend. The weather prognosticators are undecided as to whether the storm will track up the east coast or be pushed off to sea by a Canadian high approaching from the west. While the tri-state region could certainly use the rain that a storm like this would bring, the destruction that so often can accompany such a storm is not something to be desired by anyone.
As someone who works from time to time for an property/casualty insurance carrier I can tell you that our managers and property unit are also hoping that Dennis finds his way out to sea.
The last time that Philadelphia was seriously hit by a hurricane was back in the 1980's when I was still working in Center City on 24th floor of a building at 1818 Market Street. I remember how they evacuated the building and sent everyone home as the storm approached. I also remember the drive home as trees swayed in the wind and branches flew around me.
When I was a teenager my father and I were in San Juan, Puerto Rico when a hurricane struck the island. We had been on a tour of old city of San Juan that day and I remember watching people boarding up their windows. Indeed, they closed all of the shutters of the windows at the Coronado Beach Hotel. I remember sitting in the room listening to the winds howl all about me. It's one of those experiences that you look back on with both a sense of amazing excitement and yet terror. I guess I enjoy those types of experiences.
Speaking of disasters, how depressing are the Eagles and especially their offense. As I write this column, I am watching the pre-season game against the Vikings. The Eagles have no offense at all. It's a real shame because their defense seems quite good as do their special teams. I think that this is going to be a long season.
For those of you who read Monday's column about our About.com gathering in Tarrytown, New York, our Guide to Wine at About.com, Lisa Shea, has posted some photos of the party on her personal site. You can take a peek at some of your About.com Guides having fun after a hard day at work.
Well, that's my spin on things. I hope that you all had a great weekend. You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/16/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/18/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/20/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/23/99