Journal of a Sabbatical

March 22, 2001

way too much

Today's Reading: absolutely nothing

So those gloomy-sounding hydrologists on the radio were onto something. Or as the dippy newscaster on channel 7 put it: "There's way too much water." Way too much indeed.

For once my good sense overcame my shame at being considered a weather wimp and I stayed put. It helped that several of the exits/entrances to I495 and I93 were closed in the general vicinity of the Andovers. Where exactly would I go?

Besides that I felt terrible this morning independent of the fact that the streets are flooded. For some reason I could not fall asleep when I got home last night despite my being extremely tired. And it was very cold in my bedroom as the wind whistled right in through the chinks around the window and through the thin plastic cover over the air conditioner. It made no difference that I put a flannel pajama top over the air conditioner and piled extra covers on the bed. I was freezing. When I woke up this morning I discovered I had slept curled in a tight ball. A very tight ball. Every muscle in my body was stiff and achy. I could barely uncurl. So I didn't particularly want to go anywhere today anyway. Even after a long hot shower.

Fortunately, I still have power so can work on various odds and ends related to Hungarian dendrologists and stray cats.

When I did finally make one brief foray out of the house I discovered I live on an island. The water was hubcap deep in places. Orange reflectorized barrels and yellow caution tape marked off an obstacle course on Elm Street. A geyser squirted up in the middle of a side street off of Elm. That was pretty entertaining as long as I didn't have to drive down there. I immediately went back home. There was nothing I could think of that would make me keep driving dodging black pools of unknown depth.

According to the TV weather dudes, the Shawsheen is only going to flood in Wilmington today. Also according to the weather dudes, the Merrimack isn't going to crest until Saturday so I have a lot to look forward to. Meanwhile, it has changed to snow.