Our friend Buzz Singer, who lives in Bangkok, updated us on his situation there. Thankfully, he is safe, and his neighborhood is unaffected by all the flooding that hit Thailand.
This takes me back to October 29, 1989, when Hurricane Hugo slammed into Charlotte, NC, where I was living at the time. I did not have electricity in my home for eight days. Everywhere trees were down, and some unlucky folks had trees or branches smash their cars or the roofs of their homes. Lawns were a mess, strewn with leaves, branches, or downed trees. I couldn’t leave my house because a fallen tree lay across the street, blocking the corner, and making it impossible to drive. For months afterward, I could hear the sound of buzz saws in the distance. Cut branches and tree limbs were piled at the curb and it took months for it all to be cleared away.
I had water (but not hot water) and telephone service, but that was about it. Cold cereal for breakfast with apple juice or water instead of milk, just doesn’t do it. No hot showers, just cold washcloths for bathing. Grocery store clerks were handling checkouts with little hand calculators and I could only buy canned and packaged goods. Junk food was available; meat, dairy, and frozen food was not. Two days after the hurricane hit, Ben and Jerry’s was giving away ice cream because they had no electricity. People were barbequing meat and chicken, and inviting neighbors to a feast because the food had defrosted and freezers were useless.