November Typhoon
We spent most of today, Friday, November 23, 2007, getting ready for the typhoon that is supposed to hit our area of the Philippines sometime tonight or tomorrow, or maybe Sunday. Or it won’t hit at all, better still. But we can’t know what it will do, so must prepare for the worst. Waiting till it actually hits would be far too late. It seemed new and different until I thought about how we would prepare for hurricanes in New Bedford where I grew up. You stocked all of the staples like bread and milk and batteries and candles. As a kid, I thought it was fun. No school and no property worries. Property worries were for my parents. Now I have property worries.
Some folks plan for a quick getaway if things get rough in the marina. But Nick says, when things get rough it’s too late to go. You need to leave way before or stay put secured where you are.
So today I walked to Royale to stock up on bread, butter, fruit and veggies. We’ve loads of canned goods in the pantry, including boxes of milk. I remember, back in the day (as they say now instead of back in the olden days,) we had canned evaporated milk or worse, powdered milk that wouldn’t spoil if the electricity was off for days. I went early; Royale opens at 10:00: but the store was empty. Not like home where the hint of a storm and the grocery stores, or hardware stores if it were a winter storm, were packed and the shelves of bread, eggs, and milk picked clean. The bread aisle was pretty sparse, probably not stocked yet, but the store was pretty empty and shelves full. I found romaine and green leaf lettuce, mangoes, and Kettle Chips. I got Fig Newtons and brownie mix. I bought cream of celery soup with a tuna casserole recipe on the label and also some sweet relish for salmon salad. I even stopped at the National Bookstore for postcards to write to my non-computerized friends. Sad for me I realized they did sell Sports Illustrated and I had missed the Red Sox issues so, please someone, save them for me! I would be ever so grateful. (gag) I asked if I could get a back issue and the clerk checked and told me the name of a store that would have it. Where, I asked. Manila was the answer. Oh well, we are thinking of going back next week with Nick and Zaida. By car, not boat.
I digress. When I returned hot and sweaty from Royale it was time to prepare DoraMac for the storm. We added extra dock lines, pulled up the dinghy that had been in the water having work done to it. We filled the fresh water tanks. We moved everything that was loose on the deck and tied the flybridge cushion down so they wouldn’t blow away. Our flybridge bimini, the side awnings and the cockpit cover need to come down, but those are last minute things.
With things stowed away, Randal and I walked to the Scuba Shack for lunch. The Philippine Advertising Association is having its 20th Congress here in Subic and the beachfront is lined with temporary souvenir stalls and eateries. I can’t imagine them withstanding any kind of bad weather. The waitress at the Scuba Shack already knew I would have a Coke light and calamari. I should have stuck to it because the grilled mahi mahi wasn’t as good as their usual fare. Live and learn. But it was nice to be treated as a regular. Canadian Bob and his son Kyle came in with some friends and we all chatted about this, that, and the weather. Actually we spoke about politics and the weather, the former we choose, from apathy not to change and the latter, we unfortunately change with pollution and apathy. But again, I digress.
After lunch Randal went on to the Internet Café (wifi sporadic again) to handle some boat issues and I returned to DoraMac to finish filling the water tank and last minute clean up. I made sure all of the hatches were totally secured down with the 3 arms rather than just the one we can use from outside the boat. Now I’m sitting here typing this and Randal is off having his teeth cleaned. Just a bit ago I went out to chat with Canadian Bob and Nick and eavesdrop as they talked about the latest weather report. Seems the storm may not hit, or at least wait till Sunday if it does.
As Linda Ellerbee would say, “So It goes.”