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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Hurricane Igor’s Clash with Bermuda




Hurricane Igor’s Clash with Bermuda
Water, water everywhere
Last week Sunday, the 19th of September, I wrote that Bermuda was being trashed by the most monstrous threat we have ever seen, so now that the storm has passed I can report that there was no loss of life, and very little major loss to property. This is the most amazing outcome, and sometimes I have to pinch myself to be sure I didn’t just dream the whole thing up.

For that proof I refer to news reports and pictures of what happened, and even then it seems that Bermuda’s guardian angels were working overtime to protect the most lucky of all islands in the world.

Hurricane Igor was a Category Three storm with sustained winds near the eye of 130 miles per hour. The storm measured some five hundred miles across, and it was travelling slowly. Island residents took this one very seriously and buttoned down everything they could. A hurricane of this magnitude travelling so slow suggested that maximum damage would be done, but in the event when the storm entered The Bermuda High it lost most of its strength, going from Cat Three to Cat One. It was so large that it was feared nothing would have any calming effect upon it at all, but not only did it calm considerably, it speeded up its forward motion.

The island was directly in its grip for twelve hours, and the eye passed right over making for a direct hit, but at the end of the day most homes didn’t even lose their roofs. Generally we would not be afraid of the winds in a Cat One, but sometimes tornados are spawned and that is what causes all the trouble.

So, a good outcome, no doubt much to the regret of the foreign press who I believe get so excited by a major disaster. Something else that was very good came out of this storm as well in that generally there is a lack of information about what is going on, but this time the social media of Facebook, Youtube, and others, as well as The Royal Gazette, the island’s daily newspaper created a live feed that streamed out constant updates; and an online Blog/news outlet called Bernews.com did a fantastic job of keeping locals and those of us around the world in the loop.

Hurricanes in Bermuda will be seen in a different light in the future, for what you know may be horrible, but what you don’t know, in your imagination can even be more so.

This Thanksgiving Day, an American observance, should be doubly celebrated in Bermuda, truly the luckiest place on earth.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Hurricanes


Bermuda: Such a small target for Hurricanes

It is ironic that I wrote this piece shortly after my return from Bermuda of the 17th August, 2010. Now, as I post this, Bermuda is embroiled in one of the largest and most destructive hurricanes in many years. Hurricane Igor is trashing my country as we speak, and I am stressed, particularly as I am not there and unable to do anything to prepare or clean up. My Bermuda family are all there and I am worried for them.

Unless you are a person who lives in the path of hurricanes I don’t expect that you can have any sense of what it is like to live through one, unless you are a person who lives in the path of tornados. These things can also be a feature of a hurricane, but to live in the Midwestern United States where they spring up at a moments notice and are the cause of such total destruction is something that I cannot comprehend.

While visiting Bermuda recently a hurricane was predicted to make a very close pass at Bermuda, and possibly even a direct hit. There is something that all people experience as a group, even if we don’t realise it, but it starts with the commencement of the hurricane season. Stress! That’s what it is, and when they predict a busy season of 14 or 15 storms our stress level kicks in. The actual season might not have begun but the worry lines start to show.

Hurricanes usually create themselves off the coast of Africa and they move across the Atlantic. They are completely unpredictable, although storm trackers do a remarkable job of best guessing. A storm can change course at the last minute and fool everyone. It used to be that once a storm crossed the Atlantic and clashed with a high system coming off the great mass of the United States the storm would turn and run north, but climate change is turning out ever more powerful storms that crash right through the high and cross into the Gulf of Mexico or run right inland the U.S with devastating consequences.

As a child I lived throughout a period when we had practically no warnings at all. The U.S: Coast Guard stationed in Bermuda flew hurricane reconnaissance flights but getting the information to the public was quite difficult, since a lot of homes, ours included did not have electricity for the radio. So we would sit out a hurricane in the dark and it would cause us sheer terror.

As I grew older and became a man with direct responsibility for my family, the house, and later a boat, the coming of Summer was a time to worry. My house is situated along the water’s edge that provides a front row seat. In fact, for many years waterfront property was cheapest as people worried about being swamped during hurricanes.

From the time it was announced that a tropical depression was forming off the coast of Africa all eyes became focused on what it did next. If it came across and slammed through Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, we in Bermuda would heave a sigh of relief. It was not our turn. However, many storms start in mid-Atlantic and run northwards. In these cases we are the only landmass to be standing in harm’s way. That includes those storms that have made up right over Bermuda. When that happens we are almost sure to lose lives that went to sea in good weather.

When a storm is a thousand miles away Bermuda starts to feel its effect by the change of the sea activity. We begin to get long pounding surf, and each thunderous crash of waves drives our stress level further because it is constantly on our minds. The closer its approach the higher our stress level until it becomes necessary to make actual preparations.

One of the most damaging storms to hit Bermuda was Hurricane Emily. It was tracking from Africa as a mere tropical depression. We knew it was headed our way when we went to bed, but overnight it powered up into a Category One Hurricane, barely enough to cause a disturbance. I awoke to the sound of the radio at 7:15am. The announcer read a few commercials and then he told us what had happened overnight and that the storm was due to make landfall at 7:15am. Like, RIGHT NOW!

I was up and out of bed and making sure that all outdoor furniture was brought into the garage, and that the storm shutters were locked. The truth is that we are not normally too spooked by a Category One, but this one was carrying tornadoes. Everywhere the tornadoes went the damage was the equivalent to nothing we had ever seen before. There were people who waited out this storm, that was a direct hit, in their cars, or in bus shelters because they had not heard the warnings.

The hurricane that was predicted when I was in Bermuda on my last visit was a classic. It was steering directly for us, then it went to the West, which means high winds on the island; but then it turned east and eventually passed far enough as to leave no effect upon the island at all. Meanwhile, all manner of life is being disrupted, but we do have to take the warnings seriously.

Finally, to give yourself stress overload you need to have a nice house and a really nice boat. Bearing in mind that you can only be in one place at a time, which one will you concentrate on saving when the hurricane comes?

There is no fury like that of Mother Nature; none whatsoever. It’s just the thing to remind man of our insignificance in the whole order of things on earth.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Thank God for Clothes!


Thank God for Clothes!

The thing that brings this subject to mind is all the security processing that we have to undergo when travelling. We almost are made to get completely naked , and indeed one scanner does see you without your clothes. I asked one security officer if it would make his job any easier if we all travelled naked. He said there would still be people who would try to pass contraband.

Then I started people watching and I noted that in Bermuda and The United States there are a lot of people who are very dangerously obese to the extent of being gross. This trend started in the U.S. and has made its way to Bermuda. I’m talking about men and women whose asses are so huge that they require two chairs. Their stomachs hang so low as to nearly reach their knees thereby covering their sexual organs. Their legs are like very large tree trunks so that when they walk they have to walk both sideways and forward at the same time.

Such people have no neck and their heads are great round puffy globes, and their arms are short limbs with hanging flesh especially from the upper ends, and stubbly little hands. The most disgusting sight to see is such people seated at the dinner table just stuffing their bloated faces. At least they drink Big Gulps of diet drinks. How the hell does one allow one’s self to get to that stage?

Many years ago I stumbled into a nudist camp late at night while riding in the country of France. My girlfriend and I were young people and we were desperate for accommodation at the time. We went to bed all excited that we were in such a place, and we got into the swing of things by coming down to breakfast without our clothes.

The reality was that we were the only ones with bodies worthy of showing. Everybody else was suffering from the ravages of time and gravity, so the whole experience was a reality check to us.
I would therefore certainly not like to have to cast my eyes upon the nakedness of someone who resembles one of the blobs that I have been describing. To be clear, I am not talking about people who are simply fat. I’m talking about people who have ballooned well beyond what is normal.

I realise that it is in the natural chromosomes of some people to be overweight, no matter what they do to try to combat it. I also acknowledge that weight, whether a bit too much, or dangerously obese does not necessarily dictate personality and character. What is really disturbing me is that this is a rising trend, and that has to put these people’s lives in danger, and that is an unnecessary strain upon the health care system that I will have to share the cost of.

It seems to me that in the Middle East and Africa they have the most sensible idea to wear very loose fitting robes that hide such disgusting excesses very well. To repeat, “Thank God for Clothes!”

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Family Reunion


The Super Family Reunion

We attended our family reunion on my mother's side over four days at the end of July and the beginning of August, 2010 during which about 600 family members passed through our camp. We expected a large number because when we held one in 1994 more than 1000 came to meet and greet each other; to welcome the new ones into the fold; to tell our stories so that our legends live on; to honour the most senior of our clan who are still alive; to remember those who have gone on before; and perhaps most important of all, to discover to whom we are related and to make a new book.

These are the very best reasons of all for families to gather. Normally families come together when there is a death. No-one had to die to make this happen. It was an entirely joyful occasion. The weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked, but the camp was on the waterside so that helped the ambience.

A church service was included in the program, and that was especially appropriate, as the land upon which the church sits was given by our patriarch.

The premise for the reunion was based on the origin of one man, Prechard Sanfrancisco Bascome. We believe that he, or his father is the first person on my mother’s side to have come to Bermuda in the early to middle 1800’s.

A short history of Bermuda includes the information that the island was originally discovered by the Spanish explorer Juan de Bermudez about 1509, but the Spanish Crown had no interest in this little rock that was so remote that if your navigation was only off by the smallest degree you would sail right past it. The island was re-discovered in 1609 by Sir George Somers who was slammed ashore and claimed the island for King and country.

Population by blacks was done mainly through slavery. Prechard was born of John Newbold Bascome, Sr, and Miss Vickers. He was brought up by his father. We have started with him and drawn a family tree that is still expanding as new names become known to us as being part of the family, and of course, all those new family members freshly born.

Prechard married Eva Battersbee and there are now six generations of great grandchildren. The family branches have now spread throughout the world. The places where people reside that we know about are Switzerland, Britain, Nebraska, California, Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, Carolina, New York, New Mexico, Canada, Spain, France, Jamaica, and of course Bermuda. If we had a complete list it might include every country on earth. Our family is also a rainbow in that we count black and white and all the colours in between.

In following this exercise concerning my roots, I have been totally immersed and a little surprised at how important it has been to me. It has sparked a thought that is really a little strange, and it is this: if it has been so important to me how will it be for the children of gay and lesbian couples whose birth certificate reads for father-unknown, and for mother-unknown. Especially in the case of an unknown mother, that has to be so strange. Everybody knows who their mother is.

This is not criticizing gay and lesbian couples for wanting their own family too. They are people with the same rights and privileges, and I am not trying to enter into or start a debate. I am simply wondering what effect not knowing who one’s father or mother is could have on the individual.

Anyway, a really good time was had by all at our event, and the plan is to meet up at a cruise in two year’s time. I just hope to be around to have the option of attending.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael