Lake Forest: the lessons of Ida; two poems by W.H. Auden; some playful Bach

I wanted to learn from Hurricane Ida whose winds far exceeded my experience.  

For those who have inexplicably deprived themselves of the pleasure of reading STORM PASSAGE, my baseline is Cyclone Colin which capsized EGREGIOUS in the Tasman Sea on March 5, 1976.  When I reached Auckland a few weeks later I went to the Met Office where I was kindly shown the charts of that date when the storm had 70 knot winds.  Force 12, Hurricane Force, starts at 64 knots.  I have been in such winds at least eight times.  Once in I believe wind at least 20 to 30 knots stronger.  So 90 to 100 knots is all I know first hand.  I did not at the time expect to survive that 90 to 100 knot wind if it lasted for very long.  That I am writing this almost half a century later is proof that it didn’t.

So atypically I watched what poses as the news on television and Ida videos online.  The storm’s strongest recorded gust was 174 mph which is 150 knots.  Other only slightly less strong gusts were also recorded, but it needs to be remembered that the area of strongest wind was not great. I have read only about twenty miles in diameter.  I did not see anything in the videos that was to me startling.  And in the aftermath of the storm I am surprised that so few people died in the area of the landfall, and of course that so many died days later in the northwest.

I read one article by a professional journalist about how he had planned to remain in his home for the storm, but then at the last minute changed his mind and evacuated.  I was struck by his claim that he was fully prepared to stay.  He wrote that he had three gallons of water, food for a week, a portable solar panel to recharge his phone, a flashlight, and that someone was mailing him a battery radio.  What a failure of imagination and understanding.  Did he really think that services were going to be restored in a few days?  I conclude he must have.

If I am in Hilton Head when a hurricane approaches I will have more than twenty gallons of water, and I know that on GANNET I use .37 a gallon of fresh water a day.  Food for two months.  Flashlights.  Batteries.  A portable solar panel to charge devices.  Two Jetboil stoves.  Foul weather gear.  Etc.  Etc. Etc.  And several bottles of Laphroaig.  If the condo building stands I will be self-reliant for at least two months and if necessary longer.

Recently I have come across two poems by W.H. Auden that I had not previously read.

Both are long, but eminently worth your time.  I provide links to ‘Refugee Blues’ and ‘The Shield of Achilles’.

https://medium.com/poem-of-the-day/w-h-auden-f5ffe9e1d295

https://poets.org/poem/shield-achilles

And here is a link to three charming minutes of Bach.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-1079-4/

I continue to look after your well being.