More ghastly than usual …
Bloody hell, America. That's the sort of storm you can almost get away with in Queensland where there are two people per square mile and you can literally evacuate everyone if there's enough warning. New York is not designed for that sort of thing! It's inspiring to see the efforts of rescuers and clean up crews getting in there, and although the loss of life has been tragic in the US and in the Caribbean, it's astonishing that it hasn't been much worse. Such amazing work in people helping other people. Good luck in the clean-up!
And if any of my flistees are busting out a bicycle while they wait for the Subway to come back: wear a helmet! Your biggest risk is inexperience on city roads and thumping your own head after hitting a kerb. Taxi drivers will be keeping an eye out for you at the moment because they have a good herd instinct when it comes to disaster management, private cars are a riskier proposition. But your best bet is back streets and alleys - surely the muggers will be taking a few days off?
My two ex-work besties arrived in the city just in time to help with the hurricane prep, happily they were both in upper Manhattan and one is staying at the home of a cookery writer who is spending the time comfort cooking, so not so bad.
I've been personally more ghastly, too, and I apologise to everyone I owe comments and birthday wishes to. As usual, the minute I am mid-writing my hd_hols fic, editors have been commissioning me hand over fist. So it's long days of many words for me at the moment. I also managed to dislodge four ribs, and ended up dislocating one of them. They're all back now, just a little bit of tweaky pain, but embarrassingly I don't know how I did it in the first place.
I know that I exacerbated it riding around with a 12kg pack for a whole day, and lifting my bike on and off the wall hook that the much-taller-than-me Mr B installed, I know that I briefly dislocated that one by wearing a corset on Saturday night while it was dislodged and then trying to yawn through the corset (I recognise that this was a high point of stupidity, even in my career, and I am a woman who broke her nose swimming a butterfly race.) I suspect that the original injury may be cat-related. Monster has taken to sneaking up onto the bed and then jumping on me as a sign of affection. She is not a small cat, and I tend to sleep on my side. She played a great game of Caught You Human yesterday morning and was startled at my squawks and foul language.
But it is a very minor, minor thing, which really only causes grief when I yawn.
You will not be surprised to learn that I have never wanted to yawn so much in all my life.
And if any of my flistees are busting out a bicycle while they wait for the Subway to come back: wear a helmet! Your biggest risk is inexperience on city roads and thumping your own head after hitting a kerb. Taxi drivers will be keeping an eye out for you at the moment because they have a good herd instinct when it comes to disaster management, private cars are a riskier proposition. But your best bet is back streets and alleys - surely the muggers will be taking a few days off?
My two ex-work besties arrived in the city just in time to help with the hurricane prep, happily they were both in upper Manhattan and one is staying at the home of a cookery writer who is spending the time comfort cooking, so not so bad.
I've been personally more ghastly, too, and I apologise to everyone I owe comments and birthday wishes to. As usual, the minute I am mid-writing my hd_hols fic, editors have been commissioning me hand over fist. So it's long days of many words for me at the moment. I also managed to dislodge four ribs, and ended up dislocating one of them. They're all back now, just a little bit of tweaky pain, but embarrassingly I don't know how I did it in the first place.
I know that I exacerbated it riding around with a 12kg pack for a whole day, and lifting my bike on and off the wall hook that the much-taller-than-me Mr B installed, I know that I briefly dislocated that one by wearing a corset on Saturday night while it was dislodged and then trying to yawn through the corset (I recognise that this was a high point of stupidity, even in my career, and I am a woman who broke her nose swimming a butterfly race.) I suspect that the original injury may be cat-related. Monster has taken to sneaking up onto the bed and then jumping on me as a sign of affection. She is not a small cat, and I tend to sleep on my side. She played a great game of Caught You Human yesterday morning and was startled at my squawks and foul language.
But it is a very minor, minor thing, which really only causes grief when I yawn.
You will not be surprised to learn that I have never wanted to yawn so much in all my life.