Friday, February 24, 2017

Doris Day


Thanks for tolerating my rant yesterday! I'm glad many of you agree with me and have experienced similar levels of political and social frustration. I feel less alone.

Yesterday was much better, fortunately. Whenever I found myself feeling agitated, whether with library issues or political ones, I tried to go back to some of my Zen practice -- conscious breathing, slowing down -- and that really did help alleviate the stress.

I read a fascinating article that a colleague posted to Facebook about a certain variety of young, male Trump supporters -- the Internet-addicted gamer types who frequent the website 4chan -- and why many of them have funneled their frustrations into right-wing politics. It's a long article, so be prepared to invest some time if you check it out, but I found it quite interesting and worthwhile.

Meanwhile, we had quite a bit of excitement in Great Britain yesterday with Storm Doris, a big spiraling windbag that blew across the island and caused a considerable amount of damage and at least one death. People were calling yesterday "Doris Day," which was kind of cute, although the real Doris Day certainly wouldn't want to be associated with this storm. (She's still with us, by the way, and either 92 or 94 years old, depending on which source is cited.)

While Doris wreaked havoc across England and Scotland, here in West Hampstead she wasn't too fierce. We had a terrific burst of wind and rain as I got ready for work, but it passed within about 15 minutes, and then it was just a windy day. Very windy, admittedly. The only damage we suffered was to a potted poppy plant that Dave bought over the weekend at Waitrose -- it was sitting on our patio table, and when he got home from work, the empty pot had blown over to the other side of the house and the plant was nowhere to be found. I eventually located it, wedged against the patio table leg, with nearly all the soil blown away from its root ball. I think it may actually survive, poor thing.

At some point we lost electricity -- our digital clocks were blinking -- and when Dave went to Waitrose in the evening the refrigerated food cases were all closed and the store said it couldn't sell the food within because the power had been out. I hope Doris feels well-fed, having consumed all the perishables in our supermarket!

(Photo: Camden town, on Sunday.)

11 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Storm Doris sounds ridiculous. Storm Dave sounds much more menacing and when Storm Steve finally arrives it will be like The Apocalypse - with death and destruction everywhere.

e said...

Oh Mr. Pud---always the optimist! I hope you'll enjoy your weekend, Steve.

Ms. Moon said...

Have they always named storms in GB?

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Dear Ms Moon,

No. It is a new thing. The naming of our Atlantic storms began as recently as November 10th 2015 with Storm Abigail.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_storm_naming_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_Ireland

Happy to be of service.

Kind regards,
Yorkshire Pudding Esq.

37paddington said...

And yet everyone went to work in this major weather event?

Sharon said...

I saw a comment on someones blog about it being a windy day but I didn't know it was that windy or that the storm had a name. I love that picture from Camden Town. I haven't been in that area in ages. I remember it being a bit chaotic the last time I was there.

jenny_o said...

What a cool dragon on that building! I chuckled at your calling the storm a "windbag" - very appropriate :)

I will check out that article this evening when I have more time. I'm interested in trying to understand what makes people tick - especially the last while.

Alphie Soup said...

The Incredible Three-legged Dragon with the fiery red eyes. Enough to scare you out of your wits.

I'm sure you will be able to revive the wind blasted plant.

Alphie

Red said...

One more step to the deep breathing. Lower your voice an octave! Power outage is never convenient.

Vagabonde said...

After reading your post I checked and was surprised to find out that winter storms have names in America, too. Winter Storm Orson, Feb. 1-13, 2017 saw 40 inches of snow in Maine and Winter Storm Pluto, Feb. 15-17, 2017, left icy roads in Vermont where one person was killed. I am used to hurricane names but, around here, I am most afraid of tornadoes. It will be 80 F tomorrow in Greater Atlanta, then it will be cool again; usually that brings storms.

Catalyst said...

Regardless of Doris, that dragon on the Chinese restaurant(?) is amazing!