I'd been feeling pretty good about Hurricane Irma's track from the west coast of Florida to the east, since it means that my hometown, friends and relatives would be spared another devastating hurricane. My parents live on the east coast, but I wasn't worried because they've been spending the last 2 months 1200 miles away in northern Michigan. Then I remembered that they live in an uninsured mobile home* and the last 24 hours of predictions have showed it passing right over the top of them. If it doesn't change course I'll probably have to drive 1500 miles to Florida and help them sort through the debris and then I'll have unexpected houseguests until they buy a new home.

*It's probably the nicest double-wide "mobile" home on the planet. 1300 square feet, granite countertops, custom cabinets, hardwood floors and high-end kitchen appliances. No insurance company will write policies in Florida due to their history of hurricanes, so the only option is through the state. It would cost them $7000 per year due to their proximity to the ocean (1/2 mile) and the fact that mobile homes are typically flimsy, but it would only pay them $5000 if it were destroyed, since it's technically an older (although heavily remodeled) unit. They chose to roll the dice (I think they only paid $60000 for it) so they'll have to eat the loss if their home is destroyed. Hopefully the storm will track further east -- it only takes a couple of miles to make a big difference.

Florida seems an uncomfortable place to live to me - hurricanes, sink holes, tropical humidity, alligators, guns, not to mention the mix of nationalities and democrats and republicans who I believe don't get on too well these days. In fact I don't think I'd suit much of America tbh except possibly NY which they tell me is more Europe than USA. Possibly not all districts though I reckon. Hmm, think I'll stick to watching it in movies, for now. 'You talkin to me?' -

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 8th September 2017, 7:43 AM

Florida seems an uncomfortable place to live to me - hurricanes, sink holes, tropical humidity, alligators, guns, not to mention the mix of nationalities and democrats and republicans who I believe don't get on too well these days.

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I lived in Florida for almost 30 years and the only things that bothered me were bugs and the humidity. Sinkholes are nothing to worry about and guns are great fun. Hurricanes suck, but they're not very common and the state is about 850 miles from end to end, so when one strikes the odds of being in its path are fairly low. Politicians and the media would love for you to believe that Democrats and Republicans don't get along, but it's not really true. Take a look at Houston as people from Texas and nearby states are helping those affected by the floods -- they aren't asking for a victim's political affiliation before offering assistance. My friend has spent the last 2 weeks helping to tear out carpet, cabinets, flooring and drywall from flooded homes. He's a white, conservative, Christian, but he's helping anyone he can: white, black, Hispanic, young, old, Republican and Democrat. That's the real America. These are the real Americans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX2VLKhA8fc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuYkjZ8NhXE

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 8th September 2017, 7:43 AM

In fact I don't think I'd suit much of America tbh except possibly NY which they tell me is more Europe than USA. Possibly not all districts though I reckon.

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Maaaayyybee Manhattan might qualify, if your idea of Europe is an overcrowded, overpriced metropolis crammed full of surly residents and annoying tourists. But they do have a subway system...

I'm quite happy that the United States isn't like Europe; I'm pretty sure that's why my ancestors came here in the first place.

I love that I know all of my neighbors, strangers wave as they drive past, and the checkout clerk at the supermarket always has a smile and a friendly word. If the notion strikes me, I can put a pistol in my pocket, an AR-15 in my trunk, fill up my car with cheap gas and then drive for thousands of miles across desert and grasslands and swamps and rainforests and canyons and mountains and beaches. Amurrricaaaa!!!

Thankfully, the latest predictions for Irma show it moving 20 or 30 miles west of my parents' home, and that is likely enough to keep it safe. I hope it stays that course, because it's essentially going ashore in the almost unpopulated Everglades National Park and then continuing up the relatively lightly populated center of the state. Orlando is the one major exception, so a lot of Disney World vacation plans are going to be ruined this weekend.

I was wondering if NASA have tested the idea of using military jets to fly above the weather system and drop something in to it to disrupt the storm but after googling it today it's something that has been tried and determined not possible because of the vast amount of energy a hurricane generates. Even a nuclear bomb wouldn't make a dent because of the amounts of energy involved (or so I read)

I remember Orlando for how it was always humid. Day or night, sunshine or downpour it was humid all the time. The way the weather changed suddenly was something that I've never seen in England because it could be sunny and clear skies and then within a few minutes the sky turns black and there's heavy rain with hailstones and lightning/thunder/gale force winds. Then the clouds disperse and it's blue skies and sunshine again all the while being very humid. It wasn't severe weather with high winds that could cause damage but it was still alarming to witness especially by someone like me who panics if the winds makes a roof tile clatter.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 9th September 2017, 12:54 AM

I remember Orlando for how it was always humid. Day or night, sunshine or downpour it was humid all the time. The way the weather changed suddenly was something that I've never seen in England because it could be sunny and clear skies and then within a few minutes the sky turns black and there's heavy rain with hailstones and lightning/thunder/gale force winds. Then the clouds disperse and it's blue skies and sunshine again all the while being very humid.

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That's summertime life in south Florida in a nutshell. Choking humidity with a couple of short, blinding thunderstorms each day, with sunshine in between. You can practically set your watch by them. The redeeming factor is that you can spend Christmas at the beach and enjoy outdoor activities year-round.

Yes it is after all how the state got its name, its tropical heat, which European settlers would have found uncomfortable. Oddly enough it's my experience of Europe that the most humid country there is England. Go to Spain in July and you'll be hit by a wall of dry heat, hot but really pleasant for someone from terminally damp Britain. Poles say they find it very humid in England and I felt warmer in -40 degrees Scandinavian snow than I ever have in -2 degrees snow in England, all because our crazy moisture levels get inside your clothes and make you feel the cold more. And the most uncomfortably humid place I've ever lived, down your way Tarby in Devon. Beautiful area but God was it muggy.

My favorite pub in my home town is refusing to close, despite being in the direct path of Hurricane Irma. They're in a mandatory evacuation zone, being only a block or two from the water and only a couple of feet above sea level. They remained open when Hurricane Charley roared overhead with 145 MPH winds in 2004, and several regulars continued to drink beer as the windows shattered and the second floor collapsed around them. They helped to finance the rebuilding effort by selling shirts that said "We never closed."

I hope they're safe this time. The worst case scenario would have the storm tracking about 20 miles to the west and bringing 15+ feet of storm surge. That would flood the entire city.

This video was shot from the side of the pub in 2004. You can see pieces of the building flying off from the left of the frame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeM-cjTEEA8

Quote: DaButt @ 9th September 2017, 4:01 PM

My favorite pub in my home town is refusing to close, despite being in the direct path of Hurricane Irma. They're in a mandatory evacuation zone, being only a block or two from the water and only a couple of feet above sea level. They remained open when Hurricane Charley roared overhead with 145 MPH winds in 2004, and several regulars continued to drink beer as the windows shattered and the second floor collapsed around them. They helped to finance the rebuilding effort by selling shirts that said "We never closed."

I hope they're safe this time. The worst case scenario would have the storm tracking about 20 miles to the west and bringing 15+ feet of storm surge. That would flood the entire city.

This video was shot from the side of the pub in 2004. You can see pieces of the building flying off from the left of the frame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeM-cjTEEA8

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That video is scary and the UK is in no way prepared for that kind of weather. If the winds are strong I am super paranoid while I'm outside because of the danger of something unsecured hitting me. My golden rule with strong winds is to not go out. You mention it was a mandatory evacuation so what happens to people who choose to stay? Could they be charged with anything by the police for staying or is it their right to stay? If someone stays in an exclusion zone and is injured would their health insurance cover that? And being an Irishman I love that Guinness harp painting on the wall Guinness is good for you!

It was mostly nice weather when I was there apart from the uncomfortable humidity but I'll never forget a storm on the last day because my dad really wanted to go to Pleasure Island to buy something so when we should have been packing and getting ready to leave it was a mad dash to Pleasure Island in the worst storms with the biggest hailstones I've ever seen. We arrived during a thunderstorm and 20 minutes later came out to blue skies and bone dry ground. That memory has always stuck with me because it was so f*cked up

It was in 1990 and we were staying at a hotel in Kissimmee next door to a Waffle House. I think it was on highway 192 or at least near that because I remember people mentioning highway 192 a lot. Wilson Phillips and En Vogue had both released a track called Hold On that year and every morning when we had breakfast at the Waffle House at least one version of that song would be playing. Some family friends from New York came with us and I have forever been in debt to them for making it such an amazing holiday. Disney World was great but I liked Epcot Centre the most. The nightly fireworks displays there really had to be seen to be believed.

On the first day to Disney World the New York friends managed to get us in to the drivers cab on the monorail trip along with a few other lucky families not with us. Someones digital watch alarm started going off with a typical 90s watch melody so he got them to take the watch off so he could hold it up against the microphone and said everyone in the other carriages would hear it. I'll never know if he really played it or just pretended to but it was a surreal moment.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 15th September 2017, 10:35 PM

You mention it was a mandatory evacuation so what happens to people who choose to stay? Could they be charged with anything by the police for staying or is it their right to stay? If someone stays in an exclusion zone and is injured would their health insurance cover that? And being an Irishman I love that Guinness harp painting on the wall Guinness is good for you!

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The pub wasn't allowed to open on the day of the hurricane because of the mandatory evacuation order and a temporary curfew and ban on alcohol sales. They had a foot of water inside but managed to clean up and open for business the following day. No electricity, but they had ice to keep the beer cold.

The owner of the pub is a great guy from Ireland. He refuses to put televisions on the wall because he wants people to have conversations. For many years he didn't allow American beers, but the craft beer revolution changed that. You still can't get a Budweiser or Coors Light, however. I moved away 16 years ago, but whenever I travel there to see friends and family, Kevin will pour me a pint of Guinness without any words being exchanged. It's as if I never left.

As for the evacuations, I don't think the cops can enforce it, but violating the curfew would probably result in an arrest. I don't think refusing to evacuate would affect a person's insurance coverage.

So a suspect package is found under a bridge over the M1 and they close the road for 10 hours. TEN FUCKING HOURS!!!! What is it with the police these days? That's all they seem to be good at, is closing roads and streets for the merest reason.

How the f**k long would it take for someone to go up to that package, check it out and then remove it so one of the major roads in this country can get back to normal.

Are you volunteering, Herc? Some precaution is necessary - okay, usually it's a false alarm.

Throw a brick at it and duck.
A flask rolls out and somebodies cheese sandwiches are all over the M1.

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 20th September 2017, 10:20 AM

Throw a brick at it and duck.
A flask rolls out and somebodies cheese sandwiches are all over the M1.

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Or a 5 litre bottle full of piss.

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 20th September 2017, 9:47 AM

Are you volunteering, Herc? Some precaution is necessary - okay, usually it's a false alarm.

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No. That's why they have UXB teams etc. - where are they stationed? In the Arctic? Australia?. So how long is "Some precaution" ?

No, they love getting their cones out and f**king up everyone's day - it's the only power they have these days so they exercise it to the full.

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 20th September 2017, 10:20 AM

Throw a brick at it and duck.
A flask rolls out and somebodies cheese sandwiches are all over the M1.

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made me think of Alpha Papa and the bomb squad disposing of a 'that' suspect package. Or the bomb squad scene in The Detectives.

A few months ago police cordoned off a major junction in the city centre during morning rush hour traffic and there were loads of police cars and unmarked cars parked up in the section they had taped off with a suspects car and it was causing a lot of traffic problems but none of the police seemed to be doing anything. There was no sense of urgency about it and all they would release to the media was they were investigating a 'serious incident' but months later there has been no mention of it since. I welcome police doing what they need to do to protect the public and themselves when it appears justified and proportionate but I think a lack of resources and training is taking its toll.

They wouldn't want the risk of a policeman killed by an explosion, but we probably don't have enough of those remote controlled detonator 'robots' so it might well take 5 hours to get one to the location.