August 31st marks the 4th anniversary of my move to St. Pete. I remember a lot of well meaning and caring friends saying things like, "aren't you worried about hurricanes?" Or, "I could never live there because of the heat in the summer." I do realize that both are valid concerns. To address the summer heat, shortly after moving here, a friend said to me, "Up North you spend a lot of time indoors during the winter. Down here, you tend to spend more time indoors during the summer." To me, it's much more of a lopsided tradeoff. Our season of more inside time does not involve shoveling anything when you want to go out. Or putting on multiple layers of clothing. And there's no problem with the daily commute. And, need I say anything about the 350+ days of sunshine here? But I would not trade all these days of sunshine and blue sky for all the cloudy, gray, cold, dreary days, and days with white stuff to drive through.
The Tampa Bay area has managed to dodge that bullet many times. Maybe it's only a matter of time, but I'm staying!
And it has been so strange this week with that has been going on up there! First the earthquake tremors! In addition to the 5.8 quake in Virginia, there was also and earlier
2.2 quake just outside of Albany near Altamont, NY. Now it looks like Irene is heading up that way! And I'm scheduled to fly out of Tampa and up to Boston this Saturday. Reminds me of my trip up there last year, following Earl on his trek north.
Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?
A good place to wait it out. I think you'll need a time machine though.
