Stormy

I love a good thunderstorm. There's something about the loud, scary shows that tell you nature is around you and you can't control it. I love huge thunderclaps and lightning forks. And I enjoy the sort of rain that is more like a waterfall from the sky that soaks you through in seconds. Because, what can you do?

And one thing America has is a good thunderstorm.

I just sat in the apartment on my own and the darkness of the evening coincided with some sudden and horrendous gales. I had to close the windows because things were quite literally flying everywhere. I checked a weather service and there was one of the scariest warnings I ever did see. I wish I had taken a screenshot because the alert has now passed. But it was 5 paragraphs of block capitals telling everyone to GET INSIDE! Because LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURE'S NUMBER ONE KILLERS! One of the number one? What? Frankly I thought a lot more people died of cancer or were eaten by sewer alligators (ok maybe not that one) but this just plain scaremongering, surely? There was more: REMEMBER, IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER, YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

Anyway, I most definitely stayed indoors and I think we must have been right in the middle when the storm hit, because the thunder and lightning were basically in harmony and the thunder was THE loudest thing I've heard in a very long time. Most certainly the loudest thunder I ever heard. There is just so much more of an earthy, shake-the-buildings rumble about US ones over their UK counterparts.

The lightning was plentiful. Forks tore about the sky before the whole thing was over in under an hour. I didn't take any pictures but to demonstrate, here are some pictures I took when I was in NY two years ago, using the video mode of my compact camera!

Pretty cool, I thought.

In less stormy news, I have now secured an apartment for me and my wife-to-be for the next year. Still in New Jersey, as value-for-money seemed so much better, and I am getting to like my 20minute door-to-door commute! More on that later, for sure!