rain

I just spent a weekend in sunny Florida. Not my first choice for a summer vacation but a wedding put on by dear friends occasioned this rather unusual travel destination. It was hot! Not even so much hot as the combination of temperatures in the 90's and humidity in the 80's. The weather was predicted to be stormy and rainy (so much for the convertible) and indeed as we approached Ft. Lauderdale airport the pilot got on the horn and told us that the airport was closed to incoming traffic because of a thunder storm right over the airport. I already had visions of being diverted to Palm Beach or something like that. Being a veteran of diversions (see previous blog) I took it in stride, but, luckily, after flying a pattern for a half hour about 30 miles away from the airport, we landed safely and none the worse for wear.

The highlight of the trip was early Saturday morning. 6:20AM, a time when all sabbath observers ought to be in bed.

"Let's go for a walk on the boardwalk."

Not having anything better to do and being up anyway, I agreed. We passed from the hotel lobby's refrigerated air into the hot, steamy and oppressive half light of the Florida dawn. It was drizzling a few drops which felt good as we climbed onto the boardwalk. A large, dark storm cloud blanketed the sky to our south obscuring the light from an already risen sun. Almost deserted, the boardwalk did have its share of denizens even at this early hour in the rain. People coming in from a night at the beach, runners trying to finish their laps before the storm. We turned south, where the lush foliage on both sides formed a sort of tunnel over our heads, and into a cooler, refreshing breeze blowing a cooling rain into our faces.

Realizing that we were walking towards the storm, we turned around. The sun was visible only as a light smudge against thin clouds and as we turned we could see patches of blue sky; definitely the direction we wanted to walk in. Only, the storm caught up with us. When it storms in this part of the world it's apt to be violent but ephemeral. Luckily for us, this boardwalk is built with shelters every 1000 feet or so and we dashed into a nearby one as the rain came down in sheets.

We weren't the only ones. A few of the night denizens were already there, biding their time and making small talk with us and others. Some of them moved off, others came. One in particular was a woman with a blow-up mattress who grunted at our greeting, clearly unhappy that she had to come in from the beach. She even tried to monopolize a bench for her mattress. We couldn't get word one out of her, just wordless sounds of anger and discouragement.

It finally let up and we continued our leisurely walk. We left the boardwalk into the half light, behind a woman and two men who had come off the beach. We felt exhilarated.

I repeated the walk the next morning, but couldn't duplicate the experience.