WILMAAAAAAAAAA!

[wordinista]

Sorry.  Couldn't resist.

So, the storm jumped from a Cat 2 to a Category 5 storm overnight.  Yay.

It also looks like it's going to skim right between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula, thereby avoiding Cuba's mountainous terrain, which would weaken the storm significantly.  Double yay.

So far, the "cone of uncertainty" is very large.  Fnar.  S'gonna hit Florida; that much is pretty much guaranteed. Triple yay.

Looks like it'll weaken before hitting FL, at least.  *crosses fingers*

And if all of this wasn't bad enough, it was delivered this morning by an annoying meteorologist, who was the stand-in for the meteorologist we prefer watching in the morning (he's on vacation).  This woman has way too much difficulty with the cue-cards, man.  Such a ditz.

Par example:

"You'll see here between... [pause] ...Cuba and the Yucatan, right here.  Here we have warmer... [pause] ...water.  And that warmer water will provide... [pause] ...fuel that will feed the hurricane."

She also focuses on Orlando weather and never what's going on on the coast.  :P

...And, yes, I do have a preferred meteorologist.

I'll probably go out today and fill up the car.  It's pretty empty.  We're pretty good with supplies, though picking up another carton or two of water can't hurt.  And I might even swing by our local British import shop, because mscongeniality shared some of her PG Tips with me, and it's become my crack.  Granted, some people (like my mom) would argue that I have "too much tea."  I, however, disagree.  No matter how much tea I have, it's always just enough. XD

Pfah.  Too much tea.  I've never heard of anything so ridiculous.

Comments

[hyanan.livejournal.com]

I'm so tired of storms this year. Really.

[merith.livejournal.com]

yeah... we should just evacuate everyone inland a few hundred miles and leave the coastland to the wild life or something....


(ridiculous thought brought to you by pain relief medication.)

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

OMG, tell me about it.

What makes me shake my head is the boi's mother. She was complaining (as is her wont) about how we could expect a colder winter this year because "we haven't had any hurricanes."

Bwuh? Twelve named hurricanes this year. The average is SIX. We're at the end of the alphabet. How can she say we can expect a cold winter just because our Central Florida didn't get any storms? (Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for a cold winter. I'm ready to sacrifice black chickens just to get a cold winter. But she's got a bunch of tropical plants in her garden, and cold winters mean she has to cover them and coddle them and... yeah, not my problem.)

I know she meant that no hurricanes have hit our area specifically (touch wood), but it was still an absurd statement to make, IMO.

[scorpionocean.livejournal.com]

damn hurricanes! Take care Niamh.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I know! Blargh! And we're at the state right now where everyone's like, "It might hit! It might move further south! It might move further north! It might bang a sharp left and hit the Yucatan!"

Dude, I went out and replenished our bottled water supply and canned goods just to be safe. Good thing I like canned pears... ;)

[everstar3.livejournal.com]

Gah. I thought of you when I heard about Wilma (and honestly, WILMA?). Especially since they were announcing in a chipper-but-gruesome manner that it was now "the strongest hurricane on record". Greeeeeat.

And... what? "Too much"... what?

*blinkblink*

I don't understand.

But I wants me some PG Tips now. Mmmmm.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I'm disappointed that no one has made a single Flintstones joke. Well, aside from people online, that is. Ah well.

Wilma. Yes. I keep hoping that it'll spawn Tropical Storm Pebbles. ;D

As for too much tea... I dunno. Seriously. Now, if I had all the same TYPE of tea, that'd be a different story. Like, "I have too much English Breakfast Tea." Because it's frustrating when you want Oolong, but all you have is Darjeeling.

I also tried talking myself out of going to the British import store to BUY some PG Tips. Witness my watertight rationale:

"I probably shouldn't go. The traffic's getting worse, and I just filled up the tank. It'd be wasteful. Maybe I'll go next week."

...

"Of course, if Wilma levels the import shop, I'd rather it be after I got my tea."

PG Tips

[hecallaghan.livejournal.com]

Excellent choice. We drink PG Tips at home, though my parents are occasionally reduced to Tetley when visiting the English shop near their house (well, I say near, it's about 20 miles away through scary French roads). Whenever I visit, I am usually under strict injunctions to bring enormous bags and boxes of PG Tips.

For my part, I don't understand why the whole world doesn't drink more tea, it being less in your face than coffee and altogether delicious, but there you go. I mean, coffee is nice, but tea's the thing.

Here's a question - do you take milk and sugar? Because when I was over there tea always came with weird things, like lemon. A proper British cuppa usually has a splash of milk and a spoon of sugar, though the amount or otherwise of sugar is optional. My Dad takes two and a half in a mug, and just thinking about that makes my teeth hurt. Whereas tea completely without sugar is like a day without sunshine.

And are you fastidious about making sure the water is absolutely boiling before pouring it on? Inquiring minds want to know!

Tea, marvelous tea!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I think we'll get some bits of Wilma, but at this point I don't think we'll lie in the direct path. We'll see, because she's being a bit of a bitch at present and proving difficult to track.

I find I occasionally crave coffee, but tea's my main staple drink -- which is different from how it used to be a few years ago, but there's an ulcer for you. (And now I just flashed back to searching about London with you for a proper cafetiere so you could make that coffee I'd brought. French press, if I remember? It made good stuff, I thought.)

I'm not typically a fan of lemon in my tea -- I do milk and sugar. That could be because my grandmother was English, and she was the first ever to introduce me to tea. (Earl Gray, if you were curious.) SOME teas are quite nice with lemon and honey, but that's usually if I've got a sore throat, as lemon and honey are supposed to be good for that sort of thing, I think.

What I put in my tea depends on what kind of tea it is. For intance, the cuppa I've got in front of me now, PG Tips, has milk and sugar (about a teaspoon and a half of sugar). I put milk and sugar in my Irish Breakfast tea and my English Breakfast tea... and Darjeeling, usually. Oolong, Keemun, jasmine, green, and white teas go better without sugar OR milk. Some teas I'll put just milk in, like Scottish Breakfast, Assam, and this Earl Gray with Lavender that I love.

Lately I have become more fastidious about making sure the water is absolutely boiling before pouring it in. My electric kettle holds water and keeps it constantly hot, so all I have to do is press the "Reboil" button and wait a little bit. I usually spend that time warming up the mug or teapot with hot water from the tap.

....I wonder what the way you take your tea says about your personality.

Re: Tea, marvelous tea!

[hecallaghan.livejournal.com]

Well, the Chinese-style teas like jasmine, green, etc don't really lend themselves to milk and sugar, that's very true. In fact, green tea always makes me feel a little dizzy. Chinese tea rocks with Chinese food, though. I don't do Earl Grey with milk or sugar, but some people do take it that way (it always looks this horrible grey colour to my mind, but hey).

I ask about the boiling water because as a tea-drinking nation we are very aware that the temperature of the water affects the flavour. I think it might be that a certain temperature of the water is necessary to bring out all of the flavours, or something, but there is some kind of science involved because the water temp definitely makes a difference. We can taste tea made with tepid water here instantly, kind of the way that the Japanese can guess how fresh a fish they're served is within an accuracy of hours. It is a truth universally acknowledged that the water should meet the tea no later than ten and ideally no more than four seconds after it has reached boiling point.

That said, it used to amaze me in the States, and in other non-tea-drinking nations, that they would serve you hot water and the tea seperately, just sitting the cup. Entire minutes could go by before leafy infusion met hot water! Just considering such an abomination makes me feel vaguely ill, and then want to start a protest group.

That said, I'm not one of these people that frets about scalding the milk by putting it in first before the water (I rarely do that, but I don't have *issues* with it). I wouldn't want people to think I was at all anal about this, or anything...

[jazzy-fay.livejournal.com]

The good news is that they're saying Miss Flintstone will weaken considerable before she reaches us.

Question: What are PG Tips?