We've only got fifteen minutes to go

Singaporeans call November and December ``the'' rainy season, because they can be very funny when they want, but there are honestly more and more severe thunderstorms this time of year. For example, this morning was a severe thunderstorm, with flashes every few seconds and almost instant thunderclaps, with rain so heavy nearby buildings couldn't be made out; it ran from about midnight to 3 am. Now guess when my guest and I were trying to sleep before going to the airport. It was a great storm, too, severe enough to trip the circuit breaker that ... well, my TV and cable box and such are plugged into, though everything else was fine, and since I have a travel alarm clock that runs on batteries it not going off wasn't in question.

Happily, though, the storm receded and faded away to a pretty reasonable gentle rain between 3 am and 4 am, which was when the taxi was to take us to the airport. (6 am flight, you see.) So the hour saw a rather quick job of going through and making sure everything was packed and fit into the altogether too small luggage available. (At the risk of giving unsolicited advice, it seems to make sense to always use bigger luggage than you actually need.) The taxi company called at 3:50 to make sure we'd be there promptly, just as he was getting a touch frantic about zipping up his suitcase. A few moments later he asked, ``Do I have everything I need?'' and I asked, of course, ``Got your passport?''

Well. The farther we get from today, the funnier that question will seem to him, since he couldn't find it, and it wasn't in his bedroom, or under the bed, or on the tables, or ... and he looked at the clock and saw ``3:54, we have a few minutes'' (it was actually 3:59, but I wasn't going to argue the point then), and began unzipping everything, trying to search all thee spots a passport wallet might get in three weeks and a rapid packing job. Happily he found it before having to unpack too much, and we made it to the airport in time.

Trivia: In 1948 the four major US radio networks gave away approximately $90,000 per week in prizes; local stations gave away approximately $20,000 more per week; not counting cash prizes. Source: Quiz Craze, Thomas A DeLong.

Currently Reading: Saint Vidicon To The Rescue, Christopher Stasheff.