Monday, August 20, 2007

Calamities happen

I played indoor tennis tonight at Wooddale. It's been raining since Saturday morning, on and off. Mostly on. We took the game inside because we could. It was three sets of uneven tennis. The lighting is different inside, but there is no wind, and only half lobs because of the ceiling. The gang of geezers participated. Tennis Dennis will be having cataract surgery soon, followed by hip replacement surgery. He has about two weeks to play, so when we are scheduled, we play.

The drive to Wooddale took me through Spaghetti Junction - the interchange of highways in downtown St Paul. The traffic was as clogged as I've ever seen it. I think the city is feeling the loss of the 35W bridge and more of the traffic burden goes on 94 through St Paul. Traffic patterns have changed and people have to get used to the new reality, and must find new routes home. We're going to be clogged for a while.

It has been a bad streak for Minnesota. This weekend was the big rain and flooding in the southeastern part of the state - 17 inches of rain near Winona. At least six people were killed and beaucoups damage to homes in the area. Last week it was wind storms taking out the big trees at Como Park and the State Fair Grounds. On August 1st the 35W bridge collapsed and they are still searching for the last missing person. It has been a bad spell, but things could be worse. See below. Ground zero in Hiroshima. The Japanese people left standing the shell of the building at ground zero, as a visual reminder that worse things can happen unless we remain vigilent. This building was directly below the atomic bomb dropped there in August, 1945, and miraculously, partially survived. For 62 years.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I was having an "it could be worse" conversation with a colleague today about the Como Park destruction. The bridge collapse was worse. Sept 11 was much worse. But Hiroshima provides a dramatically different perspective. It is hard to imagine anything worse than that. How do we "remain vigilant" in ways to prevent future tragedies?
BB

Anonymous said...

I hope Tennis Dennis recovers well from his surgeries. I know you and the gang of geezers will miss his company on the tennis court. Mother Nature has hit your area pretty hard lately, for sure. SS