Thunderstorms

For a reason which I cannot understand, always I have disliked thunderstorms! It is not the lightning which bugs me but the crashing BOOMS of the thunder.

Thunderstorms are - of course - natural to nature and (when I was a child) I thought that they were solely a summer phenomena. NO! Sometimes they occur during the other seasons of the year as well.

Growing up on the West Coast of Canada I witnessed - and heard - many. If that happened after I had gone to bed I would hide under the covers making sure that the blanket and sheet covered me completely so I would not see the lightning.

I remember one spring or summer when we experienced an inordinate number of those storms and there were reports of severe damage as well as injuries and deaths. That scared me.

Australia is almost an entirely subtropical continent so the Brisbane area did experience numerous storms. Christmas and New Year are summer festivals down there and I remember one New Year Eve when we were sent home early to enjoy the holiday.

About half a mile from the boardinghouse was the center of the suburb of Strathfield. Although the skies were threatening I felt that I had to buy a certain item so I walked down to the business section in order to make a purchase.  While on my way back home the  heavens opened and there was a tremendous downpour of rain and hail which was accompanied by a big flash of lightning and a deafening crash of thunder. In the newspaper the next day there was an item about that storm and the news that the marquee on the movie house - about a mile ahead of me in the direction that I was walking - had been hit. That was the reason that the crash seemed to be extra loud.

That is the closest that I have ever come to a lightning strike.

In a previous blog I wrote about Dad, Alda, I and a couple of Alda's in-laws being in a row boat out on Canim Lake (near 100 Mile House in the B.C. Cariboo Country) when a thunderstorm blew over.  It also was a loud one and suddenly we could not see where we were heading because of the heavy rain and the waves on the lake being whipped up by the strong wind. We made it safely to shore but I do not want to be out on a body of water during a storm and while in a rowboat ever again! I am just not that adventurous!

Here in Ontario often there are summer thunder showers and - occasionally - accompanied by a tornado. Personally, I have not encountered one of the latter - nor do I want to!

Those of you who enjoy thunderstorms are welcome to do so - just do not bother inviting me to come along!

By the way - I appreciate the interest shown towards my blogs but please wait until I have finished writing and editing before you read them! *GRIN*