Storms

Stood by the window the other night to watch a storm explode behind Signal Mountain. There was not a cloud in the sky, the stars were out, but an unseen electrical storm raged a few miles behind the mountain, so that all we could see was the flare of an unseen lightning strike. It was pretty cool.

The best storms I have ever seen have been in Canada, one, while sat on the porch at 24 Cross Street, seemed to carry the entire weight of northern Ontario on it. Watching the storm I could see what drove transcendalists like Walt Whitman to worship North America as they did...it felt like we were on the edge of civilisation looking out to a roiling and endless wilderness.

The MOST impressive storm swept over us in Bon Echo provincial park, I can remember lying down and idly watching it blow up in the distance and drive toward us. A sharp wind blew, the pressure in the air changed and we all looked at each other for a second before scrambling to save our chili and pull down our Mantis(tm) dining tent around us. In less than five minutes we were pretty much in the centre of the storm, hanging on to the Mantis(tm) for dear life, the lightning lit up the orange fabric of the tent like a strobe disco, illuminating the darkness every second or so to highlight panicked and smiling faces, it was a blast. It ruined our tent, we slept in rainwater that night, but it was pretty feckin' awesome.