Waterspouts? WTF?

[fbhjr]

The Milford Oyster Festival was last night. It’s a big event in a nice town on the Connecticut coast. We did it last year and had all sorts of issues, but decided to give it a try again this year.

The biggest issue is getting there. It should be less than a two hour drive. It never, ever is. This is because of traffic on the Connecticut coast. (Actually, it’s bad pretty much everywhere in the whole state. The coast does it’s best to lead by example and be the worst. But, anywhere in the state, assume a 30 MPH speed no matter what the limit is.)

So, this year my wife decided to leave 6 1/2 hours early, just to be sure.
I had also asked for the day off, but was told no. The product that has been exploding all over me this week wouldn’t let me. My boss had talked with one of the angry customers Wednesday. The customer was going to go to the job site Friday morning. I had to be there to tell them how to fix it. So, my boss had promised I’d be on hand Friday morning to walk through it. (So you know, the fix it to take off two rubber bumpers. I personally think that doesn’t need me on the phone to explain. But, the customer was really mad, and this seemed to mollify them.)
So, I wait. 10 comes. 10 goes. No call.
“Maybe they’re in central time,” I say.
11 comes. 11 goes.
“Where are they?” I ask my boss.
“Tennessee,” he says.
“That could be central, but it’s not mountain,” I said.
“Maybe they figured it out on their own,” he said.
12 came. No call. I left.

I met my wife at home, we went out for a nice sushi lunch, the drove to the coast.
At 2 in the afternoon, there was a 3 mile traffic back up on the coast road.


But, we still got there more than 4 hours early.

Maybe you’ve heard the expression “there with bells on”. My wife had bells on.


We checked in with the organizer who was glad to see us early this year. We assured him (wrongly) that the others were arriving soon and all would be well.

It was cloudy. The organizer told us the forecast was for a short burst of rain, then clearing. We got the umbrella out of the car and the sun came out.

Having lots of time, we decided to walk around the very nice town. It’s a big festival and they have tens of thousands of people there for it. Most of the big events are on Saturday. But, Friday night is still pretty good.

I thought I saw a sign for a singing group two of our folks started in Florida this year.


But, it turned out that it was just a sign for a store.

The harbor there is very nice.




As we walked along, we saw our big fan from the SCRF shows walking towards us. We weren’t in costume, and he was a ways away. But, we hid behind an oyster hunting submarine anyhow.


There is a small river that comes out at the harbor. There are a number of bridges over it and lots of fish and birds to see.






It really is a land/sea/air place. The main train line between Boston and New York runs over the river right at the edge of town. The major highway between it runs less than a mile back from that. The have all those boats. And, they’re on the landing path of several major airports.


The center of town is very nice full of old buildings and shops.


We found a used bookstore that was very nice. I got some very nice books there. It didn’t seem so much a bookstore as what my father’s basement of books was like, only they charged you to take them.
As far as I could tell, the signs for the different sections were at best suggestions of what you might find. In the sections, books were piled. That was the order they were in.

I got a book on Tudor songs, an instruction in comedy book from the 20’s, a biography of Mallory, and some fairy tales. Good prices. I made her look up the cost of the 20’s book as it wasn’t marked.

After that we went back down to the harbor. I have to say, I’m impressed with the harbor patrol. Usually it is just an inflatable raft with a guy in it. These guys don’t fool around.


We got back to find that the area where we were going to perform was full of cars.


This was particularly annoying as we had tried to park there and had been told “no cars allowed”. But, we decided we could perform (as so often happens) between the dumpsters and the portojohns.

At this point, the clouds started opening up and the rain poured down.


This is where things started to go wrong.

We knew we were down one person due to their being sick. Two more then called with a broken car. Another was stuck in traffic.
Our big fan found us and stuck to us like glue.

(Yeah, I got a picture of him this time.)
Our usual conversation followed, only this time he wants to try burning some rubber.
“It goes up like fire works,” he said.
“I don’t use fire works,” I said.
“My friend at the company says it’s the fluorine in it that makes it burn.”
“That will turn into Hydrofluoric acid in your lungs and eat its way out your feet,” I said.
“But, it makes nice colors,” he said.
Sadly, it was raining and I had an umbrella, so he did his best to stick with me and under it.
And, his wife was with him. So she followed him as he followed me. I walked back and forth in the same section “looking for the organizer” to keep them away from my wife.

While there, I saw two men from the fire department. Last year they were very exacting. They examined all of our equipment. They looked at all of our MSDS sheets. They asked us all sorts of questions.
“Hi, I’m with the fire performers,” I said, walking up to them. “Do you have any questions before we go on?”
They looked at each other, then at me.
“Are you guys safe?” one asked.
“We do our best,” I said. “Never had a major accident.”
“Have you done this before?” the other one asked.
“We do about 35 shows a year,” I said. “And, we did the Oyster Festival last year right here.”
“I wasn’t here last year,” the first said.
“Me either,” the second one said.
“Well we’re going on at 8:30,” I said. “Let me know if you’ve got questions.”
“OK,” the first said. “We’ll try and be there for the show.”
“I appreciate any support from the fire department,” I said.

As I walked back and forth, followed by our fan and his wife, I was listening to the live radio broadcast they were doing from the festival. The guy was in an aluminum pop up tent on the side of where everyone had parked.
He was interviewing the people who run the festival, and giving traffic and weather reports.
Lots of people were walking past, only partially listening.

He turned the weather report over to a guy back in the studio.
“A major storm is moving out of New York and along the Connecticut coast. This is a major cell that has spawned at least two water spouts in Long Island Sound.”

The whole crowd stopped and turned towards the radio tent.

“Could you repeat that,” the announcer said, looking out at all the people suddenly very interested in what he was saying. “I thought you said water spouts in Long Island Sound. So you know, I can see the sound from where I’m standing.”

“Don’t worry,” the guy back at the studio said. “They’re still 20 miles from where you are. It will take an hour for them to get to you. All you have to worry about is the lightning.”
“You know I’m doing the show from an aluminum tent, right?”
“What time do you finish there?”
“I finish at 7,” he said. “And, the new time is now 6:53. I guess I won’t hang around after the show.”

I went over to my wife.
“There are water spouts in the Sound,” I said.
“Car two is broken down,” she said. “Tom can’t find them. I haven’t hear from car three.”
“So, it might be the two of us doing the show?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said.
So, we worked out what the two of us could do alone.
I talked with the people who’s car was leaking a gallon of oil and hour and told them to go home and send Tom on without them.

Then, car three showed up. I was VERY happy to see them. I’m not sure I can express how happy I was to see them.

The rain got harder. There was a row of tents along where we were going to perform.
The last one in the row was the coast guard one.
I went over to them.

“Can we use some of the space under your tent for our drummer and to fuel our fire things?” I asked.
“Sure, we’re leaving,” they said.
“Why?”
“The rain is too much, so we’re packing up.”
My wife and I worried a bit about the rain being too much for the coast guard, but we took over the tent anyhow.

We went over to the organizer.
“A lot of folks have left,” he said. “But, if you can, I’d still like you to go on.”
“If the rain lets up some, we will,” I said.
“Just wait until the band stops.”

About 8, the band stopped. I went over to the band tent.
“Are you guys done?” I asked.
They looked down at their damp instruments.
“Oh, we’re done,” the band leader said.
“Good, because I was told not to start until you finished.”
Laughter ensued.
“You go ahead and start any time you want,” he said. “I promise you we’re not playing anything else tonight.”

So, I went back over to the organizer. Counting the time for thunder, the storm was now 3+ miles away and the rain wasn’t as bad.

“The band is done, can we start?” I asked.
“That would be great,” he said. “The $40 a person tent of oysters and wine is running out of food and drink. Some entertainment for them would be really appreciated.”
“That’s right next to where we set up,” I said.
“Perfect,” he said.

So, we performed.




Tom, who had left his house 5 hours before, came running in just before the finish.
“Did I miss the show?” he asked.
“Everything but the fire sword fight and fire breath,” I said.
“Those are the things I do,” he said.
We lit him up.

So, it worked out.
There was a show where I stood in a town square in a hurricane and told the organizer we’d still go on if she wanted.
There was a time we performed where it rained so hard it put out the fire swords.
But, I’ve never had so much of a “what” moment as when that guys said “waterspouts headed towards you.”

We never saw them. Later on the radio the same guy said the rain was too hard to see them and they only tracked them with radar. So, maybe they were out there for the show. I don’t know.

We packed up and went to see Star Wars: Clone wars. I sat through it in my wet costume, and had dumped my whole wallet into a puddle getting there.
But, I’m glad we went to see it.

We’ve finally found a show that I think beats Ohio.
I’m glad to be home.

Comments

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

Wow - not a good day for fairs, that's for sure !
Laura and her mom&sister are in Bridgewater, CT for a fair this weekend - they
got setup Friday AM and waited for customers, and then got socked by the thunderstorms. Didn't make 1 cent, and their tent ended up with 3" of water in it. Hopefully the rest of the weekend goes better !

I gotta try to find a theater around me that is still playing the x-files movie - yeah, I know it isn't a great movie, but it is a sickness/addiction.
And, the only personally autographed photos of any celebrities that I have are (2) of Gillian Anderson..

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

Wow... Holy Jeezes.

An event that maybe beats Ohio...Just as the crowds stopped dead at "water spouts", I "stopped dead" and boggled reading the 'maybe beat Ohio' line....That's saying something.

I don't know how you guys do it. I can't deal with the weather like you can.

[morgan-lafaye.livejournal.com]

We're very Sorry,it took over 12 qts. of oil and a nice cop to get us there, but we got home ( not sure WHAT IS BROKEN oO ). I'm very glad your all safe. We kept checking on the weather and hoped like hell you didn't land in KANSAS.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you got home. Hopefully nothing too bad is wrong with her car.

[blue-micha.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I had to call out, But the way I was feeling I would have been Useless. When I came home I said goodnight, downed a cup of MyQuil and passed out till the following morning.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

You sounded quite sick on the phone that afternoon. So, I think being out in that rain for hours would not have been a good thing for that. I think you were much better off with the mighty Q.

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

Yikes,

If it actually took a case of oil to get one of the cars down there it is going to need an engine transplant after that adventure !

[morgan-lafaye.livejournal.com]

We smartly headed home. Car is in the yard awaiting viewing by betters

[capt-amos.livejournal.com]

We had a great gig lined up at that store, but we got stuck in traffic. :-)

Great pictures and story, have to say I am glad I read about it rather than sharing it though. ;-)
I think when the Coast Guard packs up, it is time to go home!

Glad the show worked out...you guys rock!