Jean Claude, my damn van, was undrivable and stuck at a garage that couldn’t look at the problem for a few weeks, so I loaded everything thing I could into a taxi and checked into a campsite on the beach for a month. I didn’t have an electric hookup and was pretty depressed so I just turned my phone off and went to sleep for a week. I never got the warning messages!
All I knew was that the weather was miserable and I had to splosh through standing water to go to the toilet block. I forced myself to take a walk on the beach every day, and watched as the waves eroded it away. And took a few meals in the campsite restaurant, which stayed open for the duration.
It was from there that I heard about the death and destruction, and realised what had happened around me. Shrug. They let me charge my phone, and I discovered my mother was going frantic because she hadn’t heard from me for a week and she knew I was in the affected region. Oops.
I had to stay in the area for a while because I was waiting for van repairs, so I also learned that the local government had been roundly criticized for not doing enough, not warning people enough, all the stuff that people know about when something happens and they’re looking for someone to blame. So when I got this alert today my first thought was that they were sending it to cover their arses, it was probably nothing to worry about.
And in any case, I knew I was in a safe locale. I wasn’t in the campsite this time, but Demerzel (my newly renamed van) was in the beach parking just 200m further south. It’s on the edge of a residential area that was unscathed last time around, I couldn’t see any special risk.
The difference now was that I wasn’t in the campsite, I was in a pretty small van. No toilet, limited space or cooking facilities, and it was going to be very hot and humid. Rain means no solar energy coming in but I had a fridge to run and I needed all my electronics to stay operational for the duration. I have stuff to do online which will keep me busy so long as I have electricity. It all looked a bit grim when I stopped to think about it.
So now I’m parked at a motorway service station 20 kilometers away, waiting for the rain to start. It’s due in another hour. I stopped along the way and fueled up, just a precaution, and my solar panel is working away right now to get my batteries fully charged up.
I’m a safe distance above sea level, with good drainage, and most importantly there is an air conditioned restaurant a few paces away. They have toilets, comfortable seats, electricity sockets, and food if I get bored of cooking for myself. It’s not the most beautiful spot I’ve ever camped for a few days, but I think it’s the best place to be while I weather the storm.
Wish me luck!