September 10, 2001

I well remember 9/10/2001.

It rained all day in New York.

The day before I had almost gone swimming with my Brotosh diplomat friend, Alia, at Lake Awosting, except the park ranger blocked the path to the old granite sky lake. No one was allowed in the water after Labor Day to avoid legal problems from drunken locals and tourists.

There was no one swimming at the Coney Island or the Rockaways on 9/10/01.

Rain and a lot of it.

I recall turning on the TV and seeing the weather report for the next day.

Sunny cloudless skies and that sounded lovely to me.

ps it's cloudy this 9/10/2025 there is no mention of any swimming incidents at lake Awosting.

Rainy New York Dry LA

The forecast for the evening from the Fort Greene Observatory calls for more rain.

This prediction for precipitation stands for tomorrow.

No flooding has been reported at the General Fowler Square, but the rivers, creeks, tidal marshes, and streams of the Northeast must be bursting their banks.

Anyone in the Far West has to be jealous of such a downpour.

There the snowcover of the high mountains are melting into the great western rivers. The rivers are running low. The lakes and reservoirs are parched and this summer looks like the Great Drought will hit the Central Valley of California, where over sixty years of suburban expansion have sucked the land dry and it will over get worse.

No Rain In Sight

As far as I can ascertain from my research there has been no rain on the planet Mars for over billions of years, although the Xanthe Terra highlands on the equator shows signs of water flow. The heaviest rainfall on Earth has been recorded in the following locations according to Answers.com; LLoro, Colombia, averages 13,300mm (523.6 in) per year Mawsynram, Meghalaya, India, averages 11,873 mm (467 in) Mt Waialeale, Hawai'i, USA, annual average 11,684 mm (460 in) Cherrapunji, also in Meghalaya; yearly avg 11,430 mm (450 in) Tutunedo, Choco, Colombia, annual avg of 11394 (448 in) New York City weathermen predicted heavy rain for 5pm this evening. As we pulled the jewelry from the front window, my partner at Smith and Love Diamonds shook his head and said, "Fantastic, I get to walk home in the rain and I don't have an umbrella." "Don't worry, it will hold off." "How do you know?" Hlove trusted meteorologists more than me. "Because my fingers aren't crackling." I had fought about 200 times over my life. Not all of these bouts were one on one and not all of them were entered into the W column, but I always threw a punch. "Busted knuckles are a damned good barometer." "If you say so." Hlove is a guitarist, but he's also a fighter. "Clench our fist." "And?" "You hear anything?" "Nothing?" "So you'll get home high and dry." "I don't know about high." HLove's doctors had ordered him to take the cure. We had never drank together and I never say anything about his choice. It's life versus death and not a question of wet feet. "But if you say so I'll be dry." We shut the safe and left the exchange. I was the last to go, because it took me three minutes to find my cell phone. The train ride to Fort Greene was twenty-three minutes on the B. I exited at Atlantic Terminal and stepped outside onto Hanson Place. The rain had yet to come and looking out my window at 8:05 there's none in sight. High and dry. Except my the glass of wine in my hand is expecting a downpour. "The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling." Lucretius Same goes for wine, since all liquids find the fastest path to the sea.

Somethings Never Change

In the autumn of 1997 I lived in the West of Ireland with my cousin, Ty Spaulding. We were both writing novels. His book on political intrigue was set in his native Hawaii and mine took place in Hamburg. The two of us experienced the full beauty of the Irish fall. "It's either just rained, going to fall, or will rain." That adage holds true to every corner of the British Isles, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. To this day. But it a sunny one in Fort Greene.