It’s Typhoon Time

Of course we’re having a typhoon right now. During our last typhoon several weeks ago someone told me the low barometric pressure prompts babies to be born, so this typhoon—just five days from the bean’s due date—I was curious to see what would happen. Well, nothing’s happening baby-wise, but Tokyo is getting such a direct hit that Chris had to come home from work early because they’re battening down the base.
Last night and this morning I got phone calls from the Atsugi medical clinic informing me to go to Yokosuka, because at this point the weather is bad enough to warrant barring the base gates and “if you have an emergency, there’s really nothing we can do for you or your child here.” That sounded boring and impractical, so I’ve got the storm shutters up and am ‘sheltering in place,’ just like in March. I mean come on, we’re from Houston; we lived in Florida. We know hurricanes. If worse comes to worst, Nicole has agreed to deliver the bean in exchange for naming him after her (my suggestion). But this morning I was still surprised to find the water level along the Hikichigawa higher than I’ve ever seen it. Nagoya, just on the other side of Mt. Fuji from us, is evacuating for fear of mudslides. And just now the wind gusted so strongly that it lifted up my neighbor’s parking cover enough for the supporting pole to go flying (the neighbor bustled out and fixed it).