A Brooklyn Storm

This is not Irene. It is last week's storm.

Today, we sit at home in airconditioning twiddling our thumbs and waiting for our hurricane (zzzzz). The air outside is like hot, soggy cotton wool. The big shops are closing, the subway has shut down. Only corner stores and small concerns remain open. Mr Lee's (as we refer to our vegetable/fruit shop) is raking it in.

The cat mewing in the background of the video is not frightened, he is hungry. It is dark and that must mean dinner time to a one-track-minded feline. Strangely, he is not afraid either of thunder or of fireworks, being a cat of his times, perhaps, his bodega upbringing in Manhattan accustoming him to both.

Note the fig tree in its storm position, of the edge and on top of the braai.