It normally takes me 5 minutes to walk to work. This afternoon, it took me 10 minutes to get home. It is seriously stormy and windy out there. I walked right into the brunt of it and it was literally like forcing myself through a physical barricade of air and water. I was soaked to the bone, exhausted, and frozen solid when I got home.

The town of Courtenay, just 50km south of Campbell River, has declared a state of emergency because of severe flooding. One of my last customers of the day was a gal just a couple of years younger than me who was evacuated just in time to watch her trailer and all her worldly belongings float down a river, land on a bridge, and get demolished by the gale. She was in remarkably good spirits.

Last time I saw an ocean storm like this was on Gran Manan Island, in New Brunswick, during their unforgettable Labour Day storm of 1994 which just about wiped out the fishing industry. We had been scheduled to return to the mainland, but had to remain on the island because our tour bus could not be secured on the ferry. I remember standing on the pier watching our ferry nearly flounder in waves as high as it was. The passage over a few days later was incredibly rough and I was only one of a few who did not get seasick.

The road below the house is flooded in parts and I am glad to be sitting up high, but a little nervous that I don’t have an escape route for Miranda should water get all the way up here. I know the chances of that are incredibly remote, but like in Dawson this summer I am acutely aware that there is nowhere to go should the world go to hell.

Miranda is well buffered on all sides and is barely rocking. I am warm and cozy and have a fantastic view of the wipe caps rolling in. I’m going to sit here a while, snug as a bug, and enjoy one of the best views mother nature has to offer.