Back in Houston

Well, Houston escaped!

Thanks all for the many e-mails and calls I head on my return (and whilst in the UK)...

Thanks too to Beccy and Mark for choosing to get married during a hurricane - Congratulations again!

I have made it back to Houston, flight was excellent (and on time), and I have now made it to my apartment, which is still here.

I dumped my bags, climbed into my gas guzzling beast and drove through storm ravaged Houston trying to find an intact store.

I was disturbed to note that the bloody pansies they plant in the middle of the road are still there so the storm was not really that bad!

The only sign of the hurricane was the pumpkins that have been thrown into the bushes, outside my nearest supermarket. Or they might have been put there 'cos the 'merkins are getting ready for Halloween...

I then procured some fresh baked bread (a French stick), some deli smoked turkey, some peaches, pasta sauce and some chewing gum. The milk selection was a bit limited, so I'll wait until tomorrow when they have some non UHT stuff in!

So as you can see from the pics, there is no damage, and doesn't appear to be any major problems with gas or food.

Local traffic was fine (still slightly quieter) when I got back. It will be normal by end of Tuesday as all businesses are opening on Wednesday. Most service industries are open already (groceries / gas stations etc). I’ve not seen any closed ones around my place, but I didn’t do a massive look around, as its 2am UK time now!

It really doesn’t appear that there is any form of state-wide problem with anything. The hurricane really clipped the east of Texas, and was bad if you were in its path. Remember Texas is bloody massive – bigger than France – so there is a lot of space (and more than a little confusion in the press about the proximity of problem areas)

posted by Sam @ 22:50