And awayyyyy we go!

What was unimagined is becoming real. It is a bizarre sensation. For months we've been hearing about vast waters unleashed, and shown pictures of horizon-to-horizon floods right near home, but--except during some of the torrential rains--haven't seen any of this up close. Even today, when I had to go all over this sprawling oriental metropolis doing regular old stuff, I still haven't been able to imagine tomorrow, when things are supposed to start getting damp around here.

I spent much of the day in the condo, also, just working on this fascinating translation project. The fictional characters, their imagined words and feelings, seemed much more real to me than the prospect of not being able to go out without getting wet, or maybe even having to swim.

The glacial progress of this flood is probably responsible for this sense of detachment than anything. Floods just rush in and wash everything away, don't they? They're not supposed to warn you first. Here, you saw the pictures at the top. Those are from Bangkok and from today, too. Just different parts of the city. It's just inching its way in. If we want to leave, we've got all the time in the world to do it.

My Condo, my magnificent and beloved domicile . . .

Here are some scenes I saw today of life that was nearly normal, only a little different if you went in a store and found half the shelves empty because water, juices, and a lot of staples sold out, or if you paid attention to the new construction of water barriers, sandbags piled here and there with no use for them yet, things like that. 

And now it's late at night. A few minutes ago, the streets were just as dry. But then a rain started. A hard rain. They may not be dry again.

I've never been in a "disaster zone" when a disaster was actually happening. I'm gonna try it on for size this time. We're pretty well stocked on food and water here, and if anybody around will have power, I expect the condo management will make sure that we do, too. And somehow I think we will have power, and it won't be a complete disaster, just inconvenient as hell for awhile. But if we don't . . . well, I spent three weeks without electricity, and at the end, nearly without food, in the California mountains in summer of 2010. Nearly inconvenient as it gets. Did me a world of good. Whatever happens, it should be fascinating.

Rather than discuss in the abstract, I think I'll wait and see what it looks like tomorrow, and give you the glacial blow-by-blow.  But in the meantime, here are a couple more pictures taken in Bangkok, today, in places where it was not dry.

Some of you have asked about how the Thai novel I'm translating is coming along. I am going to make time to talk about that soon. Short answer: coming along just fine, and the process is wonderful and absorbing. I'll do a whole post, at least, on the problems I've run into and how I'm dealing with them. I wish I'd been doing things like this for the last 40 years. Maybe I can even throw in some talk about that while relating these earthly and waterly experiences, we'll see. 

But for right now, let's keep on topic. This one's fascinating, too. And it's past my bedtime, I hear my mama callin', so I'll give you another shout when we see what tomorrow's gonna be all about. So for now, guys, ta ta!

. . . Oh . . . and I'll try not to dream about all those crocodiles that have apparently escaped from the croc farms and shows around town. There are already enough folks thinking about that one. And the crocs ain't the worst of it . . . .  

Tomorrow's installment: Lookin' for some action.