Irene passes by lightly

Well that was an anti-climax.  This morning most of the nearby stores were closed, but the local trio of bars (Timboo's, Smith's, Jackie's) were up & running, & Neergaard & Daisey continued to dispense wheelchairs, sitz baths and eggs over easy.  There was some flooding down by the canal, but by the time I got down there, all that remained were some traces of sludge and the briny smell of the sea.  At the store where the pig's head remains in the window, serious measures had been taken to keep out the water.

Crossing the canal, I could hear the plaintive cry of waterfowl.  It turned out to be a weatherbeaten man with a trumpet mouthpiece. Under the Viaduct, right next to the Lowe's parking lot & the scrap iron dealer's, he made his lonely call.