Square Zero

The Worst Thing About Airports . . .

Posted by Eric (July 23, 2008 at 7:53 pm)

United 625There are so many horrible things about airports, and I might usually name the indignity of removing one’s shoes as chiefest, but right now what I really hate about this airport, Washington Reagan, is that I can’t go outside—not without going back out through security.

The massive storm that delayed and than canceled my flight is now passing over. From the looks of it, it’s a deluge—skies blackened and flickering with lightening, waves of rain sweeping the tarmac. I love a good storm, but this one I can neither hear nor feel.

It would be some consolation for the tedium of sitting here at the gate to stand outside and feel the wind and thunder, to hear violence of the downpour. But you’re all locked up at an airport.

Fortunately, I sweet-talked my way onto an earlier flight—the 4:35 back to Chicago, which is predicted to depart at 9:10. Unlikely, since that’s only ten minutes from now and we haven’t even borded. In any case, it hasn’t been canceled yet.

This entry is filed under What Not. You can follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “The Worst Thing About Airports . . .”

  1. John Jansen says:

    Bummer you missed the one here on Monday night. We got as much lightning that night as we normally get in six months:

    Nearly 90,000 thunderbolts had hit northern Illinois, according to the National Lightning Detection Network. At the storms’ peak, it was firing off more than 800 bolts per minute; and that only counts those that hit the ground.

    “There was no precedent for this,” said WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling. “In every way imaginable, that storm last night was in its own league.”

    Comment posted August 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm