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- Updates from the Islands -- - Nevis - - |
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| - Has Joyce Gone? |
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From here it looks that Joyce is not a threat to most of the Lesser Antilles but it might be a little unpleasent down Trinidad and Tobago way. They certainly do have my sincere sympathy. Here, in Nevis, the weather is gorgeous. UPDATE on my previous entry:- The Thought Police were delayed and when they forced their entry into Kelly's residence they found that it was abandoned and empty of all evidence except for a partly burned scrap of paper. By applying advanced forensic techniques (holding it close to the eyes and squinting) they managed to make out a single word - JOHN. It is therefore assumed that the fugitive might be male! Regards, Prof. Peter 'Cracking Up' Crane |
| - A Dangerous Intellectual |
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My thanks to J B Kelly, St. Thomas, who has eschewed his/her calculator and has considered my 'little' problem without using the concept of acres. He/she/it has ALSO eschewed the classic weight of ton, preferring 2,000 lbs to a ton and comes up with 7,831,762.38 'english' tons of water!! Well, J B Kelly, I have notified the Thought Police who are AT THIS VERY MOMENT speeding to your residence with a warrant. If you wish to avoid an interesting experience involving some close encounters with medieval hardware it MIGHT be wise to shin out of your back window and make yourselves scarce. J B Kelly also claims to have a PIG so he/she is not ALL bad. Have a nice day, J B Kelly. Prof. Peter 'Whistle Blower' Crane P.S. What is your definition of an inch? P.P.S. I won't mention Joyce! |
| - "How Much" - Correction |
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I am indebted, figuratively speaking, to Joel Crocker form St. Lucia who writes:- Dear Prof. Peter, I love a mathematical problem as much as the next mathematician so I looked into William Glover's suggestion and found a small error in logic: 1 FOOT of rain over an acre results in 43,650 cu ft of rain - not 1 INCH. 1 inch of rain over an acre results in 43,650 divided by 12 = 3,637.5 cu ft. I don't know the weight of water, but if he's right about 62.42796 pounds per cubic feet, I get: 36 miles X 640 acres X 3,637.5 cu. ft X 62.42796 lbs X 3 inches divided by 2,240 lbs/ton = 7,007,093 tons - whew! I guess a lot of it just runs off the island and back into the ocean! Mathematically yours, Joel Crocker Many thanks, Joel. So there you have it. OR DO YOU??? Regards, Prof. Peter 'Arithmetically Challenged' Crane P.S. We had a heavy shower today and got about 1 million tons falling on Nevis. P.P.S Who is Joyce? |
| - Fair to Partly Cloudy with Scattered Showers |
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That is what the local radio station (VON) always give us as the weather forecast and, yes, 320 days a year that is about right. Last night, though, we got about an inch of rain, according to my PIG. Well done, VON, not even close!! Joyce looks quite menacing. Regards, Prof. Peter 'who cares' Crane P.S. For those who haven't followed my notes my PIG is a :- high-tech analogue integrating Precipitation Indication Gauge (Patent Applied For). It is cunningly disguised as a plastic bottle with the top cut off! |
| - Incredible!! |
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36 square miles and 3 inches of rain?? William Glover, the Donkey Spider expert, says:- Come, come, Professor Crane. It's common knowledge there are 640 acres in a square mile, an inch of rain falling on an acre amounts to 43,560 cubic feet, and a cubic foot of water weights 62.42796 pounds. Beyond this I can't go because of an insufficiency of fingers and toes. It's easier in metric and the answer I get is 444,053 quintals, more or less. How much should we allow for a little greater density of water from the salt spray in the air? Well... 36 square miles times 640 acres times 43560 cubic feet times 62.428 pounds times 3 inches divided by 2240 lbs/ton equals a whopping 83,911,793.55 tons!! 84 MILLION tons?? On our little island?? What??? Can anyone do better than William? Regards, Prof. Peter 'Gob-Smacked' Crane P.S. what is a quintal in REAL money? |
| - How Much ???? |
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As you know Nevis has an area of approx 36 square miles. You didn't know? Oh well! Now, TD#12 dropped about 3 inches of rain on us and I decided to calculate the weight of water that had fallen on the island (how sad am I?). I couldn't BELIEVE the number!! Maybe someone would like to do the calculation and let me know what THEY get. Regards, Prof. Peter 'What a Lot I Got' Crane |
| - Still Standing |
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Many many thanks to all of you who gave me advice on how to tie a short piece of rope to a beam. To you who wanted to kick away the stool ... you'll have to form a queue behind Eugenie, my wife. To those of you wanting to purchase an Analogue Precipitation Indication Gauge (A PIG) I have good news. By purchasing them in bulk I am able to pass on substantial savings to you. I accept all major credit cards (but prefer cash). Weather-wise we are back to idyllic conditions. A slight cooling breeze, hot sun, blue skies. Let's hope it continues. Regards, Prof Peter 'Kicking' Crane |
| - TD#12 - Additional |
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Additional - another half inch of rain fell since my last message, according
to my Analogue Precipitation Indication Gauge (A PIG) which,
to the untutored eye, looks like a plastic bottle with the top
cut off.
Additional - I've bought ANOTHER flight for my daughter at considerable
additional expense.
Additional - I'm still stressed out. Does anyone know how to attach a
short length of rope to a beam?
Regards,
Prof. Peter 'It's only money' Crane
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| - Tropically Depressed - Big Time |
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TD#12 passed us last night (Saturday). The wind wasn't too bad (mine always is!) but the thunder and lightening were REALLY impressive. At considerable expensive I have procured and commisioned a high technology Analogue Precipitation Indication Gauge (A PIG). For the technically minded it is a plastic bottle with the top cut off! It shows that we received two-and-a-half inches of rain. Now ... my daughter is staying with us and should have got her flight to Antigua this morning to connect with her onward flight. But her Nevis flight was cancelled and I cannot contact Antigua to cancel her onward flight!! She is stressed out, my wife is stressed out, and I am REALLY stressed out. Does anyone know any good jokes?? Regards, Prof Peter 'AGHHHHHHHHH' Crane |
| - Who's a Naughty boy, Then? |
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OK, I know that I'm supposed to say that we are terrified and the storm is CRASHING down on top of us and so on. The TRUTH is that Debby brought some welcome rain and the wind wasn't too bad. Now - we are enjoying wonderful Caribbean weather. Maybe it's a bit hot but ... Hey, It ain't too bad, is it? Regards, Prof. Peter 'Relax Mon' Crane |
| - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You |
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First of all let me express my hope that all others on the path of Debby get off as lightly as we did. Light winds. Another half-inch of rain. And that's all! Many thanks for all the good-wishes mail that my wife and I received. Also thanks to "thiselvis" of Antigua who advised:- "Good luck, batten down, bottle up." The Carifesta festival (St.Kitts and Nevis) was postponed last night but will probably be in full swing again tonight. The Netball Championships matches (here on Nevis) were also postponed. We had Electrical Power ALL NIGHT!!!!!!! Regards, Prof. Peter 'No Probs, Bruce' Crane |
| - UNBELIEVABLE! |
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I asked some people how their storm prparations were coming on. The reply was something like "According to the Weather Channel the storm is going to hit Puerto Rico - so we will be OK."! Now, we are almost exactly on the line between the storm and Puerto Rico! Naturally the U.S. station will talk about U.S. islands - won't they? Well my preps are just about complete now. Later. Prof. Peter 'Ready and Willing' Crane P.S. We are now getting Hurricane Warnings. The shelters will "not be opened unless anyone needs them"! We are expecting 4-6 inches of rain. |
| - Here we go again |
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Very busy making preparations in the rain. We've had over half-an-inch this morning and Debby hasn't really knocked on the door yet - but we can see it coming up the road. Mixed feelings here. Many people are saying it won't come. Heads in the sand or what? Local Radio is playing uplifting music ?!!???? Not much sound of hammering yet. Got to get back to my preparations so - Later. Regards, Prof. Peter 'give-us-a-break' Crane |
| - go AWAY!! |
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Here we go again. According to the pundits TD#7 is going to build up to a Category 1 hurricane quite quickly and then coming rushing over my head - ouch! It is expected in about 2 days. But do I really care? What do you think? Last year I published my personal hurricane check-list. If anyone wants a copy of it just let me know. If anyone else has a check-list I would love to see it to see what I have missed on mine. Just at the moment the weather could not be better. The sky is (was) clear and blue and the delightful cooling breeze was most welcome. It is going to change folks. Regards, Prof. Peter 'Pass the Hammer and Nails' Crane |
| - Telephone & TV protection |
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Not at Nevis at the moment, but endorse friend 'Bright Spark' Crane's suggestion to unplug all telephones during any thunderstorm. Would also suggest that the cable TV lead be disconnected from the TV at such times. Good luck to all with Alberto. William Glover New York City |
| - It Was a Hard Day's Night |
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What a night! We had a a MOST spectacular thunderstorm tonight. The sky was lit up on (almost) a continual basis. Winds and rain were somewhat heavy, but not dangerously so. Our dogs (remember them?) were terrified and were scratching at the laundry door for us to let them in. Power was cut for as far as I could see - the only lights coming from homes with back-up generators. INCIDENTALLY - if you are in a thunderstorm situation I advise you to unplug the TELEPHONE line (from the wall). I, and many people I have communicated with, have had my modem 'fried' by getting a power surge through the telephone line! I wonder how OTHER correspondants feel about the existance of Alberto? As far as I am concerned I almost feel relieved that the Hurricane Season has started. NOT, let me hasten to tell you, that I like hurricanes but because, after last year's busy season when there always seemed to be some storm or other somewhere - threatening, it seemed unpleasant to wait for the curtain to rise (as it were). Regards, Prof. Peter 'Bright Spark' Crane |
| - The storm clouds were gathering |
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The tropical wave which brought the welcome showers has now passed and we are back to irrigating the yard with hoses. It probably won't last for long before another system arrives, though. It IS that time of year. Looking at the Atlantic map there is a huge area of cloud (about 10N and from 20W to 40W)! It has no 'cyclonic' shape yet but ... Regards, Prof. Peter 'The Pessimist' Crane P.S. Thank you, Maggie, for your nice e-mail. |
| - Welcome to Nevis |
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Well, You might be pleased to hear that we got a few more welcome showers which have raised the level of our cistern (I know that you were worrying about it). Also, I got a lovely e-mail from "Joe" who is coming to Nevis on a vacation soon. He says that he has never been to the Caribbean before so he is in for a lovely surprise, isn't he? Don't worry about hurricanes, Joe. It is just a trick of the tourist people to make the islands look exciting. We haven't had a hurricane now for months!! Regards, Prof. Peter 'No Problems' Crane |
| - A couple of welcome showers |
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Well, what did I tell you five days ago? You don't know do you? That's because nobody is reading these notes. Ho hum. Anyway, the 'something-nasty' that came off Africa came quite quickly across the Atlantic, weakening all the while. By the time it arrived (just South of here) it had become two weak tropical waves. We got a few welcome showers which wetted the ground quite nicely and SHOULD have filled the cistern. Unfortunately one of my toilets kept running (for the technically minded the flapper valve was jammed) and I lost A LOT of water but it is not yet at a critical low. A TD would be very welcome to fill it up again. Anyway, the grass is green, the sky is clear (and blue), the flowers are beautiful and even the donkeys are smiling. Life is Great Prof. Peter 'Feeling Frisky' Crane (Nevis) P.S. Frisky says "Hi"!! |
| - What can I see? |
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Tell me, am I wrong or what? Is there a something-nasty coming off Africa? I hope not. Goodbye for now Prof. Peter 'Watching and Waiting' Crane (Nevis) |
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