Hey Earl and all,
Please take care and be safe. You will all
be in our thoughts, I am sure.
Sue Heim
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 3:33
PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] This is Houston
calling....
Best of luck Earl
Will be thinking of you and everyone else
who will be caught up in it all
Thanks
Andy
----Original
Message Follows----
From: Captain Bijou <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To:
Captain Bijou <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
[email protected]
Subject:
[MOPO] This is Houston calling....
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 11:20:17
-0500
I am firmly ensconced in my home in the Houston Heights planning
to ride out
the storm. No doubt, we'll lose power here for several days in
Hurricane
Rita's wake, so messages may be few and far between after
tomorrow evening.
I have been in contact with movie poster dealer Marc
Schooley and his wife,
Linda, are planning to ride out the storm in their
Clear Lake home, though
it is dangerously close to an anticipated flood
area.
Roy Bonario and wife, Fran, have already exited the city and are
awaiting
Rita's arrival in nearby Tomball, the same city in which Gene
Arnold lives.
I have not yet received contact from many of the city's
movie memorabilia
"oldtimers" including Willie Patterson, Ken Donnell,
Glenn Kessler and Tony
Smith.
The news reports you have been seeing
on television re: the traffic
situation were accurate. Bumper to
bumper for miles and miles. Many
families had left with a full tank and ran
out in traffic after inching
along at a mile or so an hour. Hundreds of
cars still dot the roadside
awaiting a ration of gas being dispensed by
fuel trucks from the Texas
Department of Transportation. Efforts by the
local authorities from the
governor to hundreds of volunteers on down have
been commendable given the
scope and complexity of the evacuation...perhaps
the largest in modern
history.
In the city, the surface streets are
flowing smoothly, with little traffic.
I had to take my wife to the airport
earlier at six a.m. Thursday morning.
We avoided the freeways and, being
native Houstonians, made our way on
surface streets. At that, it still took
two hours for the trip which usually
is only a 20 minute ride.
Most
folks are now awaiting the storm with determined resolution. I stopped
off
at my neighborhood Lowe's for some last minute items, and though
it
required an hour and a half to check out, their staff handled the
crowds
efficiently and courteously. Crowded yes...but orderly as
well.
Local stations have been on around the clock with continuing
stories about
the exodus, shortages, and flooding forecasts. Eagerly
awaited is each
half-hour's report on Hurricane Rita's tack. New
co-ordinates... the latest
position...projected path...areas of possible
devastation.
It is all consuming and surreal. Every activity for over
four million people
now centers on an unseen, powerful force that
represented as a glob of
brightly colored swirls on our TV screens. Its
presence will known all too
soon...
In fact, we're starting to see
the first scattered cloud cover. A light
breeze, gusting
periodically, is just starting to animate the bushes and
trees.
Yesterday, the temperature was a sizzling 100 degrees with little or
no air
movement. As I write this e-mail, the temperature is hovering
around
84.
Everything has been eerily quite Many inhabitants
have fled the city,
though I would estimate there are still nearly a
substantial number of us
remaining behind and scattered throughout the
city. It's much like one of
those end of the world sci-fi flicks where the
hero wakes up to find the
city emptied in advance of an invasion by robots,
aliens or whatever. Those
few remaining on my street are inside watching
the developing hurricane
news, the continuing stories of the traffic ordeal
for evacuees and the
tragic incident of a busload of elderly evacuees from
the Houston community
of Bellaire. In the distance I can still hear the
whine of a power saw as it
slices through plywood. One last minute
detail...another window saved from
shattering, perhaps??
As I was
taking down the front porch swing a family of four came riding by
on their
bicycles. A sign of the normal...the routine...in most
unusual
times.
Best,
Earl Blair
CAPTAIN BIJOU
www.captainbijou.com
Houston
TX
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