Last Thursday was an Adventure. I was invited to be a guest of my librarian at the Librarian's Fall Dinner at Kingfish on the River in the meeting room on the second floor. The view was really good in spite of looking like rain. The buffet was great and I even had lemon pie. But then the excitement started. The sirens started going off and the TV said a severe storm was heading our way. The waitress said we needed to go to safety and led us down a ramp into the part of the restaurant normally only employees go in. We had to duck our heads twice because of pipes and go down narrow steps into the very lowest level of the restaurant where the supplies were stored-huge cans of vegetables, salad dressing, soft drinks and the like. Of course being a storage area there was no place to sit and it was crowded and on the warm side. After about 10 minutes we were told it looked like the storm was going to stay at the other side of the river and went back upstairs. Outside across the river was lightening and I could see the effect of the wind on the clouds and trees. It was awesome in an unreal kind of way. The speaker Candyce Clifft from channel 41 started her speech. She said broadcast journalists will survive the Blog explosion because they are story tellers. To be a successful journalist, you must know how to read and write a story and how to prepare questions. You must also listen to the answers people give and follow up with questions related to what they say instead of always sticking with your prepared list. You must always remember you are asking questions for your viewers so even if the answer wouldn't interest you personally...
Then I had to go to the restroom and as I was getting ready open the door back into the restaurant, THE LIGHTS WENT OUT. I decided to open the door anyway and luckily there were two emergency lights that made it possible for me to get back to the table and my stuff. It wouldn't have been a good time to leave because the storm was at it's worst.The wait staff brought candles and the speaker went right on. I was impressed by her professionalism as well as her stories about stories she had reported. Next more sirens and the radio said a tornado was thought to be heading toward the VA hospital which was just down the street from where we were. It would have been close to impossible to have gone back down where we were before. However, there are two brick walls with a hall between them separating parts of the downstairs with the hall ending with walls on either end. The entire wait staff stood on the two sets of stairs with candles so we could see to get down safely. We sat on chairs against the walls when we got downstairs until there was a break between storms. There were no street lights until I almost reached I-65. There also wasn't much traffic. The wind was briskly blowing debris everywhere but it had stopped raining by then. I was so glad to get home. John wasn't aware of the drama since it wasn't as bad out by our house. Later that night, another storm came and woke me up but since I was safe in my own bed I just went back to sleep. All the time most of this was happening, I thought what a good story to tell. But Christy was sleeping when I called and wasn't impressed and nobody else has been home.