Friday, September 01, 2006

The Lighter Side of a Hurricane

I lived in Hampton, Virginia for 15 years. My dad was stationed at Langley AFB, so I'm fairly familiar with the area, and my baby brother still lives in the Tidewater area, along with some long time friends. So, I was checking their local newspaper about the effects of Ernesto and came across this: Wet pelican brings traffic to a crawl
A water-logged pelican, hunkered down in driving rain on the side of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, slowed commuters to the Peninsula to a crawl this morning. Westbound traffic backed up for several miles on the approach to the tunnel, only to discover the delay was caused by a bird. The pelican appeared to be unharmed and apparently decided to ride out the storm by sitting in the shoulder of the passing lane, partially sheltered by the cement guardrails on the side of the road. It watched complacently as vehicles two feet away moseyed past at less than 5 mph and drivers eyed it curiously. Once past the pelican, motorists resumed normal driving speed through the tunnel. Rubbernecking is for the birds.
At least the bird had enough sense to get out of the rain, unlike those who were in the cars.