Alcohol Armaggedon

As most of you know or had experienced, the East coast was hit by a pretty serious thunderstorm on Friday night (called a derecho).   I love thunderstorms.  I find them soothing.   But Friday's storm was anything but. 

I was standing in front of the window watching the sky lights flashing and trees blowing and listening to the cracking of thunder.   It then occurred to me, I probably should be standing away from the window in case a tree comes crashing through.

It only lasted for about 30 or 40 minutes, but caused some serious damage.  My neighborhood was a mess with tree limbs down and lawn chairs blown all over the yards but we still had power. 

I went to Dunkin' Donuts on Saturday morning to get an Iced Coffee and the line was out the door.  I guess people without power were out to get their breakfast.  I then went to the grocery store to get milk and popsicles (I had a 4 year old visitor who was in desperate need of "freezy pops").   All of the power at the store was out, so no refrigerated/frozen items were available.  

Of course, a lot of traffic lights were out at major intersections.   I guess people don't know that you treat out of order traffic lights like a 4-way stop.  It was a major CF on the roads.  The police had set up cones to block people from getting onto the major roads from the side roads.  It was obviously a blockade.  People were driving through the cones anyway.  They needed to go left and THEY WERE GOING TO GO LEFT.  Or maybe they just thought that this was a fun obstacle course set up for their driving entertainment.

I stayed in, with my 4 year old visitor, most of the weekend. 

On Sunday, after my visitor went home, I decided I needed a cold beer.   Although most liquor stores are closed on Sundays, there are a few that I know of that are open.  I was headed to my favorite liquor store - Beltway Liquors.  With the traffic lights out and roads being blocked to avoid accidents (because people can't figure out how to drive) I had to take quite a detour to the liquor store.  Now I don't know if Beltway Liquors is usually closed on Sundays, but it definitely was closed this Sunday.  So off to option #2:  Racer's on Harford Road.  After zigzagging through many more detours, I get there to find they, too, are closed.  No power. 

There is a Royal Farms store down the street from me that sells alcohol (most in Baltimore don't).  I pull up and that store is closed too.  No power.

At this point, I'm starting to realize how a heroin addict might feel trying to get their fix.  The more I couldn't find beer, the more I wanted it.  For a brief second, I had considered looting the liquor store.  But I came to my senses.  I thought about driving to a friend's house - the whole way across town - to get a beer.  She always has beer in her refrigerator.  But the CF on the roads prevented me from doing it, so I went home and had freezy pops instead. 

But I did learn two important things this weekend.  ALWAYS keep beer stocked in the fridge.  And I never want to live in a world without beer.