(no subject)

Palo Alto is being weird and annoying and scary today.

It's been hailing on and off. Very abrupt hailstorms that come out of nothing more than a light drizzling rain, then disappear after 5-15 minutes.

I'd decided to treat myself to dinner at my one of my favorite restaurants in Palo Alto, this Persian cafe on Hamilton. As I approach it, I hear a loud droning noise. Like a car horn, only sustained impossibly long. As I reach the cafe, I realize the source is a car parked just a few meters away. The horn has spontaneously broken, and is now blaring at full intensity.

My ears quickly begin to hurt, and I walk my bike to a safe distance, park, and walk a few blocks to another restaurant. Right before I enter the cafe, the lights across the street go out. The cafe seems to still have power, though, so I go ahead and have dinner.

The cafe fills quickly with other people. Usually it's not very crowded at all, but it's Friday night and the dinner crowds have to go somewhere now that half the street lost power. I finish my meal quickly and walk down the street, figuring I'll wander around Borders for a while. As I pass where I parked my bike, I see clouds of smoke, steam, repair trucks, firemen and a firetruck, and a police car. It smells like an electrical fire, so I figure this is where the power went out. I try to take a picture, but it's too smoky and oddly lit. I keep walking to find Borders closed, presumably due to the power outage, and I wander back to the other side of downtown towards a coffee shop.

As I pass the electrical pandemonium once again, somebody comments "The transformer must have blown", and it hits me: I only missed the blow-out by a couple of minutes. I would have been right next to that transformer when it blew, if I'd only dawdled a little bit more when parking my bike. It occurs to me I have no idea how safe it is to be close witness to such an event. I still don't know, in fact. I'm glad I wasn't there to find out.

(no subject)

Palo Alto is being weird and annoying and scary today.

It's been hailing on and off. Very abrupt hailstorms that come out of nothing more than a light drizzling rain, then disappear after 5-15 minutes.

I'd decided to treat myself to dinner at my one of my favorite restaurants in Palo Alto, this Persian cafe on Hamilton. As I approach it, I hear a loud droning noise. Like a car horn, only sustained impossibly long. As I reach the cafe, I realize the source is a car parked just a few meters away. The horn has spontaneously broken, and is now blaring at full intensity.

My ears quickly begin to hurt, and I walk my bike to a safe distance, park, and walk a few blocks to another restaurant. Right before I enter the cafe, the lights across the street go out. The cafe seems to still have power, though, so I go ahead and have dinner.

The cafe fills quickly with other people. Usually it's not very crowded at all, but it's Friday night and the dinner crowds have to go somewhere now that half the street lost power. I finish my meal quickly and walk down the street, figuring I'll wander around Borders for a while. As I pass where I parked my bike, I see clouds of smoke, steam, repair trucks, firemen and a firetruck, and a police car. It smells like an electrical fire, so I figure this is where the power went out. I try to take a picture, but it's too smoky and oddly lit. I keep walking to find Borders closed, presumably due to the power outage, and I wander back to the other side of downtown towards a coffee shop.

As I pass the electrical pandemonium once again, somebody comments "The transformer must have blown", and it hits me: I only missed the blow-out by a couple of minutes. I would have been right next to that transformer when it blew, if I'd only dawdled a little bit more when parking my bike. It occurs to me I have no idea how safe it is to be close witness to such an event. I still don't know, in fact. I'm glad I wasn't there to find out.