Preparing for Hurricane Gustav

All of us in Louisiana are battening down our hatches and making preparations for what looks, at the moment, to be the arrival of Hurricane Gustav in a few days time. I'm fairly well prepared anyway, of course. I can feed and look after myself for at least a month, if my house isn't damaged too badly by the storm. I'm always bemused by the rush of shoppers at the last minute, trying to stock up on essentials. Why can't they have those basic preparations in place long before hurricane season?

I'm also hugely amused by the run on local gunshops. We had many thousands - tens of thousands! - of refugees from New Orleans arrive here after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many of them were what can best be described as "low-lifes", gangstas out for trouble. They learned - rapidly, and some of them the hard way - that what they could get away with in New Orleans doesn't pass muster in these parts. Decent defensive ammunition is right out of stock now, in every town around here, and some of my friends (knowing that I have a suitably sizable stash of the stuff) have been coming around to beg, borrow or buy some from me. (They don't try to steal it. That would be counter-productive in the extreme!)

The general sentiment around here, from residents of all races, ages and educational backgrounds, is, "If them ******'s are gonna try their monkey business here again, I'm gonna be ready for them!"

I do hope that any refugees from further South behave themselves this time . . . or there really will be blood on the streets. At least the rain from Gustav will serve to wash it off!

Peter