Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Charleston



After a swing through rain soaked Virgina we've arrived in sultry Charleston, a costal city on the coast of South Carolina. I've never seen downpours quite like the ones we drove through, but that's America, they don't do their weather by halves.

Twenty years ago to the day Charleston played host to Hurricane Hugo. The physical scars have long gone but the local news today featured an item about shelter suitability; they can't take their security from the elements for granted here. We wandered about the elegant French quarter and a friendly lawyer showed us around the court complex which dates from the eighteenth century. The centre of the storm came ashore here and tore the roof off, he reminisced, so they spent two million dollars or so rebuilding it to its former glory.

2 comments:

Callum said...

Charleston was the venue for one of my favourite FOOCs ever -- by Justin Webb.

"A sign said "Shagging on the Pier", had been cancelled because of the storm. Shagging, by the way, is a Southern dance step from the post-war years, nothing more."

Hendo said...

You'd never know this place was in the middle of a hurricane hotspot, save for the evacuation bus stops....