Day 0
When the sky broke we were sitting around and consuming fruity rum drinks. It had been raining on and off all day but we paid it no mind and kept up the drinking and small talk. Even as we prepared to head home I don’t think we realized the severity of what were experiencing. Giggling, we ran through the rain to the car and wound up soaked almost to the bone in the short trip from the house. It didn’t get better from there, the usual 20 minute drive trebled to an hour as we navigated the minefields of standing water on the road and near zero visibility as sheets of rain blew into the windshield. The wipers did nothing to clear the deluge from the window, and made spotting the standing water and avoiding aquaplaning into the median or the other slow moving traffic almost impossible. Eventually we made it home and sloshed our way in.
Rain on the rooftop when you’re falling asleep is usually comforting but on that first night it was almost terrifying as if the heavens themselves were trying to claw their way in.
Day 2
The rain continues. The river across the street has broken it’s banks and is quickly engulfing the neighbor’s yard. We still have power and water and as we watch the news in horror we realize even though we trapped in the house we’re still lucky. We have friends we can’t reach and based on the television reports their house is likely under multiple feet of water. We’ve started stockpiling water in buckets and bottles, we have candles and enough canned goods to get us through about two weeks.
Day 5
Most of the city is flooded. The river is no longer across the street, it’s in our front yard. We lost water yesterday and the power keeps flickering, cell service is intermittent, however our immediate concern is the 75 year old tree in the front yard that’s starting to list towards the house as the ground gets more and more waterlogged.
Day 6
We’re not a priority for emergency services currently because the water’s not inside the house. We’re packed as best as we can in preparation to leave. Where they’re taking us is anyone’s guess, currently 80% of the city is under five or more feet of water.
Day 10
We are encamped with a number of other survivors on the upper floors of the downtown office building, with tempers flaring due to limited food and water supplies. The rain continues to fall and no outside help or contact. The rain has cut off all outside communications, some survivors has tried to leave on the flood waters but have not been heard from again. Our choices at this point are starve to death or drown in the ever rising waters.
I live in East Nashville, which has quickly become one of the most gentrified areas of the city. There are houses that are being sold for close to $500,000 on the same block with Section 8 housing. The dichotomy of this extends beyond the property values to something more essential – food. A food desert is defined as any census tract that isn’t within half-mile to a mile of a full-service grocery store or supermarket and are serviced instead by convenience and corner stores.
In East Nashville, the closest grocery store to the low income housing is a natural food market with prices geared towards the upper and middle income families that have moved into the neighborhood. The closest chain supermarket is about two miles away and due to the nature of Nashville’s public transit, would take four buses for a return trip. That leaves two convenience stores that are at least six blocks in either direction and neither carries a selection of fresh vegetables or fruit.
The solution to the issue of food deserts is multifaceted and requires not just access to affordable, fresh fruit and vegetables but education on how to prepare quick and meals using these items.
There are a number of things I’m good at. Some of them are not meant to discussed in polite company. I’m also really good at my job but I can’t explain what makes me so good without violating some section of the terms of my employment. I think I’m a good writer but there are so many people in my immediate circle that are much better than I am so on to something else. That leaves one of my favorite activities – driving.
I can drive but so can a billion other people. The skills that I have that set me apart from the multitudes are as follows: I can drive a variety of different vehicle types, I have the uncanny ability to find the closest parking spot to wherever I’m headed to and I very rarely get lost. I learned to drive with a manual transmission on the left hand side of small, busy streets in Trinidad, since then I’ve driven a variety cars, buses and trucks. The first time I drove on a different side of the road was a in manual transmission Rover on the Autobahn as Porsches and Audis whizzed by. I’ve navigated streets barely wide enough for a single car in London, drove from Seattle to Nashville in 5 days, safely delivered 15 people in a van on ice covered roads in North Carolina and before the end of this year I will be doing laps on the famed Nürburgring.
My friends joke that finding parking spaces is my superpower. I can go to almost any mall and find parking about three spaces from where I need to be, the kryptonite to my superpower seems to be Opry Mills Mall. This superpower of mine seems to extend to any vehicle I’m in and to my wife to some extent, it comes in very handy during the holidays when you work retail. I guess with this particular set of skills I would make a good getaway driver.
