Tropical Depression "Lando"

"Lando" is upon us. For a solid two hours (I'm guessing, I didn't really count the hours wheezing by with the rain and winds like long lost best friends who've not seen each other since "Kelly") it showed its fury in full Public Storm Signal No. 2 glory. Wetter than a Signal No. 1, but dryer than a No. 3. (I don't know who came before "Lando" so I just invented "Kelly", which is probably wrong because it's not a very Filipino-sounding storm name.) Now "Lando" is just a 2, so instead of uprooting the palm trees lining the streets of Cardinal Rosales Ave., Lando just shook them violently, cutting their branches and leaves, littering them on the streets across the mall we call The Ayala Center. And instead of the rain pouring like there's no tomorrow, it just poured like crazy, conjuring mini-floods near the traffic lights 50 meters from the Cebu Marriott Hotel where Cardinal Rosales Ave. crosses Luzon Ave.

As I am writing this, the heavens has calmed down a bit. Not that I'm blaming the heavens. It's just that we always describe heaven to be in the skies while hell to be under the underground. If hell was in the skies instead of heaven I'd say hell cooled down, or maybe that it lost another glory. Survivors of Signal No. 2 are continuing with their lives, bracing for and praying against No. 3, and wishing things were as they were in the golden hours, when Lando was just a Public Storm Signal No. 1.