Friday afternoon vignette

[kenjari]

This (Friday) afternoon there was a really violent thunderstorm in Boston, and I was pretty much caught in it. I was crossing the intersection of Mass Ave and Huntington when the first fork of lightning struck across the sky. It was very close, too - I think it may have hit the lightning rod on top of the Pru. I made it across the street before the wind picked up and the skies opened. I ended up having to dash down the stairs into the Symphony T station to avoid getting completely drenched. Unfortunately, it was the the station for the outbound train, not the direction I needed to go. So I was stuck there until the storm abated. I spent a little time looking back up the stairs at the storm. The thunder was very loud and intense, practically apocalyptic, and the lightning was very close and blinding. There were times when the rain looked as if someone was standing atop the buildings with a giant bucket, just hurling the water out and down. I soon had to retreat further into the station because the wind was blowing the rain in. Trains would come in, people would get off, get to the stairs, see the storm, and then come back in to wait. Because of the wind, an umbrella wouldn't be any help. I'm really glad I had brought a couple books along in my backpack. When the storm eased up enough, I crossed the street to the inbound train and rode up to Arlington to catch a B. By the time I was above ground again, it was sunny and calm. When I got home, I went for a walk around the reservoir just for the pleasure of being able to breathe the post-rainstorm air and enjoy the scent of the wet vegetation.