Under The Weather

Threatened thunderstorm tardy. Oppressive pressure persisting. Headache building. Sleep suspended; interrupted. Piercing pain. Downstairs to pop Paracetamol – normally eschewed. Outside all dark and eerily still. About 1.30 a.m. Suddenly, later, sleep at last. Eventually stirring to pounding precipitation on roof tiles and window panes. No idea when. Headache lessened. Awake again at 6.00 a.m. Thunder never came. Puddles outside. Pain gone.

I am learning late in life what it means to be under the weather when thunder storms are on the way. It fact this seems a nautical term – sailors when mildly ill were sent below decks – literally under the weather. I have come to realise that to me it means under the influence of threatened thunder.

Normal service will be resumed later.

74 comments

  1. So sorry that you were under the weather, Derrick – and I hope today is a new and better day.
    Impressive though, that even when so severely ‘under the weather’, your beautifully vivid writing style still manages to fly high.
    Have a good day and I hope you’re soon 100% again…
    there’s too much to do not to be!

  2. Well all I can say is that you should turn your hand to poetry when under such weather. That’s amazing! That was one heck of a high pressure headache. Lucky you didn’t have a tummy upset as well.

    1. I’m really OK today. This is apparently a common phenomenon I’v only experienced comparatively recently – that moved me to this extra little post Thanks very much, Sherry

  3. I get headaches, too, when stormy weather is on the way. It’s very impressive that you still posted such a vivid description. I hope you’re feeling better.

  4. Hope that you’re feeling better, Derrick.

    Here, by the sea, we are sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure. āš˜

  5. I’m very glad to read that the break in the weather alleviated your headache. I wonder if birds and animals feel something similar too? You would think they would need a warning to take shelter.

  6. So sorry! I’m glad the headache is gone. In Maine, the weather has been terrible—hot, hot, hot. I think many of us feel as though we are under the weather.

  7. I am sorry to hear the weather has made you fell ill, Derrick. Yesterday’s weather wasn’t much better here, but finally the extreme heat broke last night, and we are back down to temperatures in the 80s and 90s for the rest of the week.

  8. I remember such thunderstorms in Guyana. Headaches of the piercing kind are, indeed, incapacitating. Hope the atmospheric barometric pressure returns to normal levels soon.

  9. Never to that extent, but I have long experienced SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) in long periods of low barometric pressure! I don’t do well in winter for that reason! More recently, I have suffered through the high temperatures of summer as well. I’m glad it’s finally raining, and you are feeling better!

  10. Sorry to read that you arenā€™t feeling 100%. I hope you are much better now. Headache is so debilitating. My pain is in my lower back and Iā€™ve just been looking on Google for help. The recommended stretching exercises are exhausting just reading the instructions. Maybe tomorrow. ?

  11. Take care. Air pressure & heat can send you for a loop. Get rest & plenty of liquids. Our temps are hovering around the 25C with rain & humid air. At least the heat dome that has hit Western Canada has not reached us.

      1. I am glad to hear you feel better, Derrick. Our tropical storms season has started somewhat earlier than usual this year. Someone Up There is crying angry tears, as my grandmother used to say.

  12. Oh Derrick, I can empathise as I get these headaches and am incapacitated as well. Your writing ‘under the influence’ is phenomenal! I am glad to see from the comments that you are now much improved in health.

  13. I’ve never had such an experience, but a friend always knew when the pressure was lowering: as did my cat! When a storm was on the way, she’d prowl and howl. There never was any need to turn to a weatherman!

    I’m glad you recovered in good time, and are feeling better. Here’s to mild and sunny for a while!

  14. On the other side of the world, if you DID NOT need to go out, you would have stayed home, Antarctic Polar Blast swanned its way up our 3 islands to settle in some places with snow whilst we in the north suffered from severe wind chill of the Southerly kind…

      1. weather gurus, suggesting at least another 4 days of temperatures – and that even though there is sun by mid morning, the wind chill is still around…so I’ve decided to have all the “heat on tonight”

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