The Field Marshal

Not sure if any noticed, but Singapore must have been hit by a record number of lightning strikes lat evening. If you believe Straits Times to be the definitive medium in covering news in Singapore, then you are missing out a lot.

Yesterday's evening 'thunderstorm', which I as a trained geographer attest to, is one of the most scariest one I have ever witnessed. Leaving my office at around 6.30pm, the vista from my window was already a picture of inky, oily black, clouds rolling towards my general direction. What's intriguing about this coming storm was the frequency of lightning strikes. From my window, I could already see one lightning after another striking different locations in the general area around Novena, where my office is. Fearing that we could be caught in the rain, I told Mydaemont to pack up and 'evacuate' from the office if we are not to be caught in the middle of a rainstorm.

Once out of the building proper, we witnessed continued flashes of lightning striking places near out office. Lighting up the sky like some flash photographer gone mad, we heard the boom, boom, boom, of the thunders that follow the repeated lightning strikes. It was an uncomfortable experience even when we were under the scant shelter of a covered walkway.

Hoping to reach our car before the rain pours on us, we hastened our footsteps, but the continued flashes and booming kept us huddled under the covered walkway. Fear of a lightning strike kept us from walking on the open route, of wide grass patches, which we needed to take to reach the car. Deciding not to risk ourselves as human lightning rods, since we are likely to be relatively tall targets in the open space, we decided to make a detour through the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, a route which will help to cut the distance of open ground which we need to cross before reaching our car.

Upon reaching the exit of the hospital, we found out that the skies have finally opened up, and were pouring buckets of rain down onto Earth. We were still debating on whether we should risk make a quick dash to the car, which was now around about 400m away. But another rapid fire series of lightning stikes in the immediate vicinity made the decision for us. We will stay in the relatively safer confines of the hospital and wait out this crazy thunderstorm before. Before we headed back into the hospital, we witnessed a spectacle of lightning after lightning stiking buildings around the hospital. There was actually a moment when three bright streaks struck an office building. We were transfixed by the noise of the rain, the flashes of the continuous lightning and the booming of the thunder around us. It was a weird feeling.

Since we are not able to make our way home, we decided to get some chow into our systems to soothe our frayed nerves. Guess there's always a bright spot in the gloomiest of occasions. For me, the bright spot was the Yong Tou Foo stall in TTSH's foodcourt. I am singling this stall out because the size of its yong tou foo is big. Big, as in 30% or more larger than those we get in other foodcourts. They also have my favourite fried wanton. Yummy. Tucking into my yong tou foo dry beehoon meal, I totally forgotten about the raging thunderstorm which was still wowing people with its brilliant lights show for people in the open. Once my tummy was full, I suggested to Mydaemon that it's time for us to make the trip home. As we made our way to the exit again, we noticed a barrage of flahses, made visible through TTSH's windowed roofing. Darn! Looks like the 'Lightning God' is having a hell of a good time this evening.

When we reached the exit, we were once again treated to the spectacle of continued flashes, thunderous booming and rain. I was like, what that hell... At the rate the lightnings were going off, there must have been at least a few hundred stikes while we were having dinner.

As Mydaemon and I were once again cowed into inaction by the show of force by Mother Nature, we noticed that Singaporeans, from old uncles to schoolkids, simply opening their filmsy umbrellas, filmsy compared to my huge one, and started trudging into the open, making their way to whichever destination they were headed for. And there we were standing under shelter as countless people walked into the open as lightning struck ever which way around the hospital.

I am not sure if my jaw dropped open then, but I was amazed at the actions of my fellow citizens. Did the government fed them something in the water which failed to take effect on my and Mydaemon? These fellas were either very brave, or worryingly foolhardy. Perhaps the constant call by the government to take risks are finally beginning to bear fruit. But I bet the government didn't say what risks not to take, and being the compliant people that we are, most Singaporeans thought takings risks is good for us when the government said so. Guess natural selection is also at play here. If you know what I mean.

After waiting for another 10 minutes, we finally decided to make 'THE' trip. What a normal walk to our car yesterday had become a really bizarre 'trip'. Never in my life was a simple walk turned into such a nerve-racking 'adventure'. As we worked up our guts to step into the open, with only my big but still 'filmsy' umbrella for protection, my only thought was to make it through this experience not being struck by lightning.

We walked as fast we our legs could take us while keeping the umbrella upright. I could feel Mydaemon's iron-like grip on the umbrella. She later told me that she wanted to make sure that we are not the tallest object around. Covering that short distance between the hospital and our car became an eternity. Lightning flashes and thunder were going off all around us. There was an occasion where I felt as if I was in the middle of a photoshoot as the surrounding lit up in a bright flash. I still have no idea where the lightning struck. It was like walking through a war zone with the noise. It felt exactly like the scene in War of the Worlds when the lightning struck Earth. It was that scary. I would be lying if I said that I was not afraid. Hell, I was totally rattled.

After what seemed like a lifetime of walking, we finally reached some shelter. Even under the shelter, the sky refused to let go of us, another bright flash lit up the surrounding around us, putting more spring into our legs to make the final short burst of speed to our car, which was now 20 plus metres away. Even that short a distance was punctuated by flashes and booming thunder. Once inside the car, Mydaemon and I looked at each other, with a look that essentially said, 'we made it'.

At this point, I mentioned that this night, with the storm and lightning, was like a scene plucked out from one of Dean Koontz's books. Yes, the night was really dark, wet and evil. Something was just not right. The car was like a protective cocoon. Boy, I was never that afraid in my life. Even when I was alone with my military vehicle in the training area, and 10 plus stray dogs started surrounding me and started howling in the moonlight. That was freaky, but it was no way as scary as what I experienced last night. It was as if end times were near. As we drove off, we had this surrealistic sensation of being in a horror flick, just like what Tom Cruise experiences ni War of the Worlds. Freaky.

When we reached home. There was nary a drop of rain. The floor around the block was surprisingly dry. It was as if the entire rainstorm existed in our minds. Another freaky moment. It was really a night of a thousand, at least, lightnings.