'Urricanes 'Ardly Hever 'Appen

After the big build up, Hurricane Earl turned out to be a mere swirl roundabout Exit 151. On the day landfall was forecast, DH and I packed our go bags...



... and went to the U.S. Open.



It was overcast, hot, and uncomfortably humid, and there was one brief rain delay – no big deal. But between the bad weather forecast and the bad economy, there were plenty of empty seats, which the ushers guarded with deplorable zeal. Sigh.



As usual, we bought assigned seats in the nosebleed section of Arthur Ashe stadium, and also roamed the grounds, occasionally getting good unassigned seats in other courts. For example, we had courtside seats for a doubles match that included top seed Caroline Wozniacki. (DH felt gratified he spotted her potential two years ago.)



I suppose it's another sign of hard times that several players were wearing the same fuschia dress. This year's sock is utilitarian too – more on that later.



Off-court, there were the usual amusements, plus the Wilson couch. Despite the current paranoia concerns about NYC bedbugs, there was a line to sit on it.



Last week I wanted to blog a wrap up post for Summer of Socks, but hurricane preparedness sucked up my blogging time. I'll be playing blog catch up this week!