Hellish Angels

October 10, 2003

The paradise where I live known as Treasure Island turns into hell one week every year when Fleet Week comes to San Francisco. Hordes of tourists descend upon the Island to witness the naval parade as well as an aerial show put by the Blue Angels.

I have no problem with the show or the parade or the crowds and traffic as its understandable that people would want to come to the island to enjoy the festivities. My real beef is the week prior to the show as the pilots prepare for the show and the incessant thunder out of the fighter jets as they come and go flying at full speed for hours at a time. To make matters worse the planes fly extremely low and in groups ranging from 3 to 5, which makes the noise so loud that car alarms go off around my house.

I appreciate that most of the training occurs during the day during hours when most people are away to work, but for someone like me that works from home and constantly battles short attention span the last thing I need is yet another distraction. I can't wait for this week to be over so my wife stops calling me a wimp for my constant complaining.