I hope any of you who are living on the east coast have survived the storms so far. We were in Charleston and we hope that not too much of the lovely old town has been damaged. Here's hoping you can all return home soon.

On the brighter side, we were with a group of Germans and our guide was explaining that everyone has to leave town if they are told to by the governor. One bright lady said, "What about the children? Don't they still have to go to school?" That is the German mentality, I suppose. The law says kids have to go to school on a school day, so a bit of wind and rain should not stop them... Most of us just rolled our eyes. However, a small number started to say that a bit of bad weather doesn't affect the Germans. It rains, kids go to school. It snows, kids go to school. I just wonder if they were ever in a real storm.

If you have any experiences, maybe you would like to share them with us.

Anyway, have a grand day, John.