Typhoon fever

The whole of salaried Hong Kong is spending most of this afternoon checking the latest status of the typhoon that's bound for Guangdong, in the hope that the typhoon will hit Hong Kong.

If typhoon signal 8 is raised (which is something that only happens at most twice a year) you stay in wherever you are - in effect, you are trapped. The other one to watch out for is a black storm signal. The clever clogs working in Central make bets on when either one of these signals will be raised and try to move to a comfortable bar rather than risk being stuck in the office - no taxis would usually brave a signal 8 (due to inherent dangers of driving in storm but also because of lack of insurance cover). During the summer of 2001 a black storm signal was raised once. My friend E. got some people to go with her to a karaoke while I stayed at another friend's house watching DVDs.

I can see the sky full of swirling grey clouds. The waters of the harbour are iron grey and I can hear the ferocious winds sweeping around the building. Will it be a typhoon signal 8?