ANNAPOLIS, Maryland
In a disturbing weather pattern that is Topic A up and down West Street, the wind began gusting inconsistently late Saturday afternoon.
For two hours during mid-afternoon there were eight recorded wind gusts varying in length between three and six seconds with a five second gust being strong enough to warrant a "this is quite a windy day, eh?" remark from Emily Masterson, a Naval Academy Cadet.
"I thought for sure the sixth one would be the last," continued Masterson. "But then we got two more of them."
"If this keeps up I don't know what we're going to do," stated Harrison Albright while standing outside Gritz's Liquor, a local retail establishment. Albright's skin appeared flushed and dry as he spoke and admitted that he was experiencing some chapping.
"I hadn't planned for this, I'm feeling a little dry, especially in the cheeks."
Albright then said he had no plans to purchase emergency lotions, an attitude apparently reflected by other Annapolitans as local stores showed no increase in the sale of skin care products during the wind gusts.
"This is quite a happening, not the sort of thing you want to miss by ducking into a store, even for a minute or two," opined Albright on why people weren't properly moisturizing.
"You don't know what's going to happen next. It's inconsistent - a hard wind to pin down, really. It's been awhile since we had one like this. Man, I could really go for a chicken pot pie right about now."
When asked about stagnant skin-care sales, pharmacist Larry Klein explained that, "At first, people will try and tough it out but if this continues I'm sure we'll see them in here." Klein then referred to an American Dermtatological Society pamphlet stating that over time dry skin can result in redness, itching and even premature wrinkling.
Experts recommend a small tube of lip balm and a hypo-allergenic skin lotion as a handy precautionary measure on windy days.
