Ridgley (Rick) Darrell, reflects on Bermuda's hurricane weather and always seems to have an amusing tale of one kind or another.

"I have a nose for the weather. It is some sort of mild sinus condition and when we have bad weather my nose closes," he said with chuckle.

If you want to know if a hurricane is coming just ask Mr. Darrell who has an opinion on almost everything.

He knows everyone and when the gregarious Mr. Darrell has the floor, particularly at Keith's Kitchen at the Bermuda Athletic Association in the morning, you can rest assured that he has a captivating audience.

Keith's customers are hanging onto every word while awaiting breakfast as Mr. Darrell is quite a storyteller and his comical stories are followed by howls of laughter.

A likeable gentleman who is never shy, with a tall walk and interesting talk, he meets all sorts of people. He is a talented jazz musician and performer who has been his own boss for decades as a successful appliance serviceman. Living on Harrington Sound Road, he is of course a sailing enthusiast with a fleet of boats like `Wildcat' hobie cat, sunfishes and lasers. A sporty 26 foot speedboat sits in his side garden and he loves fishing from his 13.6 Boston Whaler, particularly in the sound. When I asked Mr. Darrell his take on the hurricane season for this year he was thoughtful for a second and then said he believed that we might get one or two "big blows" this year.

"I have lived a good many years,'' he said, reluctant to reveal his age, but I would say he is 60 and holding. "I believe we might get a serious hurricane because I have seen several gigantic brown spiders crawling around. The spiders are much larger this year and they are crawling out in the open more. I feel some strange weather is in store.

"Another interesting observation is the way the garden plants are producing this year, they are unusually lush and everything is growing like crazy. I started with four passion plants and now they are running over in my garden," he said.

Additionally, parsley and thyme grows in his herb garden which are larger than usual. He uses these when making a batch of his famous fishcakes - much sought after by his friends. He has a secret recipe.

The hurricane idea brought back lots of memories for Mr. Darrell who revealed that a few years back a freak storm came sailing in which busted up his dock and bothered the little lobster holes around the southern side of Harrington Sound.

"It was mid-morning, raining, cloudy, much like it is today. Usually this side of the Sound is calm if storms come from the south. My little punt was broken in half and my dock was demolished! It has been repaired but is still not right!"

He said that in the 1940s he was a small boy living in Flatts, where the architect's office is. "The water in the cottage was so high it was extraordinary! Back then we had old oil stoves up on four, three-foot legs and on the side of the stove was an oil bottle with a wick. The water was creeping up to the top of the legs the storm tide was so high! We had a separate baking oven made of bricks and that was safe."

He says he feels that it is not going to be much of a summer this year. Yet, that won't bother him as he puts his wetsuit on and goes in swimming or sailing year round.

"I feel a special connection with the sea. Somehow, it revitalises me and keeps me happy and makes me more aware of everything around me."

Once upon a time he had an old fashion lamp and as the humidity would rise the water in the lamp would rise and fall.

"I put green dye in the water to make it more visible. It was sort of a conversation piece. I forget where it came from. Just before Emily came it exploded! I travel around a little but I have never seen another weather instrument like that one," he said.

Blessed with an uncanny sense for the weather, Mr. Darrell thrives on sailing, fishing, playing a gig or repairing a washing machine. He does weather forecasting on the side.