I live on 8th Avenue in the 50s. I first realized there was a problem when I tried to send an email and couldn't connect. (The laptop had switched to battery power without my noticing.) After determining that the power was out at least on my floor, I looked out the window. Lots of people milling around. I went back out in the hall, someone came up the stairs and told me what was going on. I filled some pots full of water, took a shower and washed my hair, because I didn't know how long it would be till I got a chance to do that again. Water pressure was okay. I had lots of food which would be okay for a while in my fairly new refrigerator, and 8 bottles of orange-flavored seltzer, so I decided the only thing I needed was AA batteries, so I could read at night and listen to music.
I'm only on the 7th floor, so going up and down wasn't too bad, although the hallways and stairwell were dark. (Memo to super: It doesn't cost that much to put battery-powered emergency lights in the stairwell.)
I walked all over my neighborhood looking for batteries, and had the same experience as Amy Langfield in Brooklyn:
Rite-Aid was closed, and customers were pissed because they had batteries but refused to let people in. Radio Shack was closed. Tarzian hardware was closed. Key Food was closed. Even Hagen-Dazs closed. But it was the mom-and-pop stores and the immigrant places that were open, being extremely accommodating, friendly and no price gouging that I saw. Almost all the pizza places were open. Lots of Thai and Chinese places were doing brisk business. Loads of people walking down the street with Mr. Softee ice creams and gelatos.I was glad my flashlight takes AA batteries - all the stores were out of Ds. (Next time make an emergency kit like this.)
I was also glad I had gone to the ATM recently, because it was a cash-only economy. Every block I would pass someone sitting in a car with the door open listening to the news, and I would hang out there until I was caught up. I didn't hear about any looting and didn't see any chaos.
I thought about walking to Times Square - 10 blocks from my apartment - to see how eerie it would be without lights, but I decided what I really needed was a nice sunset, and maybe some stars and Mars. I walked up to Hudson River Park on the Upper West Side, where I chatted with two people I met there till 11 PM, then we three walked up 72nd st and found a restaurant that had put its tables out on the sidewalk and was serving decent Italian food and red wine, all lit by candles. We all had dinner, then they walked up Bway and I caught the 104 down Broadway (buses were running by evening).
I was amazed by how undark it was, compared to - say - even my neighborhood in Austin at night with the lights on. Even before the moon came up. The starscape was pathetic, but all the locals were ooing and ahhing about it. We did see Mars rise over the Trump Towers, from the pier, and it was amazingly bright. Someone told me the best place to see astronomical phenomena is on the East Side Promenade - people set up telescopes over there. So maybe I will go there to get a view of Mars at its closest next week.
By late evening my cell phone worked, but I didn't get landline and DSL back till this afternoon. My apt has good insulation so the temp was tolerable until Friday morning when the power came back on.
Head Heeb gets the last word:
It was New York all over; we piss and moan about ordinary things, but when it hits the fan, we show the world how it's done.
<< Home