This is posted a little later than I had of liked but when I originally wrote it we were without power, water (such a sob story...) and I completely forgot to post it when we recovered:
The day of the storm was like any other rainy day. The Girl had gone to work in the morning but arrived home just after lunch. We decided to venture down to the Hudson River to see if it had broken its banks. On arrival we were surprised that the fences had been moved into place to close off the water front. As all New Yorkers would do we squeezed through a gap in the fence that had presented itself. There were still joggers and quite a number of people doing the same as us.
As the water began to break the banks we took some photos and wondered how much more severe the weather would be getting. Soon enough the cops were rolling along telling everyone to leave the area and go home. I now realise all the hype in the movies, "move along, there's nothing to see here," was not an exaggeration of actual events.
When we got home we cooked ourselves a massive nachos and opened a bottle of wine. After this we skyped the celebrant for our upcoming nuptials, but unfortunately the power went out around 8pm. The start of our real life "
Revolution." As crazy as it sounds I was actually a little excited to be in the middle of New York City during this time. We could see the lights of uptown in the distance that had not been affected, however looking out from our apartment window we saw a sight unfamiliar to us - the city that never sleeps, in complete and total darkness...
Day 2 (Tuesday): We got up a little late thinking that the power might have been restored. We had seen earlier reports that the power would be switched off for 12 hours to prevent any long term damage. Alas this was not the case and we later found out that they didn't switch the power off at all and a substation had been flooded, frying all the circuits. If I was a voting man the Governor and Mayor who so blatantly failed to live up to this promise would be on the chopping block (and I encourage all New Yorkers to think the same).
For some reason I had grabbed a halogen lamp from my vessel the trip before that served us well in our bathroom (that has no windows). Surprisingly the water was still hot and flowing freely, how I wish I had savoured that sweet sensation a little more. We decided to walk uptown for some food taking in some of the devastation that had occurred.
When was the last time you saw people lining up to use a payphone?
32 blocks later we were back in civilisation. The only noticeable difference was a lot of the businesses had put up signs stating "restrooms for customers only." Due to the devastation and suffering that people had endured a few blocks away, this to me was appalling. I took notice of which ones were the offenders in case a future opportunity to avoid or slag off presents itself.
We called into a couple of bars just above Midtown for some lunch / dinner and recharged all of our devices. The girl was going into work the next day (fortunately her building has power) so we called it a night. Unfortunately getting home proved a little trickier than we anticipated. The subway, being flooded, was out of action and the taxis that pulled over refused to go below 30th St. It was a little disturbing that they thought something bad was going to happen to them in a region that had no power. Eventually someone accepted us and we made it home at a reasonable time, discovering that we were now without any water to match the electricity.
Day 3: The Girl was up early to head to work and have a shower at a gym up town before she got there. I decided a trip uptown was necessary to use the bathroom / have a shower. Walking 30 blocks for a bowel movement gave me a new perspective on the benefits of modern day society. I'm sure the days of old a bucket emptied in the street would have sufficed however being the current times I figured this was probably unacceptable.
It was surreal how many other people were making the pilgrimage along the Avenues out of the "dead zone" as I liked to refer it. It was the beat down and unhappy mood that one would expect but more of a matter of fact, somewhat jovial feeling that was projected. I too found myself with the same positive spirit. Until I reached the edge of the "dead zone" to be greeted with the "for customers only" signs that had annoyed me a day earlier.
Time was running short so I decided to chance the closest watering hole for my pit stop. As I entered and made a beeline for the loo, the barman held a hand out and said "sorry pal, for customers only." I kept walking and with a beaming smile replied, "yes I'll have a Sam Adams please. I'll look at a menu as well." After finishing up I promptly walked past the full pint waiting for me at the bar and said to the bartender, "sorry but this place just doesn't have a friendly enough atmosphere, so I'll be leaving now." My exit was haste and I legged it up the footpath in case he wanted some sort of repayment from me (although I have since been told if I didn't touch the beer they cannot charge me by my regular barmen).
The name of this pub is "The Molly Wee Pub" and I encourage people to boycott.
The afternoon consisted of me finding a gym that the girl had arranged for me to take a shower in without any charge or hassle (it amazed me how big the chasm between the kindness of people in hard times was) and generally enjoying walking around in civilisation. I met the girl and we went to our old local bar on 54th St for a fun evening. After we got home we were greeted by an impromptu halloween parade, the main one being cancelled earlier in the week, that was traversing up Bleecker St. It seemed the spirit of the city lived on.
Day 4: The late night socialising, cancelled any need for me to be worried about the lack of power - sleeping through the rest of the day proved a viable option to living in the stone age. Much later the afternoon consisted of another gym visit and a rendezvous with the girl for dinner. My nocturnal instincts took over and a late night session proved a fair substitute to a night in darkness. From what I remember, the girl left at a reasonable hour, while I stayed around for a bit longer. Apparently this little bit longer turned out to be all night as I managed to sneak into bed around the time the girl was getting up to go to work.
Day 5: Tiring of the lack of power and water, the frustrations of the Girl and myself were at a boiling limit. Fortunately we had the opening game of the basketball season to go to, the Knicks hosting the defending NBA champion Miami Heat. After 5 days of a much disrupted life we both were looking forward to it. During my walk up to Madison Square Garden, the power came back on for as I reached 14th st. An almighty cheer rose up like the Empire had just been defeated by the rebellion. I turned in my tracks only to be disappointed that 14th st was as low as the power reached and the Village was still in darkness.
The Knicks took the hardship of the city on their shoulders and won this encounter with a very good display of teamwork and self belief to put some welcome cheer in back our spirits. It was fantastic to forget about our situation for a night and we continued the celebration well into the small hours of the next morning.
Day 6: We woke up late morning the next day to a disappointing powerless routine. It wasn't long though before the power came back on, followed soon after by the water. It was a welcome change to have a shower, albeit cold one, in our own flat. The hot water was restored later that evening. Not since the first night we moved into our flat had we been so happy to be sitting there. Our lives had been restored but the memory was deeply engrossed of what we had gone through.
Reflecting back now, we had endured it relatively easy compared to those who had lost lives, homes and possessions. Some people will remain without power until Thanksgiving. Rather than destroy the spirit though, it seemed that the city had a shared resilience to come together and help each other (well most of us). Our doormen had no way to get to or from work when the bridges and tunnels were closed yet they slept here in the building taking alternative shifts to keep the entrance ticking over - it was such a comfort to know that people like this take pride in there position.
Hopefully the city can learn from this experience and move forward in a positive outlook. We certainly have come through this a stronger team, which will keep us in good position for next near. It's planned to be a big one for us...
