City Views, Country Dreams

Good afternoon from New York.

Our city has now added another weather-related name to its collective memory. Hurricane Irene. Like many other hurricanes, she was raised in the Atlantic Ocean and spent her early days in the Caribbean. She grew very large and powerful and settled in on an usual northern path, hugging the Atlantic coast of the United States.

Irene moved at a slow pace, and attracted lots and lots of attention from the press. Governmental officials also began to take notice of her power, and began to plan how best to protect local citizens (many of whom are also voters) from Irene's potentially destructive ways.

By last Friday, our New York City Mayor along with other regional officials made the decision to actually close the area's mass public transportation system for at least two days, beginning at 12 noon on Saturday. No buses, no subway trains, no commuter railway trains, etc. This was a huge hint to everyone to get to a safe location before midday Saturday and to stay there. Our Mayor is also a billionaire businessman and clearly understood the economic ripples to be caused by this transportation decision.

Most folks therefore received a change to their weekend plans. I was to have worked on Saturday and Sunday, and instead received an opportunity to relax at home, chat with friends on the phone, work on various craft projects, do some reading, and watch hours of television coverage of the hurricane vigil.

The size of the storm meant that we were already receiving wind and rain here in New York while Irene's actual eye was still slowly moving across the North Carolina coast, hundreds of miles away.

That eye was to reach us around midnight. I admit to finding the land of nod well before midnight and actually sleeping through Irene's entire visit.

When I woke up this morning, I did not hear any rain. (Heavy rain and wind had been predicted to last through this afternoon.) I looked out my window and realized that Irene had sort of lost her punch before she got here. There is a popular tune with the lyric, "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere...." I am truly not at all sorry that Irene did not cause as much havoc as some had predicted.

Most damage is flood related and occurred in outer areas of the city. Some huge trees have fallen over as their root systems could not hold in the soggy, soggy soil. (I dread seeing what has happened over in Central Park, but it's too dangerous to take a walk over there this afternoon. Branches and trees are still vulnerable.)

By late morning, Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm as she headed through Connecticut on her way to the New England area.

By early afternoon, I was suffering from cabin fever, and decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood. I took my camera along, so that I might show you all some sample city views.

Because of the transit shutdown, many businesses wisely closed, including my usually bustling local market, The Fairway. This store is very, very rarely closed.

The sidewalk outside Fairway is much duller without the usual brilliant display of multi-colored seasonal produce. Those fruits and veg will be back tomorrow.

Also along Broadway, the usual sidewalk book vendors had carefully wrapped up their tables of books and records and magazines. I do hope that they used enough plastic.

Although the Mayor said that using masking tape on windows really does not do much to protect those windows from airborne debris, some folks did decide to tape their windows.

My final photo is a southward view that shows the post-storm cloudy grey sky and includes one of the entrances to the 72nd Street subway station, with a police car parked outside. Before the subway trains can be put back into service, many safety checks must be completed, including the need for transit personnel to actually walk along each of the hundreds of miles of subway tracks. Wow.

As I type this post, I have just heard that limited City bus service has already been reinstated. Wow, again. I think that means that I will have a way to return to work tomorrow.

I would like to thank all you readers who send your good wishes to me over the past few days. What kind folks you are.