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Good afternoon from New York.
Since my previous blog post, much work has been continuing along my street to repair the damage recently done to the electrical power sources. The city heat has been oppressive, but the teams of Con Edison workers have nonetheless been working very long hours to complete the massive project.
It is a pleasure to share some pictures that might illustrate the nature of the challenge.
The above photo shows a large tangle of old wires removed during the repair work. The following photo shows the same tangle, plus an iconic yellow taxi, a parked bike, and also orange traffic cones placed along our stretch of Broadway during the massive repair work being done below street level.
The following picture, looking south on Broadway, indicates what a large section of that avenue has been temporarily removed from vehicular traffic access. If you look carefully, you will see some of the workers in that crevasse.
On my own street, lots of large vehicles arrive for their part in the process and then depart, their places to be filled my other large vehicles and equipment. It is quite an operation.
The workers are very professional and keep their various "work stations" very tidy and safe.
In this closer view of the same team, you can tell that one of the men is working below ground. The temperature above ground is 90 F.
Plywood protective boxes have been constructed to keep non-professionals from getting too close to the open man holes.
A close look at the next photo will show you that there are many such "purpose built crates" along the street. Everything is progressing steadily, carefully and surely towards a successful completion.
Just to switch up the photographs a bit, I wanted to share this bouquet that I saw at yesterday's Union Square farmers market. I have given the address of this blog page to some of the electrical rescue teams, and hope that they will see the flowers as a thank you for all their hard work.
I also thank you all who have visited and commented on my immediately previous post. Together, these two posts show some different city views from those that I often share. It's all part of NYC!
Good morning from New York.
Hot weather settled in here in the past week, and along with the humidity, some other challenges occurred in my neighborhood.
Last Thursday afternoon, as I was washing my brushes after some hours of working on my current painting, I noticed that the electric lights were flickering and that my fan's rotating blades were slowing down.
I suspected an electrical "brown out" which sometimes is put into place by Consolidated Edison, the electrical utility, to protect the electrical grid from an actual brownout. I clicked on a local TV station's 5 o'clock news and learned that some vast thunderstorms were in nearby areas, but would probably pass the City by. No mention of a brownout.
I switched out the TV, shut down my computer, and then the lights went out and my fan stopped.
As sunset was still come hours away, I decided that I'd better fix a quick pasta supper in my tiny kitchen, making use of my gas stove and my two flashlights and that's what I did.
Next on the pre-sundown agenda was to walk downstairs to see what was going on at street level. The elevators were shut down, but dimmed lighting was still on in the hallways and stairwells. I wanted to also buy some additional "D" batteries for my large flashlight.
It was when I reached the lobby that I discovered that my half of the block was roped off to any vehicular traffic and that many (perhaps over a hundred) folks from the City Fire Department, Police Department and Con Edison were hard at work putting out a very smoky fire that had been caused by underground electrical explosions. It was an amazing sight to see what was happening at the Broadway corner. Even the subway station and trains were affected.
I walked in the opposite direction to find a shop and buy my batteries, then came home, chatted awhile with fellow tenants and apartment building staff and even a few firemen, then walked up the stairs to my apartment, had a wash, and went to bed.
The fire was put out overnight and massive Con Edison work has since continued to restore electricity and repair and replace damaged equipment.
These are just a few photographs from my front window showing a bit of the work and equipment.
In the photo below, you might be able to make out the giant elevated "vacuum cleaner" that was being lowered into the man hole in order to draw out all sorts of trouble-making debris. While this was going on, other Con Edison workers were using hoses to flush out the area. This process was being repeated all along the block.
I'm glad to report that my apartment's electrical power was restored by 10 on Friday morning. Other large building residents and businesses in the immediate area were not so fortunate, and had to rely on generators provided by the city. This was, and still is, a huge repair job. It is amazing to see how many stages are involved. I truly admire the workers' skill and dedication.
I wanted to take more photos, but did not want to get in the way of the amazing teams of workers.
I have returned to working on my current "rescued" painting that I abandoned about 25 years ago. I am thoroughly enjoying this process.
It's also grand to have my trusty little fan back in service.
Thank you all for your visits and comments. I have been continuing to post more regularly over on by Instagram page which may be found here. Now it is time for me to return to work on that painting. It's almost, but not quite, done.
