My Sandy.


Monday night: I hear on the news that ConEd has pre-emptively cut power to the blocks directly east of me. I feel lucky.


Ten minutes later, my entire block goes dark. Fun! I stay up a while reading by flashlight and checking online for news. There isn't any. I go to bed fully expecting the power to be back on in the morning. I only learn later that the entire city below 30th has also gone dark.


Tuesday: Power is still out, but water is running and I am not too worried. I venture out to the seaport to see what's up. This street lamp blew over and some trees are uprooted, but otherwise it just looks like a lot of garbage everywhere.






The water has stopped running when I get home, phone/internet service is blinking on and off, and both the phone battery and my backup battery are just about dead. Start to worry, a little bit. Hear news of power coming back in 3-4 days, but still go to bed hoping that everything will be okay in the morning.


Wednesday: I take a walk uptown to where there's power to find someplace to charge my batteries, get some extra water and snacks, get a hot meal...pretty much just for something to do, honestly.

Phone/internet is a bit more stable, but now I'm really paranoid about battery life, especially after reading on NY1 that ConEd is saying "another 3 days".

I think it's Halloween. I pass by the odd person here and there wearing a costume, or part of a costume, but by and large nobody seems to even care.


I go to bed thinking everything will be okay in the morning. I probably won't have power, but at least I know Lombardi's is open (for takeout only).

Irony: first Halloween in over a decade where I actually had plans to do something other than sit at home reading by flashlight with all the lights off...and looks like I'm spending it sitting at home reading by flashlight with all the lights off.

I can see stars from my window.


Thursday: James comes down from Jackson Heights to check out the city.


We both leave a message for Sandy at the window of Fishs Eddy.

I can't get over how ~normal~ everything feels the farther uptown you go. People just walking their dogs, clothes shopping, getting manicures, coming out of the gym. It's a different world, normal life.

Decide to spend the night at James' and Gregg's in Queens. I take my first shower in 3 days. It's nice.


Friday: robocall from ConEd says that they "expect" to have "most customers" in my area back to power "by Saturday 11 PM". Other sites are saying it could be as soon as tonight, but I don't know what that's based on.

The F train back into the city is stop-and-go, more "stop" than "go", and the trip from Roosevelt Ave. to Bryant Park takes about an hour and a half. A quick lunch at Kinokuniya, then James and I take a long walk down the west side.




Things are eerily beautiful and calm down here.







Walking back up toward my building, everything up to two blocks below me and the next blocks directly above and directly to the west of me are lit up, but mine is still dark. I have to laugh. I've never wanted to wash my dishes or clean my bathroom more in my life. Another robocall from ConEd saying "power will be restored today."

Finally, at around 7 PM, my block lights up and I hear my fridge start to stir. I can hear people whooping out in the street. Water follows soon after, hot water and the radiator soon after that. Finally.

Tomorrow, we clean that horrible mess in the refrigerator. Tonight, we eat cookies and watch movies all night!