August 15, 2003
From the desk of Jane Galt:Back online
Well, I too am back at work, although there's almost no one here. Probably because, like Mindles, we have computers but effectively no AC. Did I mention it's 90 degrees today?
I got caught at the office yesterday when the power went out. At first we thought that the men working downstairs had drilled through the electric cabling. Then I got through to my father, who could see the smoke rising from the 14th Street power station, and we thought it was local.
Then we heard that the power had gone out in Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, and were sure it was terrorism. Especially when our building started to evacuate.
But, intrepid New Yorkers that we are, we bought beer and sat in the park. The prices charged were outrageous, and my libertarian heart was gladdened. Price gouging? More like rationing of scarce goods. We got one beer each and girded our loins for the journey home. By then, due to the miraculous speed of information in the modern era, we already knew that the grid had collapsed and it was most probably not terrorism.
There were a lot of women who, like me, did not choose their shoes for functionality. Walking my three miles home I passed a number of them limping a few steps, resting, and limping on. Upper middle class New Yorkers are not practical. When my feet started to bleed, I took my damn shoes off and walked barefoot. The streets are really surprisingly clean and glass free. And really, a piece of glass in my foot would have been preferable to chafing down to the bone.
I made it up to my fifteenth floor apartment without incident (I've had good training -- the elevator in my building in Chicago was so slow that I lived, for all intents and purposes, in a sixth floor walkup). With my mother and a surprise houseguest who was stranded when his car got stuck in a midtown garage, we prepared the apartment for night -- opened the windows, found the batteries, made spaghetti sauce for dinner. Thank God for gas stoves. I will never, ever have an electric if I can avoid it.
We ate up on the roof with a number of our neighbors. It was really quite festive, partly because everyone was relieved that it wasn't a terrorist attack, and partly because it's that kind of building, and partly because there wasn't everything else to do and -- it being the Upper West Side -- everyone had quite a lot of rapidly uncooling white wine to drink. We all got tipsy and watched, for the first and last time in our lives, the stars as visible from Manhattan Island.
The only sour note was that my dog, who has neither the stamina nor the inclination to go up and down fifteen flights of stairs, was forced to go to the bathroom on the roof. Except he wouldn't. He'd whine and pace in front of the door, and we'd haul him up to the roof again, and he'd pace around looking puzzled. Why couldn't we understand that all he wanted to do was get in the little room and go to the street like he was used to? Take him downstairs, repeat performance. Finally, around midnight he gave up and went, and we could all go to sleep. I fell asleep looking north at the rows and rows of dark buildings and thinking that I would never again see such a thing. . .
At six o'clock this morning I was awakened by loud cheering, and looked down to see my alarm clock blinking 12:00. It was a glad sight.
While I wouldn't recommend it every day, it was, for me, a good experience. (Though not, I fully realize, for people who were trapped in the subway, stuck miles from home, or otherwise horribly inconvenienced.) It was amazing to find out just how big a hole our electronics leave in our lives -- every ten minutes someone would try to turn on a light, or think of looking up some disputed fact on the web. And it certainly makes me grateful for all the gadgets. For one night, New York City was as it was back before air conditioning, before electricity and fans, before even iceboxes and trolley cars. It was exciting. But gee whiz, folks -- we do indeed live in the best of times.
Posted by Jane Galt at August 15, 2003 11:49 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksForgive me for reposting this, but I wanted to get away from yaaanp (yet another argument about nuclear power).
I was there in 1977. I was at work at law firm at 120 Broadway on the 26th floor. I stole the decorative candle from the office of a senior associate, who is now a federal bankruptcy judge, lit it and led a bunch of folks down to the street. I walked home (Jane & Hudson) and up to my 9th floor appartment. There was water. I took a shower. It was about midnight by then, it was quiet, and I was exhausted. I went to sleep.
The next day I meet a couple of friends in Central Park. One of them had a car. We drove up to the south bronx to look at the scene. It was destroyed but it was a lot quieter than the news reports led us to believe it would be.
I watched the news last night, and it was great to see New Yorkers keeping their - dare I say "cool" considering the heat?, helping each other, and NOT pillaging, ramaging, etc., as the sterotypes would have had us fear might have happened. I found some of that same helpful, considerate spirit when I visited NYC recently, and all I can say is,
You do us proud, New York, New York!
And yes, Jane, we DO live in the best of times!
And it certainly makes me grateful for all the gadgets. But gee whiz, folks -- we do indeed live in the best of times.
It's funny that you say that - I'm sure the reflexive light-switch games happened to just about everybody. When I walked into my apartment, the first impulse was to give headlines a quick check on the computer; no kidding.
But I forced myself to take advantage of the situation. I ended up going on a two-hour walk up and back again on a nearby country road; just me, my boots and workclothes, tie loosened. What a refresher course on how interesting life unplugged can be! A silly walk on the side of the road past rustic houses, big lots and an old ranch, and it gave me more vignettes than a better-than-average blog-reading; it was so stuffed with tiny events. (I've been hammering it into a long blog entry in free moments since.)
We're lucky that collateral damage from this has been minimal, as I certainly welcomed the change of pace.
I tried to reach you about 5 p.m., when I found out -- no dice. And while I was very happy to be in the air-conditioned ATL, I'm a little jealous that I didn't get to join in the beer-bonding.
As I recall, when I was a child our power would go out quite frequently and we would have evenings by candle-light. My parents always had a battery-operated radio and clocks on hand. (One night listening to Radio Mystery Theater by candle flame got me hooked on old-time radio for quite a number of years thereafter) It was always great fun, each and every time. I guess having no internet and only 2.5 chanels of TV over the old rabbit-ears, and never relying all that much on air-conditioning made the event less problematic and more fun.
Maybe tonight I will trip the fuse-box....
I wonder how many people dug out their Y2K survival kits.
"..the power had gone out in Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto"
Everybody talk about, Pop music!
Sitting here watching it all from the west coast, I want to say to all of NYC, Cleveland and everywhere else that was power challenged yesterday (and still today) - damn, I am so proud of you people.
The stupid BBC kept yammering on about how bad it was, but the pictures I saw say different. You guys handled it beautifully. Way to go!!!!
I wonder how many people dug out their Y2K survival kits.
Here in Cleveland, people are reportedly hitting the grocery stores as if it were Y2K all over again.
Out in Clifton New Jersey the power was back on by 10:00 p.m. so it was actually the best of both worlds for us. Get out of work early, finish reviewing documents while floating in the backyard pool. Grill porkchops and fish on the patio. Walk the darkened neighboorhood just after dusk to see the stars (many people were doing the same). Get back at 10:00 p.m. and prepare for an early and uncomfortable night when - hey, the lights are back on. check the news, turn on the AC and hit the sheets by midnight.
Obviously, there were a lot of people majorly put out by this (none of whom, incidentally, really needed batteries, candles or bottled water) but in my corner of the world it was a pleasant diversion on a summer's eve.
So I guess I was the only one out looting?
Suggestion: Buy a cheap pair of sneakers, put them (and a pair of socks) in the bottom drawer of your office desk, and forget about them. The next time you have to walk home, change into those emergency shoes, stuff the high heels in your shoulder bag (or just leave them in the drawer) and walk home whistling.
You might also want to put a flashlight in that drawer, and a plastic bottle that you can fill up at the water cooler on your way out.
I just want to say that I am proud of every single one of you folks in NYC. On September 11, you showed the entire world what makes America great, and yesterday you did it again. Thank you.
Well, except for the loss of an experiment I was in the middle of when the power went out, that was not bad at all. The upper west side at street level was an impromptu street fair, with one barbecue place firing up grills on the street (do they still get to be kosher if they do that?). My wife and I had dinner on 72nd, then took some lawn chairs down to the pier on 70th and watched the stars.
People living outside of Manhattan had a lot harder time getting home, though.
Megan:
Yet another great post: You may not be Lileks (from what I hear he is a good deal shorter) - but your reportage from the Great Blackout of '03
would certainly be up to Blog-Pulitzer standards (if they existed)
Pat Berry is quite right about the shoes, though: one of the stranger memories I have of 9/11/01 was a friend turning up at my midtown office completely freaked out, and wearing a pair of brand-new white sneakers, which a store-owner had GIVEN her (as so many others), since she had had to flee to the streets in completely unsuitable shoes.
8/14/03, though was/is quite a different matter: I am no end of proud of my fellow New Yorkers; dealing with a crisis like another major blackout with such aplomb: no panic, no looting, no chaos: I guess living in the City pepares one for crises: after all, one you have had to take the train to a playoff game at Yankee Stadium; how much more "chaos" can you deal with?
Allow me to add my voice to those complimenting the people of NYC and all the affected areas for their composure and cooperation in the face of such a stressful event. "There are certain sections of New York I'd advise you not to invade." ("Rick" in Casablanca) You're making us all look good. And feel proud.
Another item to stock for next time -- buy or make one of these, and wow your neighbors with your astronomical knowledge! ;)
Welcome to good old-fashioned human solidarity:
"While I wouldn't recommend it every day, it was, for me, a good experience."
Megan's remark reminded me of why I have lived almost all of my life in the snow zone of "fly-over" country and America's empty quarter: blizzards and snow emergencies do precisely the same thing with almost yearly (or every three to four years) regularity.
These events of nature do indeed precipitate the renewal of ties with strangers since we are all humbled by the force of nature and its demands. Thus, we bend to it.
We are too prone to flaunt our grandiosity (USA, humanity, modernism) and forget the simpler facts of life and how it makes us feel. It's a restorative bonding.
Excellent post, Megan. Do I understand the power was not on at your office today? And that's in midtown?
Checking with friends and family, the power came on around 6 am on the Upper West Side, but not until the evening out in northern Nassau county.
Great post Jane, I could see in my "mind's eye" your experience. You all did well in NYC.
I would like second the recomendations made by Pat and Jay above. After the '77 blackout, I always kept a flashlight and a radio in my desk.
The advance of technology has made it even easier to do. A Mini-Maglite, a small AM/FM radio, and a couple of extra AA bateries can fit into a small plastic bag or the spare pair of sneakers.
I never needed the spare pair of shoes, as my wingtips were always excellent walking shoes. One of the few remaining male privleges I guess:-)
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