Sandy, Thursday - Day 5: The New Normal.
I can't believe it's been 5 days and that today was the first day the sun showed its face. Sunday was incredibly windy (as you'd expect) and was spent preparing and battening down the hatches, and when we all for the most part locked ourselves indoors at 7pm when the public transportation went dark. Monday was the actual storm keeping us in glued to the news, and Tuesday was the day that we woke up, skies still grey, wind still strong, and rain still happening as the hurricane bands continued to sweep across the northeast. Wednesday was spent in doors as we still assessed and had very little access to the outside world due to shoddy internet/cell service, and Thursday (today) is when it all kind of hit me. This is the new normal, and in a city that was already pretty difficult to manage, it's definitely not easy now. The new normal is exhausting, mentally and physically, but it's got this air of togetherness that's hard to shake.
A number of my coworkers live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan which, for all intents and purposes, seems fine. The Subway service partially came back today, as did ferry service, so for the first time in my nearly 2 years of living in Brooklyn I walked over to North Williamsburg and hopped on the East River Ferry instead of even attempting the "Express Bus" at Hewes which was just mobbed. The Ferry was amazing; for $4 I was over onto 34th street in 15 minutes (after a 40 min wait), had a free shuttle into midtown (48th and 6th) and then hopped on the 1 at 50th and Broadway. Went up to 72nd street to Aroma Coffee where it was overflowing with people and they had a sign that said, "Sorry for the inconvenience, but we are all out of wifi." I kept walking north and got lucky with a table at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and it was really great to sit for a few hours with Mrs. Erica J. Moss. The fact that it took me 1.5 hours & 4 modes of transportation door to door was a little insane, but it's the new normal.
The last Ferry is usually 6pm, but today it was 6:30pm. Anything later than that and the tides get weird, and the safety of the terminals is questionable. Knowing that the lines would be mobbed I left the UWS at 4:15 and got to the station at 5. If you weren't in line by 5:10 there was no way you were getting a Ferry back - it was a madhouse. My roommate found out the hard way since he was at the end of the line, and the police told him he wouldn't get a boat, so he had to walk from 34th street, all the way down through dark Manhattan and over the dark Williamsburg bridge. Took him 1.5 hours. If you don't make your ferry/bus, this is the new normal.
I quickly made friends with those around me in line - a retired man from South Africa, a woman who works at Amnesty International, and a freelancing nanny - which led me to the biggest realization I've had this whole week. People are shell shocked and all we want, all we need to do, is talk to each other about it. The sense of community that I feel from people as we walk around is overwhelming. The amount of story telling happening is amazing. And not only from this storm, but about where they're getting information, how they're comparing it to previous experiences, how they feel about their living situations and their neighborhoods. It's fascinating. Talking to each other and not being buried in our phones, is the new, and very welcome, normal.
(Photo by Kanyun Rockicki)
The days ahead do not seem like they are going to get any simpler. I am hoping against hope that my subway station will be repaired, but there's really no telling - especially since it went under the East river and could still be pretty damaged. The office is just not looking good, and we may get temporary office space. There seems to be more and more stories of looting in some of the off the beaten path neighborhoods. The NYC Marathon is still scheduled for Sunday, which I personally think is one of the biggest mistakes (as do many others). It is simply something the city does not need right now, nor is it safe to do so. You can't walk safely through Central Park right now, and most definitely not through Staten Island, and yet 45,000 people are scheduled to run the streets? It all seems like such a ridiculously bad idea.
I had been seeking adventure for awhile, and was starting to get that itchy feet feeling I get every 2-3 years because I need adventure or something to challenge me. I need the unknown. Well, right now, the new normal is an adventure I didn't ask for, but am undergoing. Tomorrow I'll go back into Manhattan to get some work done with people, and then will walk through the darkened part of the city the 1.5 hours to get home. We'll see how normal that'll be...
A number of my coworkers live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan which, for all intents and purposes, seems fine. The Subway service partially came back today, as did ferry service, so for the first time in my nearly 2 years of living in Brooklyn I walked over to North Williamsburg and hopped on the East River Ferry instead of even attempting the "Express Bus" at Hewes which was just mobbed. The Ferry was amazing; for $4 I was over onto 34th street in 15 minutes (after a 40 min wait), had a free shuttle into midtown (48th and 6th) and then hopped on the 1 at 50th and Broadway. Went up to 72nd street to Aroma Coffee where it was overflowing with people and they had a sign that said, "Sorry for the inconvenience, but we are all out of wifi." I kept walking north and got lucky with a table at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and it was really great to sit for a few hours with Mrs. Erica J. Moss. The fact that it took me 1.5 hours & 4 modes of transportation door to door was a little insane, but it's the new normal.
The last Ferry is usually 6pm, but today it was 6:30pm. Anything later than that and the tides get weird, and the safety of the terminals is questionable. Knowing that the lines would be mobbed I left the UWS at 4:15 and got to the station at 5. If you weren't in line by 5:10 there was no way you were getting a Ferry back - it was a madhouse. My roommate found out the hard way since he was at the end of the line, and the police told him he wouldn't get a boat, so he had to walk from 34th street, all the way down through dark Manhattan and over the dark Williamsburg bridge. Took him 1.5 hours. If you don't make your ferry/bus, this is the new normal.
I quickly made friends with those around me in line - a retired man from South Africa, a woman who works at Amnesty International, and a freelancing nanny - which led me to the biggest realization I've had this whole week. People are shell shocked and all we want, all we need to do, is talk to each other about it. The sense of community that I feel from people as we walk around is overwhelming. The amount of story telling happening is amazing. And not only from this storm, but about where they're getting information, how they're comparing it to previous experiences, how they feel about their living situations and their neighborhoods. It's fascinating. Talking to each other and not being buried in our phones, is the new, and very welcome, normal.
The days ahead do not seem like they are going to get any simpler. I am hoping against hope that my subway station will be repaired, but there's really no telling - especially since it went under the East river and could still be pretty damaged. The office is just not looking good, and we may get temporary office space. There seems to be more and more stories of looting in some of the off the beaten path neighborhoods. The NYC Marathon is still scheduled for Sunday, which I personally think is one of the biggest mistakes (as do many others). It is simply something the city does not need right now, nor is it safe to do so. You can't walk safely through Central Park right now, and most definitely not through Staten Island, and yet 45,000 people are scheduled to run the streets? It all seems like such a ridiculously bad idea.
I had been seeking adventure for awhile, and was starting to get that itchy feet feeling I get every 2-3 years because I need adventure or something to challenge me. I need the unknown. Well, right now, the new normal is an adventure I didn't ask for, but am undergoing. Tomorrow I'll go back into Manhattan to get some work done with people, and then will walk through the darkened part of the city the 1.5 hours to get home. We'll see how normal that'll be...