More on Sandy...The Second Day After

It's interesting --  that when a major storm, or disaster happens, especially if it's in a large city, like New York, or in the case of Hurricane Sandy, if it hits several states, people who live outside of the disaster area get a distorted view of what happened, and is still happening as the areas affected are trying to recover. Most of this distortion comes from the way the media covers and reports what has happened, and is happening, by showing the worst hit areas, again, and again until you think that --goodness! it is Armageddon there.

They have been showing on TV the worst of what happened in New York and New Jersey, so many times, all over the world, that we have had friends and relatives from other states and abroad call us to see if we are still alive! Yes, for a time there we had no phone service--land line or cell--and yes there are many neighborhoods still without electricity, but no...we are not all submerged in water, the places that were destroyed are mostly on the shores, and yes there was tragic loss of life. But if you see, that thanks to preventive measures taken before the storm, most people did not lose their life or homes the situation is not as grim as the news media is painting it.

The other thing that really annoys --  is how politicians, because of the presidential elections coming in just a few days, are trying to inject politics in the recovery efforts. This is really disgusting and angering a lot of people. I was one of those that applauded the governor of New Jersey when he put politics aside and invited the president of the United States to go to New Jersey and give it Federal assistance. Bravo! too bad that others are too caught up in their agendas to follow his lead.

It will take a while for us to get back to normal, schools probably will close for the whole week, as there is no public transportation. Lower Manhattan is still dark, they have to pump the water out of the subway tunnels, but hey...we have been through other major catastrophes and we have pulled through. New Yorkers love a challenge, and by next week we will all be joking about this and selling the "I Survived Sandy" t-shirts!

Hurricane Sandy...After

Unbelievable! That's the word that comes to mind. In a very smart move, the people that run the power plants here, did a planned blackout just as the winds brought by hurricane Sandy began to pick up, so yesterday at about 6 PM we went dark.

This made the storm seem even worse, because now in the dark all we heard was the fury of the storm, and things outside banging and crashing. Luckily we were prepared so that we were able to follow what was going on by listening to the battery-powered radio, and we had lanterns that ran on batteries, and so we were not left in the dark.

But to our disbelief, as the storm was really whipping things around and the wind was blowing at really high speeds, as we looked out the window, we saw maniacs driving around! This even as the public officials were warning people on the radio, TV, and even by driving around in trucks--before the storm hit-- warning people to please, please NOT go out and drive, to stay indoors. The exceptions being that those who lived near the shores, were ordered to evacuate -- for their own protection, shelters were opened, this a full day before the storm hit.But no...there were people determined to stay, even though they were in the direct path of Sandy.

So it is not surprising, that we saw, as we drove around, that thanks to the preemptive shutting down of the electricity, that even though there were many, many trees that were thrown about, ripped from the ground, as if a giant hand was just angry and just threw them all over, and other stuff were thrown about---there were not any fires here, no major blazing infernos. However, tragically...those people that stubbornly decided to stay in their shore homes were horribly affected. The boardwalks were destroyed, houses were swept away, whole communities were destroyed.

The tragedy at Breezy Point underscored the tragedy of people not being prepared, thank goodness, that at least most people listened and left when they were ordered to evacuate. Tragically, people who had no inkling how to operate gas-powered generators, tried to use them, and as reported by an eyewitness, all he heard was a popping sound--an explosion--this at the height of the storm --  and next thing you know the wind just whipped the flames all around, and about 110 homes, were burned to the ground and firefighters could only watch helplessly as they burned, because they could not get near due to the winds whipping the ocean water too high--colossal tragedy!

But, as our governor said, we have to rethink our strategies for these kinds of storms, we have to rethink: should homes be built that close to the shore? And if we allow them, we must build smarter so that if another major storm comes-- tragedies like this don't happen again.

We got our electricity back around 4 PM, but we are the lucky ones, other neighborhoods don't have, there's no subways, no buses, and forget it if you want to buy gas for your car or generator, the gas stations either have no electricity, no gas or both. And as for the subways--it was very, very smart for them to have been shut down,

For after the storm passed it was unbelievable to see that the South Ferry station to have been completely flooded, so were other stations in the system in lower Manhattan. Had they not been closed down since Sunday, believe me--there would have been hundreds of people that would have been affected--it could have been a major loss of human life.We don't know when the subways and buses will be operational, but we can walk to the stores, we were not born with wheels, we have feet, and anyway New York has always been a place for pedestrians. We do miss our public transportation though!

The Big Hurricane: Sandy...During

Well, it's here. As I write this Sandy is battering the place, making a noise that is truly frightening, and I'm writing as fast as I can as the lights keep blinking, a sure sign that pretty soon we will probably lose power altogether.

 As we look at the TV (while we still can), it amazes me that there are still people driving around as the wind is howling, I guess it was a good idea for our mayor and the MTA to stop all subway and buses, and LIRR and Metro North service at 7 PM yesterday, otherwise you would have a lot of people with no common sense what-so-ever getting in harm's way.

Right now the storm is beginning to get intense, and all we hope is that people we know, friends and relatives, are taking the proper precautions, and made their preparations and stay indoors. We bought what we needed on Friday, stuff such as batteries, candles, flashlights, and battery-powered radios. Now we are just waiting.

As the lights momentarily all went out twice already, I think I best start getting off the computer and prepare, the storm is getting closer and I think that soon we will not have any electricity.

A Hurricane Spree

Ir's amazing what the information media will do to turn a simple act of nature into a major spectacle and event. A hurricane has formed and it's making its way up the East Coast of the United States of America. To hear all the hype about it -- they even have given it a name: Sandy -- you would think that the world as we know it will cease to exist!

Here in New York, the mayor, the governor and all elected officials are making sure that everyone knows what to do to stay safe, and we applaud them for it, but the hype in the media, about what catastrophic things might happen is getting too much. I was visiting relatives, and had to cut short the visit because all trains, railroads and buses would stop running at 7:00 PM.

Now, the good thing about living in New York City,  is that (thank goodness!) you can walk to most places, but if it's nasty, windy, rainy weather -- you would rather take the subway or the bus. But, no.... now everything is  being shut down. Many of us believe that part of this over-cautious actions has something to do with politics. As we have had really bad storms in the past and the transportation system has never been completely shut down, but this being a very important election year, well...who knows.

The other thing that amuses me is how people, I guess pushed by all the hype on TV, radio, Internet, etc., are flocking to supermarkets and buying everything they think they will need in case the big disaster strikes.

It was really annoying, when I went to do my usual Sunday shopping, for just a few items, the parking lot was full, and there were very long lines at the checkout counters. I had to wait nearly 45 minutes to pay for four items, because people had whole shopping carts full of milk, bread, cases of bottled water, meats, etc, in huge quantities -- just in case. In case of what? If the power goes out---all that stuff will spoil...they are not thinking clearly.

Anyway, it has become sort of like a ritual now, they are saturating the media with this, to the point that you really wish that the whole thing would just come and get it over with. I know of people that actually were disappointed when the other big hurricane, Irene, went by, and the disaster was not a bad as the hype had predicted. Let's see how this one plays out.

A Lighthouse on the Island

New York is a fascinating place to visit, but most people think Manhattan when they visit New York, and go to the same old places. But there are other interesting places that are worth a visit. Places that take you into history, and at the same time offer you a great view and a chance to enjoy nature and forget the skyscrapers and noise of the big city.

Such a place is the historic lighthouse located in Fire Island. This is a great place to go, as it combines history, nature and beaches all in one place, and honestly -- you feel as if you've stepped into another world. Recently we took some friends that came from abroad to visit this place, and they could not believe that they were still in New York.

Now the lighthouse itself was originally built in 1826, but at only 74 feet in height, it was not effective in its function of signalling ships that land was near,  so it was taken down and its stones were used to build the terrace for the present lighthouse. The new tower that was built,  measures 168 feet in height, and was lit for the first time on November 1, 1858. Originally the color of the tower was a creamy yellow, but in 1891 the color was changed to alternating black and white bands, which are the colors that it has at the present.

Even though you can get to it by car, by taking an approximate 3/4 mile walk from the Robert Moses State Park, Field 5 parking lot, there's a nicer way to get there. We took the nicer way, which was taking the ferry from Bayshore to the Kismet port and then walking for one mile to reach the lighthouse. I said the nicer route, because on the ferry you have the great views as you slowly approach the island and then as you walk to the lighthouse you get to see the local sights. It's really fun!

When you get to the lighthouse you can view the historical documents and artifacts. And then, if you have the energy, you can climb the spiral, staircase, which has 156 metal steps, and two more small ladders, to go to the top. Once there you can go outside a circular veranda,  and enjoy a fantastic 360 degree view of the surrounding area.

Of our four guests, two decided that it was too much for them, but the other two that went up with us, got rewarded with panoramic views, and they took many good photos. Afterwards we all went to one of the nice restaurants near the Kismet port, after that -- we took the ferry back to Bayshore.

If you want more information about the Fire Island Lighthouse, just search on the internet, you will find out how to get there and other important stuff. Believe me, this is a very nice trip to take for those who live here or those who are just visiting.

Freedom of a Rainy Day

To most people a rainy day is a downer, a disappointment.... no blue sky, no clear sunshine, etc. But to me a rainy day is a beautiful day. The rain kind of calms things down, people clear out, they run inside to avoid getting wet--and blessedly-- the streets and sidewalks clear out, leaving it to those few persons that actually enjoy walking in the rain.

Things look calmer, the rain makes little reflecting pools and mirrors of most surfaces, so that even the most plain and colorless landscape looks interesting. Have you noticed how in a lot of movies when they want to make the scene more dramatic and interesting they add rain? It's because rain adds an element of mystery -- an air of uncertainty, that makes you think.

I also, love the fact that a rainy day reminds people that no matter how much we think we control nature, we can't control it. We may rant about too much or too little rain, but we can't control it, and this  drives some people to distraction! To me -- rain just shows us that we are but one small part of the larger scheme of nature.

Flying Like A Fish

Ah, the wonders of modern life...where you can now go from one part of the planet to another in mere hours. That's what I thought to myself, when I recently went on a long weekend trip to visit relatives. After booking the flight, I had visions of being in one of those modern jets, where, as you see in the print and TV ads, the seats are very wide, you have a TV monitor and the food is real, not a plastic imitation and so on.

Sadly, the reality was otherwise. First, I wound up practically on the last row at the back of the plane. And to add insult to indignity, this plane had a seat arrangement of eight people seating across. The configuration was two seats, a very narrow aisle, four seats, another very narrow aisle, and then two more seats. I'm not kidding when I say that the aisle was so narrow, that only a skinny child could walk normally on it, the rest of us had to walk sideways. To say that we were packed like sardines would not have done it justice, sardines have more space between them than we had.

also, the seats were so narrow, and arranged so close to each other, that even when not reclined, the seat in front of you was practically in your face. Which made trying to view anything on the monitor in front of you, kind of like a challenge. At least they gave you plenty of water and snacks for free! Wow, what generosity!....after I had to pay a hefty prize for the ticket.

Luck was with me on the seating arrangement, because even though I was placed on the middle four seats, at least I had the aisle, thank goodness for small bits of luck. To kind of complete the picture, the flight was very rough, as the plane ran into turbulence. The pilot kept reminding us to stay seated and to keep the seat-belt on. As if that made any difference on the roller-coaster ride the plane and my heart were taking.

At least we made it in one piece to our destination, and everyone clapped when the plane landed safely, I'm always thankful for small miracles, and to me landing a plane safely, qualifies as such. Although I must admit, my fantasy of a glamorous flight, remains that:  a fantasy --- don't believe the ads, they only give you that fantasy if you are willing to pay a small fortune, and frankly, I'm not paying it.

Public Cellphones

The plague of cellphones has reached critical proportions! It's as if everyone on the planet now owns and uses a cellphone, at least it's what the latest news research says. It seems to me, that there are people who have this urgent need to constantly be talking to someone. I mean, in the supermarket, the train, walking down the street, there's someone talking on this mobile wonder.

This leads to some confusion, since now we can't tell the crazy people from the "normal".  Thanks to the wonders of Bluetooth, the local wackos can now pass unnoticed by us. Because, frankly--you can't tell if they are talking to the voices they hear in their heads or to someone on the Bluetooth cellphone.

There's an old lady in my neighborhood, who before the cellphone -- was looked askance by people who saw her on the street talking to herself, now nobody gives her a second look. The other day on the train, this woman carried a whole argument with her boyfriend, screaming loudly and hanging up on him several times. all this while discussing highly personal matters, that--truthfully -- we did not want to hear.

Don't get me wrong, I like the cellphone, it's just that maybe some people should discover the sheer joy of a silent moment, that could be anywhere from an hour to a few hours. And go back to rediscovering the energizing, and recharging of their mental and spiritual batteries that a few moments of silence can give them.

First Time Mountain Hike

There are times when you want to challenge yourself, just to prove that , hey--you still got it, or just to show somebody else that you can do something outside your comfort zone. Well, don't ask me why...but I decided, this past summer, that I needed to prove to myself and to a friend of mine who's an outdoors fanatic, that I could hike up a medium height mountain.

He set up the challenge, saying that this was an "easy" hike, that he had done many times, and it would be a "piece of cake", why---even a child could do it! This was too much for me, and I (like an idiot with an easily tricked ego) fell for the trap.

So here we were on a super early, sunny morning, with hiking boots, a small knapsack filled with snacks and water, setting out to hike to the top of this medium-sized  mountain. It looked easy enough to me-- and then we began the hike.

We had barely been out going up for an hour, when I began to feel that perhaps I had made a mistake, maybe this was a bit too much for me. But my friend said: nonsense! you just have to warm up, you'll be fine! Well, by the third hour, my legs were getting shaky, so we had to stop and rest. My maniac friend wanted to hike for one more hour, before stopping to rest.

Keep in mind that we were hiking up the side of the mountain, and the ascent sometimes got a bit steep, so it wasn't easy. Many times I had to take brief stops, just to catch my breath. My friend on the other hand, was as fresh as if we had been walking on a level, flat  ground, and kept urging me to not give up, it was just a few more steps--and we would be at the top.

Sure we were.....about three hours later we finally made it to the top. By this time my tongue was hanging down to the ground from all the panting I was doing, just to be able to breathe! But my friend, annoyingly cheerful, was was commenting on the wonderful view, the great exercise, and how good this was for our health. Needless to say, it took me a bit longer to join in his celebration of the great views and so on.

But at the end, it did pay off--at the top of the mountain was a small restaurant, offering good food, sitting on an outdoors terrace, to fully appreciate the wonderful views of the countryside. And once we ate delicious and farm-fresh food, I was able to ignore the pains and aches that were beginning to descend on my body.  I guess, it was a good hike, in spite of how miserable I felt (aching body) afterwards.

Paper Political Pollution

Sometimes it seems that every time there`s an election, whether it`s local, statewide, or nationwide, it seems that the candidates are determined to throw an avalanche of paper at would-be voters, so that (they think) those voters will be inclined to vote for them. But it seems to me that the opposite effect happens, at least with me. The more flyers, emails, posters, or what-have-you that the candidates send my way  - the less likely  I feel like voting for her or him.

It`s just that you tend to get campaign fatigue. How many times must I hear that so-and-so is a crook? Or that the planet will be a better place if this particular candidate wins, rather than the other. No, I want, for once, for each candidate to clearly and rationally explain to me and other voters, what precisely are you doing to fix the problems that we now face. And do this without treating us, the public, as if we are complete idiots who can`t see past your hot-air campaign ads.

Sadly, because politics is so dirty and so ferociously brutal, that many decent people won`t run for any office, for fear that they and their family would be dragged through the mud. So it goes on, and in my opinion it`s a pity, because it means that we are stuck with mostly mediocre politicians. Oh well, such is the norm nowadays, I guess we must wait for better times.

The Orphaned Creatures

A lady I know is a devoted animal lover, if she sees any creature large or small, that is in trouble, she is there to lend a helping hand. Sometimes she gets carried away and takes on a responsibility she cannot handle, that is when she calls the people she knows to give her a helping hand., and I`m one of those people.

The other day she called me sounding desperate -- oh please, you must come over, I have a big problem that I cannot solve by myself, can you help me? So I went over to her place, and she shows me a box. I`m thinking  -- her problem is a box? -- Then I look inside, and there they are: three really young ducklings. Oh, I say, what in the world are you doing with these three baby ducks?

She tells me that when she went for her usual stroll in the park, she found them. And when I asked her if she looked for the mother duck, she claims she did, but could not find her, and she just would not leave them there to die or be eaten by a predator. But she did not know where she could find an animal clinic and could I help her find one, and could I please take the ducklings home with me.

I told her that, yes I would find an animal clinic, and then I had to take the ducklings with me on the subway and to my home. As soon as I got home, I called an animal clinic that was not too far from my place and explained the situation to them. I asked them if I could go there that same day on an emergency basis, and bring the duckling to them.

The receptionist, at first hesitated, but hearing the desperation in my voice, said OK. So I immediately went over there, as soon as she saw them, she said -- oh no... they are very sick, we have to put them in isolation! When I asked why, she said that they had some kind of parasite on their feathers, and maybe that`s why the mother duck abandoned them. Can you save them I asked, she said they would be quarantined and the veterinarian would have to check them and make a diagnosis.

I decided to take the number of this clinic, and the doctor`s name give it to my friend who found the ducklings and let her continue her good deed with them.

The Outer Borough Journey by Cab

Has it happened to you that it`s late at night, you don`t have a car, and don`t want to take public transportation. What to do? In the case of my group, we decided to take a taxi, since we all lived in Brooklyn at that time, we saw a yellow cab and waved it to stop.

Of course, being that we were the only people this driver saw, he immediately stopped. But before letting us get in the cab, he asked us where we were going. Now, let me explain, in New York it is against the law for a taxi driver to ask you where you are going, but this late at night they get picky --  and there`s really nothing you can do about it.  So, not being dumb, we just got into the taxi first, and then told him where we were going. This made him very angry. He shouted that we tricked him, but then we reminded him about the law that said he had to take us where we wanted to go, even if it was outside of Manhattan.

He told us that he would rather not make a dime of money rather than go to Brooklyn. We had a ten minutes fight with him, finally he said OK, OK I`ll take you there, but only on one condition, that we first go to the house of the guy that is supposed to take over the next shift, and then he can take you to where you want to go.

It was an unusual arrangement and we did not know whether to trust him, but he said look here`s my license number, if I am lying, report me to the Taxi Commission. We finally agreed, and he proceeded to take us to this weird place in Brooklyn, where --  sure enough -- another guy took over the taxi and took us to our destination.

After the fact we got quite thoughtful, thinking that we were crazy in what we did, that this guy could have turned out to be a maniac that could have harmed us, but I guess that luck was with us that night, but we agreed to never do something like that, ever again!

Bread and a Bottle of Water

One learns a lot about the culture of other people when traveling. Especially when you get out of your comfort zone, and travel to other countries. This happened to myself and two friends when we made our trek across Europe. We had started our journey in Spain, and needles to say, as Americans who had never been outside the U.S.A., we received a culture shock in Spain.

The first thing we noticed there, was the weird (to us) customs as regards when businesses would be open, especially restaurants. We had arrived in the morning, and figured that after settling in our hotel, we would go out and explore the neighborhood around the hotel, and perhaps eat lunch. But, to our dismay, we discovered that every restaurant that we went to, was closed.

When we asked why, we were told that lunchtime had passed, and now we had to wait until six o'clock to eat! As we were really, really hungry we thought, oh no! we are going to pass out from sheer hunger! So we went back to the hotel and asked the concierge about this strange custom. He explained to us that businesses closed until six so that after lunch, people could go home and relax.

But what about us? What about people like us who are hungry, but all the restaurants are closed? He laughed and told us we could always go to the bars and eat "tapas". We asked what the heck were "tapas", and he explained to us that these were like little appetizers that were served in places like bars, so that people could enjoy themselves, and at least the bars were always open.

So, we looked at each other, and off we went to a nearby bar, were -- sure enough -- there was a whole basket full of these "tapas", which looked like little round pastries, with different kind of fillings. We proceeded to make pigs of ourselves and ate the entire basketful of "tapas". Needless to say, this brought on the waiter or bartender who scolded us, and told us not to be so selfish!

After getting out of there, an idea occurred to us: as soon as a supermarket opened, we went in there and bought ourselves each, two bottle of water, one of those long loaf of french bread, some cheese and some fruits. So that no matter what time it was we would always carry something to eat with us. This way we wouldn't be dependent on the crazy eating schedule they had there. And it finally cleared for us the question we kept asking ourselves -- about why we saw so many people walking around with a bottle of water, a loaf of bread and a fruit or a chunk of cheese. These people had gotten smart -- they wouldn't go hungry! And now...neither would we!

The Not Seaworthy Would-be Sailor

For some reason that I can't comprehend, some people are afraid of being in a boat. The mere thought or mention of this mode of transportation really scares these poor persons. I have a friend that would dearly love to take a cruise, to anyplace, except -- that as soon as he gets near a boat, panic set in. He literally freezes.

Asked about where he thinks this phobia originated, he says that he vaguely remembers, that as a small child he was taken by boat across a well-known river. Halfway through the journey, as he tells it, suddenly the boat got caught in this wild storm, and it nearly capsized. My friend said that he felt very concerned about the trip from the beginning, but as he was a child, he had no choice, and was dragged into the place.

 I tried to tell him that he's missing a lot, that he has to face his fears, and just get on a boat, and he'll see for himself how easy it is. He  finally gave in, when they announced that the Statue of Liberty would be open, once more, to visitors. And like I told him.....you can't fly or go by train to get there. Let's see what will happen. I  hoped that curiosity would conquer his fears.

Much to his surprise, he enjoyed the trip we took, going to a historic place, where you could check out the history of the area you were visiting. However, even with all the modern stuff, my friend did not feel safe at all. He kept complaining about everything. But most of all he rails against ships and says that if it were up to him--his travels would be strictly either by plane or by train.