Hooray! We finally heard that gasoline tankers are coming and people will be able to get gas for their cars and/or their generators. Also more buses and subways are running, plus --finally---lower Manhattan is getting more electric power restored. We are not fully there yet... but soon we'll be back to normal.
One of my cousins, who had to take the bus from her job in Midtown Manhattan, back to her home in Brooklyn told me that, yesterday, as the bus went below 34th street, it was like being on another planet. She told me that everything was pitch black, the only lights, were the lights on the street of the police patrol cars or the national guard trucks, stationed at strategic intersections to make sure that no one even dared to think about looting, and also about any act of terrorism.
As she saw a woman get off on 14th street, flashlight in hand, my cousin thought that there went a very brave woman, because she (my cousin) would NOT have had the nerve to step off into the utter darkness that covered that whole area. It was a very eerie sight also, to cross the bridge that was in total darkness. She can't wait for all the electricity to be brought back. Unfortunately, until the subway tunnels are fully drained and the engineers make sure that all the electric boxes and other stuff are safe, the power cannot be restored. So we wait.
The only thing many of us here are very disappointed about is that our mayor, caving in to political pressure had to cancel the marathon. Many of us thought that it would not only bring a needed dose of cheer to the area, but also much need money. But here, as in other matters, the politics of the presidential election, is poisoning the event, and even the recovery from the terrible damage that hurricane Sandy has left behind.
I am convinced that if this were not a presidential election year, with so much at stake for both the major political parties, there would not be so much bickering about the recovery and the marathon would not have been cancelled. Truthfully, I can't wait for the election to come and go, so that we can get on with solving the problems we face, instead of having to endure political ads in which each party throws buckets of mud to the other. I can't wait for November 7, 2012!
