Here we are -- a new week -- a new start. Slowly...we are getting back to normal. The buses and trains are almost all functional, the weather is a clear, crisp, sunny autumn type. People are quite relieved that the awful week that just ended, is now becoming a really bad memory.
Believe or not --- children are actually happy to go back to school -- they ran out of things to do at home. Parents were glad to send them back to school and go back to work. The commute to work was still a nightmare -- what with the gridlock on the highways and the trains and buses that had you packed like sardines -- as the service for public transportation is still quite limited.
And then we have the lack-of-gas-for-our-cars blues.....To see the long lines of cars, and people with empty gasoline containers, snake its way for a mile or so near gas stations -- you would think that suddenly we are back to the 1970's and the oil embargo! It's amazing how people quickly panic or want to exploit a disaster. We heard reports on the news, of people hoarding gasoline -- and then trying to sell it on the Internet for absurdly high prices. As in the case of one man trying to sell 5 gallons for 200 dollars!
While this is going on, we remember that tomorrow we have a very important election to participate in. Here in the East Coast there are questions of where do people, whose communities have been wiped out by Sandy, go to vote. Provisions have to be made so that everyone has a chance to have their votes counted. We realize that it's critical to vote, as the outcome of the presidential election, and even the congressional and senate races, will determine what direction the United States will follow, at least for the next four years.
In spite of all the tragedy and drama caused by the Sandy hurricane, people here realize that this is a pivotal point in American history. And believe it or not, I know people who have lost, their homes, and are struggling to cope with putting their lives together, who realize that in this election every single vote will count -- and they are making every effort to vote!
Meanwhile, people continue to wait 2 to 3 hours in line to fill up the gas tank of their cars. Those that own small, fuel efficient cars, are trying not to gloat in the face of those people who have those big gas-guzzling vehicles, since -- as you can well imagine -- the price per gallon has skyrocketed. Even though the politicians keep telling people that gasoline is on its way, people -- I guess it's human nature -- still want to make sure that they have enough to get them through the work week.
And the big winners in all this tragedy? Why the home contractors, the trees trimmers, carpenters, plumbers, in short a lot of businesses are very busy reconstructing people's properties and their lives. Which, in a kind of poetic justice is quite ironic -- as Sandy destroyed so much...it also created hundreds of jobs that will benefit the economy....life can toy with us that way.
