Post-Hurricane

Wow, this has been a week of DRAMA in New York City--first an unprecedented earthquake and now an unprecedented hurricane. As soon as the City announced it was shutting down all subway service, a cascade of harried activity ensued: groceries sold out of flashlights and bottled water, restaurants and museums and gyms all sent out messages that they'd be closed too, various well-meaning morons scotch-taped their windows in lieu of boarding them up, the City was divided into zones and low-lying areas were told to evacuate, police drove down streets with loud-speakers like they do in blockbuster movies, and pretty much everyone everywhere was talking about THE HURRICANE.

Saturday night was probably the most boring night of my life. All of New York shut itself inside waiting for the impending apocalypse, and dammit did it take a looooong time coming. Like many other New Yorkers, I had overpurchased food and I immediately began over-eating in anticipation of THE STORM. Bored out of my mind, I just read my Twitter feed obsessively (and a star was born, entertaining thousands of desperate New Yorkers), periodically glancing out the window. Sometime in the middle of the night, yes, it did start raining and, yes, there was wind. But by morning, the storm had passed and I was left wondering if I had slept through it or dreamed it all.

I met Alice down on the street and we did a quick scout of the neighborhood. There were a few downed trees in Tompkins Square Park, but it seemed the main damage had struck my NAIL SALON on 1st Ave.! A branch had fallen on it, downing the awning.

Otherwise, all was good: No loss of power. No flooding. No broken windows (bless your scotch-taping!). Thousands of rats ran through Tompkins Square Park creating gawking crowds of humans staring and pointing in disgust, "What makes them come out in droves after a storm?" One only had to back away from the scene for a bit to watch the humans in droves to figure it out.