Glennalicious

« Flags | Main | Recycling Hell »

August 23, 2003

Power Out

The blackout was the strangest night in Manhattan yet. I cut my stay in Rehoboth short in order to hang with Jim and Frank in DC, then cruise to NYC for my trip to Texas. Jim had to get back in order to work, so I was left with Frank. I’m not sure which is zippier- Frank or his pair of scooters. Getting on one makes me feel so young and intrepid. We roared with puny motors around DC, going into neighborhoods, weaving impudently into exclusive neighborhoods. Riding scooters is the equivalent of an insouciant child incorrectly giving you the finger. Bold, impish, and a bit silly, yet always fun. A lot of the fun has to do with playing with Frank, who is arrested at the age of wonder.

Fast forward to the scene around 4:30 on yet another Greyhound bus. The driver announces that something has gone wrong in Manhattan and all the power is out. The Port Authority is closed and we’ll be stopping at one of the magnificent rest stops for more information. Unlike anyone in NYC, we were able to watch CNN. At first, the driver was simply going to leave us near the NJ entrance to the Lincoln tunnel. Fun, but we persuaded the driver to take us along the northern route and through Harlem.

Traveling through the dark city at night was surreal. The bus was a fluorescent island of light in a dark canyon. The people around us seemed two dimensional, and the sight of a dark Times Square was positively creepy. I became friends with my neighboring passengers, and five of us negotiated our ways to various places in Manhattan for the night. One of the ladies on our bus was laughing that a lot of babies would be born on that night, with the help of some wine and some candles. A man quipped that if they were ugly, it would take more wine and fewer candles. I have to say how proud I am to live in this city. I think everyone had a valid reason to be panicky, yet everyone seemed to help each other. I finally made it to James and Barry’s place in Chelsea. We climbed up their stairs to the roof to see the baleful glare of Mars and stars invade the pink sky of Manhattan, then we went for beers.

Posted by G at August 23, 2003 02:58 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.glennalicious.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/40

Comments

Posted by: joao at August 24, 2003 03:01 AM