Beaut of a run this morning! Temperatures in the low 40's, light breeze, big old moon to light my way. It seemed odd knowing that such a large portion of the country is under nature's onslaught, while we're just going about our business.
Yesterday afternoon, I took China for a beauty walk, and when we returned, something. was. different.
I couldn't put my finger on it. China sensed it too. Instead of bounding up the stairs to commence her potato time, she hung by my side, all, "Yeah, somethings different, but what?"
A few minutes of wandering around the house revealed that we had no electricity. I think it was the lack of hummin' and bubblin' from the fish tank that initially alerted us. Even the fish were all, "Hey!".
Okay, so this was a minor setback. Since I wasn't able to get through to the utilities company, I deduced that it was a widespread outage and not just us. We were back up hummin' and bubblin' in about 40 minutes, so it was all just a minor bump in the road. Transmission line malfunction.
A few minutes later, I was out at the crosswalk. A couple of moms asked me what I do if the traffic light isn't operating.
"I just have to get aggressive with my sign", I explained.
"OH! We'd help ya!", they replied. I almost think they're hoping for it now. Don't mess with school crossing moms!
In the evening, I went to meet a student at the community college. The parking lot was pretty sparse, but there were a few students milling around. The doors were locked, and the few of us connected in our confusion. A security guard confirmed that classes had been canceled because of the earlier power outage, and all the buildings were locked. My student and I stood with our faces pressed against the windows of the locked doors, looking in to the well-lit facilities inside, longing to be in there hitting the books.
Okay, not really. We just decided to go to a nearby Starbucks.
So I'm sitting here in relative comfort as updates on Sandy continue, thinking about how dependent we get on the whole "infrastructure" continuing to operate as usual and the lasting impacts this storm will leave. We all have our own perspectives and comfort levels. Mother Nature, geez.
This morning, one of my 4th grade regulars approached. He always has some current event to discuss with me.
"Did you hear about the hurricane in New York?", he asked.
"Yeah, it's really bad up there", I acknowledged.
"Sucks they don't get Halloween"
Yeah. That too.
.
11 comments:
I'm in the States right now in Az, and it seems so strange to be having a wonderful sunny day when others are experiencing the terrible storms.
Sunny and beautiful here too, but hard to enjoy when you know how devastated the northeast is.
What a sweet little fourth grader, though! How can you not love the innocence of that age. No Halloween. That WOULD suck!
I think it's peaceful when the power goes out, but when I said that to my coworkers they made it pretty clear I'm nuts. I was also told I was nuts to say you're never too old to go trick or treating. It's hard to be normal. Love your "haunt"!
Welcome to our side of the pond!
Right, such a thoughtful kid! I honestly hadn't considered the missing of Halloween until he reminded me.
I too enjoy a good power outage now and then! So much, we sometimes fake one. Yours in abnormality...
The weather's been pretty nice here too. I noticed the big blue moon this morning as well. Amazing how much easier it is to see with a full moon shining down.
Good to know you'd have some help in the crosswalk if the power went out, though I'd recommend just keeping the kids on either side of the street and not taking on the speeding traffic!
It didn't occur to me to worry about New York's Halloween until now!
Like you we are having nice weather while the other coast is being pummeled, my family is in SC so they missed the actual hurricane but not the cold weather that pounced upon them, but I am thankful they missed the bad stuff.
Out of the mouths of babes they say, yes it sucks they are missing Halloween among other things.
You have to love kids.
Yea, life does get interesting when you have to do without some of the niceties (like 'letricity). You kinda get used to having it around so, when it is not there, it is a bit of a culture shock. Try living without it for 10+ days. We know what some of those people back east are experiencing right now with the flooding and storm damage. It definitely makes you appreciate it when it comes back. And you are dead on about the quiet. When our power was out, the first thing I noticed was the lack of electrical noise (air conditioners, motors, etc.).
Had an extended outage a coupla years ago after a tremor. Word gets around the 'hood pretty fast when you have a coffee press and a gas grill side burner; lots of folks came over to "rough it".
I get the feeling that the storm is much worse than most expected. I guess they don't normally hit that far north, do they?
I am now wondering how much of the storm will come over and get us in the UK - we normally get side swiped by the remains of storms like this...
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