Im 7 days late for work and my work is 180 miles away. This is a new personal best for me.
New York city has been without power and water for over a week. The bridges are open but the trains and buses are all still cancelled. The subway is still underwater and the newest problem is the fuel reserves on Manhattan are quickly running out. People have been patient for days but i feel the lack of gasoline may drastically change everything.
I continue my treks through the city of a million blacked out windows
Streets are still desolate and eery. Saw a person peering through the tiny hole in this garage door .
Dozens of rain jackets dry on the railings at Chelsea Piers but no people anywhere to be found.
Down at the big house. Central booking looked even more menacing without power. No signs of life in Gotham City jailhouse. I started to wonder what happens inside with zero power and all the prisoners in the holding cells. I didn't ponder too long incase a whole platoon of orange jumpsuit mannys came bursting out the front door.
I prefer adventure stories
As i slowly picked my way through the streets and alleys , occasionally i'd see rooms flickering with candle light.
Carnage on the avenues.
This Chelsea apartment building took an absolute pulverising during the storm. The beds are so close to the edge its nuts.
I can see the real estates description - "Fantastic Chelsea Apt , great view , airy , lots of light , easy access to local stores and restaurants."
These lads have a long job ahead. One pair of gloves between the whole crew too.
Met up with Tooth and Dez in the Lower East Side. Once the bridges opened, thousands of people started walking across to all the surrounding boroughs. With zero cell phone coverage anywhere we had to meet up the vintage way. "k man i'll see you at the corner of sucha street at 4 o clock" . It actually worked and it felt way more awsome. It was first time in 6 days i saw some friends.
Destruction everywhere.
We floated through a post apocalyptic New York City we had never seen before.
Darkness creeps over all the land.
On the 9th day we packed our bags. There was officially no more gasoline on the island and shite was turning for the worse. It was time to head north. We hadn't checked on Courtney's car in the parking garage for days. Having no idea if it was under 4 feet of water or not. We agreed if the car had a quarter tank of gas and didnt have trout swimming in it we'd go for it and make our escape out of New York and try to get through part of Conneticut before needing more fuel. That was the plan anyways. Bags packed and our dog Higgins in tow we found the car to be bone dry and it had exactly a quarter tank. So far so good. Navigating through Manhattan was easy. There was hardly any traffic on the roads. We were worried the bridges would be roadblocked. The radio spoke of the authorities not letting people through if your car had less than 3 persons inside. I had an awful feeling of dread that we may be heading into deep shitaki and this mission was a big mistake.
As we approached the highway it was pure gridlock. Cars and trucks as far as the eye could see in all directions. We were sandwiched inbetween idling 18 wheelers as the convoys inched forwards. It was horrible. I stared at our gas gauge the entire time. It was like watching paint dry but with real crapola consequences. We'd left a perfectly good powerless , blacked out metropolis with millions of desperate people for an even worse situation. Minutes turned into hours and gas turned into vapors. Then the chiefs in charge , the mannys in the clouds , the big kahunas in the sky dealt our crew a killer hand. The traffic opened up and we were able to drive over the bridge and onwards north. It was a dicey morning and nothing felt sweeter than the crisp november air as we hurtled forwards.
Running on empty , the first gas stations we stopped the lines of cars were miles long. The gas pumps were restricting customers to only 10 gallons per sale. It was utter mayhem. People screaming at each other. We pressed on looking frantically for any available gas stations around. Eventually we found a place deep in Conneticut that had fuel. We filled her up and sighed.
To celebrate i bought the hugest most over the top bag of trail mix. The kind with the chocolate m and m's and the cranberries too. It was best bloody tasting trail mix i have ever had. Bee's knees!!
I'd like to add. I went to NYC to relax for 2 days . That was over 9 days ago. I had the most incredible experience with amazing people in a city i still think is the greatest place on earth !!