How did yesterday's blackout affect you?

DON'T even get me started on this....

Too late!!

Let me recount my 7 hour journey home...

I'll start with my building. It's 4 something. I'm right above grand central and sadly the office is on the 25th floor. So when the a/c then the lights and everything else go out I'm thinking, "Oh boy this is going to be fun....NOT." Then, there's a woman in the elevator between floors screaming her lungs out as people try to help. I get ushered down the stairs which for the first 10 flights or so were fine. Then we hit the stairways with the broken lights that alternate with the working ones so my eyes never have time to adjust and see. I continue to trudge downard...wondering when I'll finally get to the Mcd's "meeting place" (per our office manager) a block away from the building.

At this point I have no idea what's going on, thinking that it's only my building or maybe the block. 20 floors down: my legs start wobbling from all the tromping down stairs and I feel SO glad I didn't wear heels. 25th floor down and what's this? Oh we've still got to go down more stairs and then up some to get out. End up in a grand central corridor near lexington....hobble to the mc donalds as i've pulled something in my leg more than it was before I got to work this morning. Office manager keeps us there till "everyone in the office meets here and is out of the building." Here's me looking at my cellphone (that doesn't work) thinking "it's getting awful close to when my express bus is supposed to be here," and wishing everyone would hurry up and get out of the building. Building is locked to reentry and everyone finally shows up.

Next I hobble to the bus stop three blocks away and see large clumps of people waiting for buses at 44th and 3rd. Which would be fine if every bus that made it that far wasn't full to the brim. Then someone who takes my bus decides it would be a good idea if we walked to the first stop, thereby gettin on the bus before it fills up. So I hobble to 38th street. Then we look at all the full queensbound buses and find out that the tunnels are closed. So then the new plan is to get up to 59th and take a local bus to queens. So the group separates.

I search for a pay phone because they're the only thing that works besides nextel, some sprint, and the blackberry system (none of which I have, damn you att. End up outside a wine shop where the owners are hawking their still cold wares "Buy cold wine now, cash only, there's no tv tonight, replace your drug of choice with a nice cold glass of wine...etc." Verison payphone works, none of the numbers I call do. Now I'm hot, still in the sweater I was wearing upstairs in the then cold office and pissed.

I wander about, going back to the express/local stop to see if I can catch a bus. All of them are full and nothing is moving except the pedestrians. Wander past this woman with a baby and a stroller and then witness her break down and cry in the middle of a sea of people (some kind apartment dwellers invited her up to calm herself, i think)

Stand there for a bit and decide, hell, I'm gonna walk (hobble) to 59th. It's about 6 something now and I haven't sat in a good two hours with the whole pulled ligament in my leg thing so I search out a seat. End up in this little park behind a large black building which I later discover is the helmsley hotel. The great thing they did is that they gave out free fruit and water and use of the bathroom to anyone who came in. I'm slightly allergic to apples but I went and had one anyway. Cool and fresh from the whatever they put it in to keep it crisp and stuff. Wonderful candles in the bathroom and courteous toilet paper sharers are a good thing.

It's around 7 and it's getting a little dark and I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out how I'm either going to get home or get up to my best friend's house on 87th and CPW. Both of these seem quite daunting. So I go in search of a payphone again as my cell was working for a split second and it showed I got a message. Then I wait behind this guy that thinks the payphone is his own personal reststop and check message. I walk back to third, searching for an open store to buy something in and avoiding the self appointed traffic directors. A few blocks up I spot a red bus. This is a VERY good thing as Triboro Coach supplies express buses to queens and most of them go somewhere near to where i can get home. So the bus door is open (more on that later) and I ask the first person inside what bus it is rattling off numbers (All the buses put on no passengers or not in service after a while) And the genius answers this bus goes to queens. So I calm myself a leetle bit and say yes, sir, I know but which one. After some more confused glances from the heat addled man someone else answers. So I walk up to the bus driver who's talking to another and ask him which one he was and if he'd seen one of my buses.

So I'm on the red bus...which has a/c and isn't too crowded cause some people decided to walk. Now the fun begins. for the next oh, 3-4 hours, we move half a block and then wait for 15 minutes. The bus driver opens the door and runs out to talk to the other guy each time cause there's nothing better to do. By midway or so lots of people were running off to see if they could find a bathroom. One of these people, a rarity i hope, was a back-of-the-bus driver. Now the left lane was moving faster than ours because all the exits are on the right side. But once over there it would be near impossible to get back where you need to be.BOTB driver guy doesn't care...every so often he'll scream out "Go left!" until the guy behind him (whose seat he stole) makes slapping him in the back of the head motions. The bus driver finally kicks him off saying "Did you pay? When you do you can tell me how to drive." (It's $4 one way and everyone was tired and cranky)

Anyway...people who have food share it and I ended up with an assortment of godiva chocolate, some cherries, crackers, mini cchip cookies and altoids(mine). No one wanted to drink anything since no places were letting people in to use the bathroom.

So we finally hit the bridge and things are going relatively smooth until we get to the queens side. More traffic, but at least there are subway shuttle buses that are running to help people out. The bus driver lets us off somewhere that is perfect to connect to the other bus I have to take and I hobble over. The bus wait doesn't take that long and I'm home. Now I get let into the building by the guard/doorman guy and into the now completely dark stairwell.(he lights the first 3 steps which blinds me for a bit after he leaves and I'm left in the darkness. So i walk up in the pitch black, senses completely out of wack and I can just hear my breathing and my heartbeat and everything so clearly as a poke my feet out to hit each step before i go up another one. Get up to the third floor (thank goodness, some women on the bus had to go up 22 or 10 in other buildings) and open the door. It's just as dark but at least I won't go hurtling down any stairs. Feel along the wall for the different doors and stay away from the elevator side till I get near my apartment. Ring the bell and tell my parents, hey, it's me and now I'm home and my cat's being cute and everything is all better.

It's about 11 and after a still cold mountain dew I shuffle off to bed in a very hot apartment.

Wake up around 6 and the power still isn't on. Everything pops on at about 8 and I figure I'd not go to work today since the building is still without power. So other than two bug bites and the feeling that I've run a marathon whilst 5 angry chefs were whacking my thighs with a meat tenderizer pointy side down, I'm pretty ok. And really really really really really glad I wasn't in the subway.

My legs and I are still in negotiation on whether they'll get back to work before the weekend is over.