Not much to tell, really. The lights went out after 4pm on Thursday, while I was in the gym. I really didn’t know how far-reaching the outage was, so I decided to hoof it over the 59th Street Bridge.
Well, talk about a critical mass. Tens of thousands of pedestrians were walking over the Queensboro Bridge, mostly in traffic lanes. Cars had no choice but to proceed slowly. I wish that I had had a camera, and even thought about buying a disposable one, but with only twelve bucks in my wallet I decided to hold onto the cash for emergencies.
After checking out Grand Central Terminal, and telling a journalist for Germany’s Workingman’s News that the House Appropriations committee had just voted to cut Amtrak spending and eliminate funding for pedestrian and bicycle projects, I decided my best bet was to head north, and try to get far enough that a friend could drive to the city and pick me up. That is, if the trains didn’t resume service or I couldn’t catch a bus.
I bought a $2 half-liter of water near Central Park, and in Spanish Harlem was able to refill it from an open hydrant. That’s good drinking! And I splurged on a coconut ice ($1) from a pushcart for supper. Meanwhile, the Bee Line buses to White Plains were blasting past, filled to capacity.
Ultimately I reached the 126th Street bus depot, hopped on for a ride to 138th in the Bronx, and realized that the northbound buses were still jammed full. So I walked another 10 blocks and lucked into a Bx41, headed to Wakefield, which is about as far north one can be and still be in the Bronx.
So, no big stories of drama or adventure. No story of fabulous luck. Just a long slog northwardsóprobably covering a bit over 7 miles, not counting the 2 miles spent running on the treadmill just before the power failure. I finally reached home, sweet home around 10:30 at nightóto find the lights on.
Filed by admin at 1:10 pm under Uncategorized
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