Ok, so the Blackout of 2003. Well, I wrote about the unannounced fire drill we had had at work on Thursday morning. Complete with dire warnings about planes flying into buildings (basically, we're on our own in such a case). Fast forward to 4:0whatever that afternoon. Both of my ears simultaneously pop, there is a slight electrical stutter and everything immediately goes dark. Also a bell on one of the emergency exits starts ringing. People mill around like what the f*? We wait for announcements, there are none forth-coming. I make a quick trip to the ladies room, only to discover that there are no emergency lights in there and thus it is pitch dark -- uh, no, too creepy, but thanks. Pack up my gear and see two friends, Chris and Bern headed for the stairs so I join them. We get about 3 flights down when I decide to go back for the running shoes I have stowed under my desk. I had a feeling there was a hike over the 59th Street Bridge in my future. Grab the shoes, bolt down the stairs again and past the stream of people, catching back up to Chris and Bern. Down the 27 stories. It wasn't so bad. I remember having to do this once or twice in our old building up the block -- that was a lot worse as the stairwells were a lot narrower.

We get out and there are 1,000s of people teeming all over the place. No one knew what to do and there was no way to really find out what was going on. Chris mentioned something about going to a bar, I made a half-hearted agreement, although, my instincts were telling me the best thing would be to start to move East and make for getting out of Manhattan. Something told me that this was not going to clear up quickly or easily. Besides, I only had $4 on me and Chris had none. She mentioned borrowing money from me if we could get to an ATM. Uh, yeah, you can borrow money, but ATMs run on electricity. Finally we go to the newstand in front of Penn Station where she borrows $60 from the news agent there. She's obviously a good customer (all those cigarettes and scratch-offs). I convince Chris that we need to get out of this neighborhood and that maybe we can talk a cab into taking us out of the City, maybe even to Kew Gardens. Yeah. Right. On our way up West 32nd Street, we run into Jeff, who also has to get out our way. He signs on with us and we're on our way. As luck would have it, Jeff has a radio walkman and so can listen from time-to-time to news updates.

At the top of the block, we stop at our first deli and Chris and I each buy a "tall-boy" beer. With a straw. We're both such a class act. From there it is a job negotiating the streets and the masses of people and trying to make headway. Along the way we try to flag down various cabs and private cars with no luck. All the cabs were out of service and taking no passengers. I still don't understand that at all. So we keep walking. By the time we make Second Avenue, the pedestrians have taken over the streets, as well as the sidewalks. Once we get to about East 36th or so, the vehicle traffic is for the most part gridlocked behind us anyway. At one point, I was on a slight hill in the middle of Second Avenue, and I turned around to look behind me and at the sea of bodies claiming the roadway as far as the eye could see, reminded me of running the NYC Marathon and seeing the mass of people on First Avenue. But more so.

By then, Chris and I had finished our second beer, so we needed a pit-stop. We walked into a bar where business was in full-swing and used the bathroom. While there, I also changed into the gym clothes I had in my backpack. It was so HOT that day and walking made it hotter, of course. No reason to be more uncomfortable than I had to be. Once in the gym clothes, I was all set. We bought more beer (I think Jeff was a little appalled) and continued on. At this point, Chris is pretty buzzed and so is freely flinging insults at the cars/cabs that aren't picking us up. We pass some bars where people are sitting outside, drinking beer and watching the parade go by. I express a wish that I still lived in Manhattan and could do the same. We get to the bridge and we are on the top level, walking on the roadway. The walkway is on the lower level, but there are more people than cars at this point and the walkers are moving faster than the cars are anyway, so it works. So weird to be walking up the curving rampways and to look down the canyons and just see people in the streets everywhere. The walk over the bridge is pretty hot, but I'm distracted by Jeff's gossip. His father is the owner and president of our company, so he knows a lot of stories. Chris is pretty drunk at this point and hurting as she is wearing sandals with heels. As we wind down the bridge ramp on the Queens side, we notice a cab company under the bridge. When we hit the street we head in that direction thinking that we can maybe find a cab willing to take us somewhere. Somewhere around here Chris announces that she has to pee again and that she's just going to squat inbetween two parked cars. Uh okay. I think Jeff is even more appalled and I get roped into "blocking" her. Blocking her???? you could have fit a whole other car inbetween the two cars she chose and it is still broad daylight. She doesn't care and just drops trow. I attempt to "block" while trying to avoid being peed on. Oiy.

After the peeing incident, we notice a couple getting into a parked car, just up the street. Chris pulls down her skirt and runs up to them and manages to talk them into giving us all a ride. It's decided that Chris & I will get out in Forest Hills and that Jeff with go to Flushing. Chris still has to get home to Long Island from here and so, once in Forest Hills, we try to call her husband from a payphone, but there is no answer. We don't know what to do at this point, so we get another beer at another deli. I know I can walk home from here (it's only about two miles), but I'm worried about Chris. We walk up the LIRR platform and talk to some people who are waiting there. We come back down and talk to a LIRR conductor who is as stranded as everyone else and just as clueless. We go back to the deli and buy more beer (at this point, not to drink, but just in case there is no beer to be had later -- priorities). Chris finally decides that she's going to go wait on the platform with the other people. I try to talk her into coming home with me, but she wants to wait. (It turns out that she was able to get a ride with someone to Long Island about an hour or so later, so it wasn't so bad).

I walked home via Queens Blvd, because at this point it's finally starting to get dark and I know there will be more light there. I pass various business selling their products on the street. An Asian restaurant trying to unload some sushi, a liquor store who has mixed up some shots and is selling them for $1. I get home to discover a party going on in front of my building and in the backyard. I talk for a couple of minutes to Derek (a neighbor) and then go upstairs for a cold shower. I take Lola out and join the party in the back for a while. People are BBQing whatever was in their refridgerators. I go back upstairs and read by candlelight for awhile. And then I lay on the bed and read by flashlight. At around 10:30 PM or so, Carolina and Janos knock on my door because they were worried about Lola, not knowing if I had made it home. It turns out my dog walker had also shown up shortly after I had arrived home. Derek had let her know I had made it. It's nice to know that people will remember Lola though, should something happen. Anyway. Carolina and Janos talk me into rejoining the party out back, which is in full-swing. It's pitch-dark, so I don't mind going down in just a camisole top (and shorts), I know no one can really see me very well anyway. We hang out out back for awhile talking and drinking (this time vodka). It was actually kind of fun.

I woke up the next morning expecting the power to be restored, but no such luck. Later in the morning I walk with Carolina and Janos to the Park and then to Forest Hills where the power is ON. Bastards. We spend a good part of the day walking around FH and the Gardens and then finally back to Kew Gardens to discover that the power is STILL not on. We hear rumors that all surrounding neighborhoods are back on, just not us. I have visions of being that neighborhood you hear about, that still has no power days later, after the rest of the City is fully-functional. I become a little bitter about it. By now I'm very hot and missing my air-conditioner, not to mention cable TV. Stalk home, am fishing for ice for Lola out of the half-melted stuff that is left in my freezer when the power, finally, kicks back on. Around 3:30 or so PM (almost 24 hours later). Turns out we weren't even the last to get it after all, so my bitterness has subsided.

That night my apartment building has a great party in the back where everyone brings all their defrosted meat from their freezers. People are contributing filet minon, etc. which I happily enjoy. I contribute chicken tenders and garden burgers. I think I got the better end of the deal.