“The tracks he saw while on his way”
so lets interrupt this nats recap with some thoughts on the big bad blackout of 2003
i would love to chime in with some wonderful story of distress or the thrill of seeing the human haert conquer all… but i cant
i was on 86th and lex when the lights went out. noticed bpretty quickly that the whole block (and then some) was without juice. chilled for about twenty minutes, thinking the power would be back up soon, till i ntoiced the subways were being evacuated.
first sign that something big was up.
then the sherlock holmes in me really kicked in when this cop starts telling everybody that the whoel east coast, from canada to florida, is shit out of luck.
well, that settles that. i could gone to maria’s on the west side but decided to head back home to the bx, instead. quickly grabbed an uptown 101 bus.
thats when it gets a bit ugly– people complaining on the bus (even though they are on it! fully fuckin air conditioned and all) while the WAY over packed bus has to leave behind scores of people at each subsequent bus stop. ahhh, the humanity.
it was pretty easy to drive through the upper east side with a cop on almost every other corner… harlem was a different story. police at only the most major intersections and people walking leisurely through the streets holding up all kinds of vehicles. i am not getting that happy glowing we.all.rallied.together.like.9/11 feeling.
then i had to school some kid that wouldnt give up his seat to his eight year old sister. he bitched to his mom that i was ragging on him… mom looked at me/looked at him/looked at me then said… “good! i hope he rags on you some more!” ahhh, the humnaity.
finally found a seat and almost two hours later, i was at 181st & st nicholas. easily hopped into a bronx bound bus, transfereed to my bus (nearly empty the entire trip) got home, shared some cognac with a friend then, at about 8pm, had full power in my apartment! yep! i didnt suffer a minute of darkness. had water, and a fan all night long.
that’s it. end of text. spent the rest of the night just listening to the news (very obnoxious moment where the newscaster is conversing with her bougie friend in jersey “we’re having a pool party!”) and NOT seeing any of the stars everybody else got to see.
no worries, on a normal night i can make out a good three or four constellations from my house, so i guess tonight, everybody else got to see them.
lights out.