The 'Escape from New York' edition, not the old movie but the story in which the gods conspire to keep us in this cold darkened city. I woke up this morning and it was cold, not arctic clipper sub-freezing cold but hundred year old walls don't keep out the chill and it's 40° but feels a lot worse cold. Plan B call for our escape to my dad's for the weekend but the plan has run into some serious issues. The first being a total lack of gas in Foxy's tank. I know I should have filled it Sunday night but I had just gotten back from the Penn State game and I had other things to do. That and I'm not one to panic, I usually expect the worst but that doesn't mean I always prepare for it.
Buy gas you say, easier said than done. There is none to be had in lower Manhattan and even if there was there is no power to run the pumps. If I took my usual route through the Holland Tunnel I might have enough gas to get to Jersey, where gas lines are a half mile long, but the tunnel is still closed which means I either use the Lincoln Tunnel or George Washington Bridge. The GWB is only 15 miles away but would take an hour to get to in this mess, I don't have the gas. The Lincoln is half the distance but has a totally different issue.
Yesterday traffic in the city was brutal, everybody from the burbs trying to get to work without trains running (fools) and just parking their cars anywhere they felt like. Because of that Mayor Bloomberg announced a three passenger rule for the rest of the week, no car is allowed into Manhattan without at least three passengers. You might laugh but it is being enforced with checkpoints outside the city and if you don't have three or more in the car they send you down an off-ramp, supposedly waiting lines from Connecticut are miles long this morning. I probably could make it to the Lincoln and get gas in Jersey but I have to check on the line first, wouldn't due me any good to run out of gas and have to push Foxy back to the garage.
In other traffic news garages are full, buses are full and drive right by and also don't go south of 23rd Street after dark, and even though the rule has been waved some cabbies refuse to take multiple fares. I can only think some of them didn't understand the memo because honestly sometimes they don't even understand where you want to go. For now the fastest form of transportation seems to be walking.
3:50PM - At the moment Camp Daddywood seems to be on hold until I can appropriate a few gallons of gas, maybe tomorrow or maybe not, I have no clue at this point.
Under the circumstances I think the city and mayor have done a totally awesome job here but there are a couple things I do disagree with. One is opening everything up so soon instead of waiting till maybe this weekend because it just created total gridlock. I spent half the day just getting uptown to charge some batteries and find some food. I'm sure there are perfectly wonderful financial reasons to do it but just get the brokerages going again if you must and let the rest of us die in peace. The other thing I disagree with is running the New York Marathon this Sunday. Hopefully I wont be here for it but I just don't get running it. The city doesn't even know where to put the people, hotels are all full and such. I know it's not something that can be postponed for a week, I understand that, so just cancel it.
Cell service in lower Manhattan is getting worse and worse, sometimes I get a connection and sometimes not. For good WiFi you have to get yourself above 39th Street or squeeze into a library because somehow those wizards have managed to get their WiFi back on without power. The library people are quite proud of that fact and by the gods they have every right to be.
Earlier today Mayor Bloomberg endorsed President Obama today citing climate change as his main reason. Imagine that.
Buy gas you say, easier said than done. There is none to be had in lower Manhattan and even if there was there is no power to run the pumps. If I took my usual route through the Holland Tunnel I might have enough gas to get to Jersey, where gas lines are a half mile long, but the tunnel is still closed which means I either use the Lincoln Tunnel or George Washington Bridge. The GWB is only 15 miles away but would take an hour to get to in this mess, I don't have the gas. The Lincoln is half the distance but has a totally different issue.
Yesterday traffic in the city was brutal, everybody from the burbs trying to get to work without trains running (fools) and just parking their cars anywhere they felt like. Because of that Mayor Bloomberg announced a three passenger rule for the rest of the week, no car is allowed into Manhattan without at least three passengers. You might laugh but it is being enforced with checkpoints outside the city and if you don't have three or more in the car they send you down an off-ramp, supposedly waiting lines from Connecticut are miles long this morning. I probably could make it to the Lincoln and get gas in Jersey but I have to check on the line first, wouldn't due me any good to run out of gas and have to push Foxy back to the garage.
In other traffic news garages are full, buses are full and drive right by and also don't go south of 23rd Street after dark, and even though the rule has been waved some cabbies refuse to take multiple fares. I can only think some of them didn't understand the memo because honestly sometimes they don't even understand where you want to go. For now the fastest form of transportation seems to be walking.
3:50PM - At the moment Camp Daddywood seems to be on hold until I can appropriate a few gallons of gas, maybe tomorrow or maybe not, I have no clue at this point.
Under the circumstances I think the city and mayor have done a totally awesome job here but there are a couple things I do disagree with. One is opening everything up so soon instead of waiting till maybe this weekend because it just created total gridlock. I spent half the day just getting uptown to charge some batteries and find some food. I'm sure there are perfectly wonderful financial reasons to do it but just get the brokerages going again if you must and let the rest of us die in peace. The other thing I disagree with is running the New York Marathon this Sunday. Hopefully I wont be here for it but I just don't get running it. The city doesn't even know where to put the people, hotels are all full and such. I know it's not something that can be postponed for a week, I understand that, so just cancel it.
Cell service in lower Manhattan is getting worse and worse, sometimes I get a connection and sometimes not. For good WiFi you have to get yourself above 39th Street or squeeze into a library because somehow those wizards have managed to get their WiFi back on without power. The library people are quite proud of that fact and by the gods they have every right to be.
Earlier today Mayor Bloomberg endorsed President Obama today citing climate change as his main reason. Imagine that.
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