So let's talk about yesterday shall we....

I was at work when the blackout hit. The lights did the super flicker thing and we were plunged into darkness with the emergency lights being our only other source of electricity in the house. A few phone calls confirmed that the power was out across the city and even beyond. I called my dad in Florida and he turned on Fox News to report that it was also in Detroit, Ottawa, and Toronto. Well, I pretty much had planned on sitting it out for as long as I could at the office before pretty much being forced out of the office by management who weren't letting anyone stick around.

Now, I pretty much figured that rugby practice was cancelled so I tried going to the gym if, for anything, just for company since I had 110 blocks to go and I had no idea on where to catch an M4 or M5 bus to get me home. Also, I called my massotherapist guy and cancelled my appointment with him (since it was supposed to be after rugby practice) but he told me to come on down anyway since he was going on vacation for a while and it would be my last chance to get a massage from him for quite some time. Now, Phil was about forty blocks away and I thought that, at the very least, two hours would be more than enough time to get people off the street and maybe get a cab to take me home as well.

I got to Phil's building and I had to climb ten stories to get to his apartment aided only by the light of a candle being held by two really nice Asian women who were also heading up to the same floor. Well, Phil was a totally gracious host as he let me shower when I arrived because I was pretty damn icky and even gave me water and ice cream (since it was going to melt anyway) and talked for quite some time before he began what turned out to be a two and a half hour massage which totally relaxed me. When we got done with the massage it was about ten in the evening and we decided to venture out to see if we could find the bus to get me home and maybe some dinner as well. Since he pretty much treated me like a king, I offered to treat him to dinner should we find a place that was open (and there were several restaurants that were open although no longer accepting new diners when we arrived). Ultimately we found a deli that was not gouging on prices and stocked up on some supplies (okay junk food really) and headed back to his place for another ten floor climb back up. Along the way we found a lot of people on their stoops pretty much sitting down, relaxing, and having some fun with their neighbors.

As the night wore on and no lights were apparently coming on, Phil offered to let me stay at his place for the night and to see what happens overnight and take it from there. I woke up at 7 in the morning and looked out the window on Seventh Avenue and was sad to learn that there was still no power at all. I went to Phil's bedroom and woke him up to let him know I was heading out so he wouldn't be spooked out should he wake up and I was gone. Now, I started to head back down the stairs but I wound up swiping one of the candle that was still flickering in the hallway and carried it down ten stories so I could see where I was going and I left it at the doorman's desk in the event that someone needed it to go back up.

I tried getting a cab on Seventh Avenue and that was a total bust. I was lucky to grab a New York Times (all newspapers were pretty much flying off the newstands) and headed over to Eighth Avenue to see if I could get an uptown cab. I got VERY lucky around 27th Street when this one cab pulled up and the woman asked me where I was going (even though she already had a passenger in her minivan cab) and I told her my address and said something about going home to see my son (and yes that is a lie but I was desperate and not really looking to walk home). Well, she said get in and I did and sure enough we dropped the other guy off in a few blocks and picked up a few more people there as well. I did notice that the official taxi driver's license was missing from the cab which led me to believe that she wasn't a real cab driver (also since she didn't hit the button to start the meter EVER) but was basically just driving around in an official yellow cab making some money.

So about eight o'clock or so this morning I got home and a few minutes later the power came on. Just recently the cable modem came back on and all that's left is the official cable itself to come back online and everything will be back to normal. My thanks to everyone for their kind emails and concern. It's been rough, but hey...I'll be here tomorrow...alive and well and thriving....