New York Post Sandy

We were fortunate to be in Australia when Sandy struck. Arriving back on the Friday, 3 days after Sandy had done her stuff. New York was a ghost town. Lower New York was still without power. People had moved out of town to stay with relatives and friends. Those restaurants and pubs that were open had only just got their  power back. It was a great opportunity to get diner at those restaurants that normally have a  long que.

                                         
                                               Work equipment out the front of our building

                                                              Our Building


One of the great disappointments of Sandy was the cancelation of the New York Marathon. A decision that was made on the Friday evening before the race was to commence. New york was full of many gaunt looking people wondering what to do. Nevertheless many ran 2/4 times around Central Park as a substitute. Somehow Damien didn't think it was the same so declined the excitement.

                                                    A cold start in the morning
             

                                             The drinks will definitely be cold.

A damage bill of $50b. So that Sandy was not the only game in town the weather gods brought a snow blizzard to town. It lasted two days. Since then the sun has shone and beautiful weather has prevailed.

A bike ride downtown around the South Ferry piers revealed significant water damage. Those of you that have ridden with us will remember "Jacks"one of the few great coffee stops in town.  The entrance to the shop is 2/3 feet above the footpath. Talking to the girls that work there they indicated that the water had got to 3ft above the floor of the shop. This is a total of 5/6 feet above the footpath.

Many of the shops are boarded up and it will take months before they are fixed. Part of the seawall for the East River is closed until further notice. Trees, lamp posts have been knocked over by the strength of the water and wind. Central Park is coming back together, slowly. There are piles of rubbish waiting for collection. Some of the streets are still waiting to haver their garbage collected.

The one constants in New York is that people just keep on keeping on. That's exactly what has happened. People have just got up and carried on regardless.