Friday, November 2, 2012

Lights Out...

Just before the sun went down this evening I made my way to Manhattan to take some photos of the light-less lower parts of Manhattan.

Abi and I are are still stranded subway-wise, the G train is still suspended and the L train isn't running into Manhattan or in our area of Brooklyn at all. There are some buses running from Downtown Brooklyn into Manhattan, but the queues to get on the shuttle buses are between 2-4 hours long!

I decided I'd and walk over the bridge instead - so I got the bus from our apartment to the end of the bridge and made my way from there. I don't think I've ever seen so many cyclists and walkers on the Manhattan Bridge before - everyone was trying to make their way back from work in whichever way they could.


I was incredibly cold and windy as I was walking over the bridge, and there were some very ominous storm clouds hanging over both Brooklyn and Manhattan - but luckily they held off.

I walked from Brooklyn over to Manhattan, over the rooftops of China Town, past the streets with no light, past the blocks of flats without any lights, I could see the Financial District at the bottom of Manhattan - no lights there either.

There were some lights on at the World Trade Center construction site, and some of the other buildings near there somehow had power, but for the most part, the buildings in the lower end of the city were dark. There was something very eery about seeing the skyline that we're so used to seeing all twinkly, be all grey and gloomy instead.

It was also really odd to see the motorway that runs down the east side of island be so bare. One of the many problems that people are having is the petrol shortage - stations are either running out of petrol, or they don't have any power to pump it. There are mile long queues outside petrol stations of cars waiting to fill-up and when they get there they're not allowed to get more than $25 worth of fuel.

Anyway - here are some photos...


The light was a bit funny and made it hard to take photos, some of them came out looking super bright as if it was the middle of the afternoon and others came out pitch black - so sorry it looks like they're all taken on different days. Also when I was walking to Manhattan there was still some sun, and when I walked back it was totally dark... anyway.

I didn't walk down into Manhattan or anything - Abi and I have been feeling really split over wanting to go and experience Manhattan in the dark, but then felt guilty that we would then be coming back to our apartment with power. It felt a bit wrong really.

I think we're going to try and see how we can help those who haven't been as lucky as we have, whether it's clothes donations or money donations. New York's really pulling together to help each other and pitch in where the Police/Army/Red Cross/Fema are having difficulty.

Some of the stories of people helping each other have been amazing, and it's good to know that for a city that has such a reputation for being rude and cold, they dunnarf come together and help each other out when they have to.

No comments:

Post a Comment