Hurricane Gloria -- a memorable storm
Where were you in September 1985?
I was working in a law firm in lower Manhattan and living in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, with my roommate Eileen. It was my first apartment and (with the exception of my college dorm) the first time I was living someplace other than Long Island.
Two of my best friends at the time were classmates from law school. Linda and her husband lived in Garden City, Long Island, and Debbie had an apartment on the Upper East Side. the three of us would get together frequently for dinner, theater, etc., and we'd usually wind up back at Debbie's for a sleepover. That's where I was the night before Hurricane Gloria.
It was already raining when the three of us got up to go to our respective jobs. We splurged on a commuter van downtown instead of the subway. By the time I got to my office the rain was very heavy, and the winds had kicked up.
My firm was on the 27th floor of the building, and I could hear the wind rattling the huge glass windows. I was there maybe 10-15 minutes when the maintenance crew came to put huge strips of masking tape on the windows -- I suppose to keep them from shattering.
a few minutes later the building management announced that they were closing the building and we should all go home.
that NEVER happens in NYC!
down in the subway the transit cops were clad in horrible orange rain gear. there was already some flooding and a few train delays.
as soon as I got off the train in Brooklyn I stopped at the local deli to stock up on a few grocery items -- having lived through a few prior storms, I was anticipating power outages and/or other problems which might prevent me from shopping. But in Brooklyn, no one else seemed to be stocking up as if Armaggedon was headed our way. Culture shock!
eileen and I rode out the storm in our apartment, doing housekeeping chores and watching TV. As soon as the sotrm was over, life in our neighborhood returned to normal. I missed out on the downed trees and power outages that the storm brought to the Island.
I was working in a law firm in lower Manhattan and living in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, with my roommate Eileen. It was my first apartment and (with the exception of my college dorm) the first time I was living someplace other than Long Island.
Two of my best friends at the time were classmates from law school. Linda and her husband lived in Garden City, Long Island, and Debbie had an apartment on the Upper East Side. the three of us would get together frequently for dinner, theater, etc., and we'd usually wind up back at Debbie's for a sleepover. That's where I was the night before Hurricane Gloria.
It was already raining when the three of us got up to go to our respective jobs. We splurged on a commuter van downtown instead of the subway. By the time I got to my office the rain was very heavy, and the winds had kicked up.
My firm was on the 27th floor of the building, and I could hear the wind rattling the huge glass windows. I was there maybe 10-15 minutes when the maintenance crew came to put huge strips of masking tape on the windows -- I suppose to keep them from shattering.
a few minutes later the building management announced that they were closing the building and we should all go home.
that NEVER happens in NYC!
down in the subway the transit cops were clad in horrible orange rain gear. there was already some flooding and a few train delays.
as soon as I got off the train in Brooklyn I stopped at the local deli to stock up on a few grocery items -- having lived through a few prior storms, I was anticipating power outages and/or other problems which might prevent me from shopping. But in Brooklyn, no one else seemed to be stocking up as if Armaggedon was headed our way. Culture shock!
eileen and I rode out the storm in our apartment, doing housekeeping chores and watching TV. As soon as the sotrm was over, life in our neighborhood returned to normal. I missed out on the downed trees and power outages that the storm brought to the Island.
I see some future blog post about this, but I was on the NY Thruway on a Greyhound bus. My flight to Buffalo out of Newark later that day had been cancelled, and I was not going to miss my sister's wedding.
ReplyDeleteMy stepsister stayed behind and the tally was that Gloria took three of the trees in my back yard.