Index nieuws

Aug 2003

Friday, 8/15/2003
Massive power outage
Yesterday afternoon a massive power outage hit Manhattan (the affected area streched from Detroit to New York). Luckily in South Orange we only had a few incidental losses of very short periods of time. While I am typing this friends of us in Manhattan still are out of electricity. It's now 'the morning after' and for them it means almost a complete day of loss.
We can safely say that we have been lucky, not only did we keep power, Erik also was home even earlier than normal. He was (together with a collegue) one of the first people arriving at the ferry to New Jersey. When they arrived there they even managed to find a taxi that would actually drive the distance.
After a quick bite, we drove this collegue home. He lives in Pennsylvania, about an hour and 45 minutes away. We were very happy to be able to help someone out, as we love to get help in situations we need it. We do think this is a charming detail of the cultural code here: everybody helps eachother when needed and that's a comforting feeling.
This morning we got a phone call from Erik's work: the office will remain closed today. Timing could have been worse just before the week end of course ;-)

© Wilma & Erik van de Pol, 2000-2008