Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Bay Ridge Tornadoes (not a ball team) - Part One
I was woken up today shortly before 6am by a wild storm. Through the darkness and my window blinds, it was obvious that there was quite a light show to accompany the sound effects – loud thunder and pounding, heavy rain. The greenery of the plants on the balcony off of my bedroom was bent to a 30 degree angle. 1010WINS radio warned commuters to leave extra time. Actually, having called England this morning, I left home 5 or 10 minutes later than usual, arriving on the platform of 86th Station at about 7:35. Clearly, had I arrived at my usual time, I would have caught the same train as I ended up catching. There was quite a crowd down there!
The train came at about 7:45 and sat at the station for a short while. Even though 86th Street is only the second stop on the line, there were a fair number of standees. A crowd got on at 77th Street as the train sat once more. The conductor announced that there was another train behind. Everyone ignored him. Next stop: Bay Ridge Avenue, where my commute used to begin until my move 3 months ago. The carriage I was in became quite Sardine-like and the conductor repeated loudly about the train behind. I decided to get off. I was the only one. And it won’t happen again unless I’m feeling unwell.
I checked the time a few minutes later. It was 8:01. There was no sign of a train and I realised that there was no train at 95th Street and I didn’t recall seeing one heading that direction. The conductor lied! At 8:25, a man who was not employed by the MTA, came onto the platform and yelled that there would be no trains. And we shouldn’t bother walking to 59th Street, 10 blocks away, as the N express wasn’t running either. “The only train running into Manhattan is the F”. I got my transfer and stood with a lot of people waiting for a bus. Bay Ridge Avenue itself was closed between 4th and 3rd Aves, the block the express bus comes on, and people didn’t know if it was re-routed or just not running. It was closed because a large tree was laying across it. Could that be one of the streets where roofs were blown off? So I got a local to an area I haven’t been to in years – McDonald Avenue.
The bus went along 60th Street from 4th Avenue to some way beyond 25th Ave. On the third block, a small tree had been uprooted and branches of other trees were all over the place.
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The train came at about 7:45 and sat at the station for a short while. Even though 86th Street is only the second stop on the line, there were a fair number of standees. A crowd got on at 77th Street as the train sat once more. The conductor announced that there was another train behind. Everyone ignored him. Next stop: Bay Ridge Avenue, where my commute used to begin until my move 3 months ago. The carriage I was in became quite Sardine-like and the conductor repeated loudly about the train behind. I decided to get off. I was the only one. And it won’t happen again unless I’m feeling unwell.
I checked the time a few minutes later. It was 8:01. There was no sign of a train and I realised that there was no train at 95th Street and I didn’t recall seeing one heading that direction. The conductor lied! At 8:25, a man who was not employed by the MTA, came onto the platform and yelled that there would be no trains. And we shouldn’t bother walking to 59th Street, 10 blocks away, as the N express wasn’t running either. “The only train running into Manhattan is the F”. I got my transfer and stood with a lot of people waiting for a bus. Bay Ridge Avenue itself was closed between 4th and 3rd Aves, the block the express bus comes on, and people didn’t know if it was re-routed or just not running. It was closed because a large tree was laying across it. Could that be one of the streets where roofs were blown off? So I got a local to an area I haven’t been to in years – McDonald Avenue.
The bus went along 60th Street from 4th Avenue to some way beyond 25th Ave. On the third block, a small tree had been uprooted and branches of other trees were all over the place.
