So last night, on Day 5 of our little heat wave here in New York City (now on Day 6 and counting — all with one of our AC units not working), my wife and I were getting ready for bed when the lights started flickering.
There had been blackouts all weekend throughout the city, so we figured it was our turn. We pulled out our flashlights, lit some candles and got ready to wave bye-bye to the power and our final AC unit for the night. As I looked out the window, I could see that the lights were flickering on most of our block … but then I also noticed smoke billowing out of the street below us, which didn’t seem right.
Just as I suggested that maybe we should get the heck out of the building, just to be on the safe side, the explosions started. Our building’s transformer blew — and apparently it’s located right under the street seven stories below our window. We grabbed our Sigg water bottles and a couple of other things (unfortunately, we had to leave Nina behind — no time to fight to get her in her kitty carrier), and went out into the hallway, where several of our neighbors had gathered. We headed down the stairwell, and I urged them to do the same.
When we got to the lobby, it was full of smoke, and a firefighter told us to “get out folks.” We were already on board with that.
Fortunately, nobody got hurt, and after an hour or so outside with the rest of our neighbors, they let us back in. The strange thing is, despite the transformer blowing, the building never lost power. But once we were allowed back inside, ConEd had to cut it off for part of the night to make repairs and suck the smoke out of the basement.
Today, everything seems back to normal … except that our living room AC is still out, despite the many hours my wife has spent on the phone with the repair service. I’m sure it’ll get fixed soon, though — right around the time that the heat wave breaks.
Tags: heatwave
July 30, 2008 at 2:57 pm
This is kinda like the end of “Children Of Men,” except nobody was shooting at you.