Gratefully, I wasn't in New York for 9/11. Yesterday I got a very slight idea of what that must have been like when a steam pipe exploded about a block from Grand Central.
My office is located about 7 blocks north of the explosion. I didn't hear anything or even know what was going on until I left work around 6:00pm. I got to Park Avenue and people were running...that isn't a rare sight but this time the people were wearing business suits and the women were in heels. I turned to look towards Grand Central and all I saw was smoke and steam. It was a crazy sight. I walked over to Lexington and 50th and saw what I thought was Grand Central on fire. There was so much smoke and steam pouring out of that area that it completely blocked your view down Lexington.
The first thing I wanted to do was let my Joani know that I was okay. She gets somewhat anxious when things happen in New York. All the networks were busy on my T-Mobile phone so I walked further uptown and finally got through to Joani who was vacationing in Arizona. I assured her I was fine and heading home by foot. After we finished chatting I had an overwhelming feeling of tears about to pour out. I think it was the stress of the moment and the knowledge that if another horrendous act by people filled with hate that it would be incredibly difficult to get back to my Joani. Luckily I pulled myself together and called Shopping Queen for information on what had happened. She was able to tell me about the steam pipe/transformer explosion which made me feel much better. Yoga master also checked in to make sure I was able to get home. My commute ended about an hour after it began with me happy to be in my A/C'd apartment.
I snagged some pictures from the NY Times website. These pictures obviously pale in comparison to actually seeing the smoke and steam billowing out of the ground.
1 comment:
wow. quite a blow..
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