Where were you when the lights went out?


Man, I missed Judge Judy today! Really!

Today was one of those times I’m thankful I’ve been home the last few weeks. When the power went off, I thought we blew a fuse or maybe the Con-Ed trucks up the block had hit a cable. After calling Sara, I found out that, no, it was something bigger.

Sara’s odyssey began and she wound up getting home around 10 pm.

I just hung around making sure I had flashlights. Finding the transistor radio. It’s my third blackout.


In ’65 I remember I was watching Jerry Mahoney when the TV went gray and the lights went off.


In ’77 I was living in the Bronx and we were hanging out that evening as we watched the cascade effect as the streetlights went out, block after block.

Our lights came back at 7:15 pm. 3 hours only!

The power goes out around here every once in awhile (the last time was a rainy Sunday). It’s inconvenient but, you get used to stuff like that happening and just figure out ways to deal.

The last few times I’d been to CostCo I had eyed the gas generators they have thinking how nice it would be to have a backup source of energy - I’m big on stuff like that.

We’re also in this funny spot in the power grid anyway. We’re like the last house in the line, a lot of time our neighbors (and the neighborhood as a whole) just to our north will lose their power. We’ll be the last house in line getting electric.

Anyway, after the power came back I wound up driving down to the Bronx (and then Hartsdale) trying to track Sara down. Once you passed Pleasantville there wasn’t any power.

I had already figured as long as you’re on a highway, a blackout doesn’t really affect driving (although it is an excuse for people to drive stupidly), there aren’t any traffic signals or stop signs. The trip down to the Bronx was uneventful (although there was a bit of traffic). It was truly wonderfully strange to be driving along in the post dusk with the shadows of buildings all around.

When I got down to Throgs Neck, lo and behold the lights were on there as well. Things seemed perfectly normal.

The cell had been out and then I got a call from my father letting me know Sara was in Hartsdale. So, I made a frantic trip up to Hartsdale making the trip through the inky darkness. We take the light for granted, we don’t realize how much we light up the night.

Hartsdale was pitch black and I spent a bunch of time walking around the train station with my flashlight (which was funny because whenever I would walk past people with the flashlight they thought it was a policeman coming because of the way I was holding it) looking for Sara. No luck, she was long gone.

Anyway, I started to drive back when she finally got in touch with me letting me know she was on her way back home (I could have saved myself a lot of trouble just by staying home). Interesting night to be out driving though. I’ll bet everyone will have a story. I’m just glad I wasn’t on the subway.