Am showered! And the sun was shining! This – after a day of feeling poorly – and spending almost an entire day without running water – makes for a good day.
There was a water main break in Hoboken yesterday. Now I’m not the youngest anymore – but according to my feeble memory, I haven’t ever experienced a loss of water in my life before. That’s something really new.
When this happened, a lot of the residents of Hoboken and Jersey City were still going through their lazy Sunday morning routines. Many haven’t had their showers yet. Including Paula, Chad, Dom, Alex and I. (Yes, Dom was in town for hers and Chad’s birthdays, which was on Saturday. Very exciting! More on that later.)
We were all supposed to have breakfast together, but the water problem needed solving first, so Alex and I, along with hundreds of other people went, unshowered, to the Shop Rite located a couple of minutes away. When we got there, most of the water was gone. There were still some small bottles of purified water, and we grabbed a bunch of those. By accident, we found a little hidden stash of gallon containers a couple of aisles away, and that was like finding gold. Water! We found water!!
In the part of Hoboken where the main broke, water was flowing like the Niagara Falls. And everywhere else….naught a drop to drink.
We all need water for drinking, brushing our teeth, taking medication, washing our hands, boiling rice, washing vegetables and dishes, for flushing. We all take it for granted that running water will always be there. And when it’s not… I felt bad for those who went to the gym or went running only to get home to that. And for families with babies who don’t understand what it means to not have running water.
The City of Hoboken and SUEZ provided updates via Twitter and Facebook. In the afternoon, free water was being distributed at points around Hoboken and Jersey City.
This morning, service resumed, but the water pressure was very low, and between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. simply non-existent. Everyone who did not get a chance to take showers yesterday got to it; many had to go to work.
So yes, it was quite an eventful weekend. Most of it was of the pleasant kind, though. Friday was a beautiful and sunny day. Dom and I met in the morning on Christopher Street. We started with a walk around Soho and along the Highline, grabbed a quick bite of sushi at the Chelsea Market and headed to the Memorial Museum.
The Memorial Museum is a beautiful one with impressive architecture. Outside, the memorials with their falling waters are quite moving. Inside, within the museum’s inner sanctum, you are guided through the events of the day, blow by blow. Water flows freely there too – in the form of tears. No one with a bit of humanity can help themselves. After a while though, we reached an emotional saturation point and had to move on. It was all a bit much, a bit very real, a bit too tragic.
We emerged into the light and walked some more through town, and as women do, chatted and caught up on our lively lives.
Evening came around, and weekend officially started for the rest of the world. Chad and Paula joined us from Jersey City and we ordered in from Taco Truck. Though take-out tacos might not sound spectacular, the fact that we had all met and lived in Munich once, and that we were all sitting around the table together, again, after so many years…that’s kind of special.
Saturday was the birthday bash day, and happily, another splendid-weather day. The birthday boy and girl went kickboxing, took naps, and hung out. I spent most of it at the Queens College (and getting to and fro) for the weekly gamelan practice.
At night we met up in the City for a delicious dinner at EN Brasserie. The entire table chose the same Soyokaze tasting menu. It was highly enjoyable, to say the least.
So yeah, it was a good weekend indeed.
Today, after a good if somewhat short shower (conserve conserve), I ventured out into the cold to do some errands. Now that we have our bikes, it’s much easier to get around town. One of the things I love to do is to go down to the water and walk/bike around.
It does get lonely here, especially as I’m on my own a lot during the day. But when I’m out in nature, that feeling just disappears. Inland, it’s the forests and trees that calm me down. Here, it’s the water. So am grateful for that bit of nature that we have around here. And especially for the water.
Below some photos from the waterfront, taken over the course of the past weeks. Quite pretty there, eh?
So, I think I will call it a day. Ciao ciao – ’till the next time!