By Paul Goldfinger
Reporting from Wegmans. Coffee and a bagel. We got here at 6:45 a.m. to get an electrical outlet. Many people were there already. See the press pass. I am a reporter for Halloween. Eileen Goldfinger photo
Wednesday, October 31.
I am rushing at Wegmans because they are only allowing me 45 minutes to use a wall plug in the upstairs café because others are waiting. But thank goodness for Wegmans and their two large generators. I wish I had a large generator.
It is hazardous to ride around town because there are downed wires all over. The police have shut down the first two beach blocks along with other streets where they are clearing trees. By some miracle, most of our antique vulnerable houses have escaped with little or no damage.
During the last blizzard, I noticed that people were anxious to get outside as soon as possible. I think it’s the need to get air, to see that the town is still alive and to avoid loneliness that comes over us if we are stuck inside. This storm is sort of like the blizzard, except for no snow.
Yesterday at Wegmans (they are the only store open except for Home Depot and they have Wi-Fi), there was a huge line stretching from the pizza area back to the cash registers. Guess what for?? Yup, COFFEE. It was free, but it wasn’t the money; it was the morning addiction. Wow. Did you know that there is an entire coffee-table size book devoted to caffeine addiction. I own that book, but I never read it.
Eileen accompanied me this morning in order to assist with all my needs (Some say I am “high maintenance”) She plugged me in, got coffee, took my picture and smiled at the manager who is guarding the wall plugs.
When we drove here this morning, we took Sunset, but the police would not allow us to cross over 35. We headed north, but every U turn was closed for safety reasons since all the signals were off. We finally made a U by Monmouth Mall.
People are on the roads; I guess they are going to work, although hardly anyone in the entire region has power. Last night a bunch of neighbors came over for a hurricane dinner (by now our freezers have warmed ) and brought whatever they could defrost and cook on their gas stovetops. We lit candles, had a great meal, and enjoyed each other’s company. We all were grateful that there were no fires, destroyed houses or injured people (at least, we haven’t heard of any—communications are bad; even cell calls and texts are unreliable.) I took my last shower for awhile; the water was just luke warm.
At night here, it is, of course, pitch black. But also it is dramatically quiet. You realize, in retrospect, that our world is full of white noise generated by electricity. The dark is like a blanket over everything, and we are sleeping very well.
Yvette Blackman told me that she decided to move her car because a nearby tree was swaying a bit too much. So she moved her car and told a neighbor to move his. One hour later the tree fell down. Do you have any storm stories? Please send them to Blogfinger@verizon.net.
It’s amazing, but despite the fact that Grovers have no power, there were about 15,000 visits to this site on Monday and more than 25,000 on Tuesday. Many of those visitors are Grovers who have fled, people who own second houses in the Grove or people with friends or relatives here. A few people told me that they learned about our content by phone from folks who could get access across the country.
It will be difficult to keep you informed, but we will try. Charles has camped out in Philadelphia where there is power. We expect him back soon.