blackoutEnglish.htm

Click to see the pictures.　　　(Japanese versiion)

At 4 p.m. on August 14, 2003

I went to the USA with my family. First we visited Disney World in Florida and we have just arrived at New York. I was in the van at that time. Tour guide picked us up at the airport and drove to the hotel. We were in the Holland Tunnel to Manhattan. Suddenly lights went out. The tour guide said, "Oh, maybe they are fixing electricity. So someone just turned off the lights. You don't have to worry."

Then we went out of the tunnel and came to Manhattan island. But strangely no lights on traffic lights. The tour guide said, "You know, in America they don't change light bulbs until they burned out. You don't have to worry."

However, as our van went north, the guide noticed no lights were on. Look at the traffic lights above. The guide mentioned, "It was 7 years ago. There was a blackout in whole city of New York. At that time it took one day to be restored. The guide made a telephone call with a company man.

The black out seemed to cover a wide area. People came out of the buildings. The road was crowded with people. We could not move any more so we decided to leave the van and walk to the hotel. We carried a big suitcase and hurried to the hotel.

Oh, my God. The hotel was in darkness. Only emergency lights were on. Computer system was down because no electricity were provided. So we could not check in. We had t wait until lights come again. Everyone sat on the floor.

We had difficulty in using the restroom the most. Maybe because of the security reason, there are no restrooms on the lobby floor. They are on the second floor. No lights till we get to the restroom. And of course long waiting line appeared. Fortunately we had a flashlight. The night before, we were in Disney World. There was a night parade. My little son wanted to get a flashlight because other kids have it. But I said, "no." However because he asked for it so hard I bought one for him. The flasligt helped us a lot.

"What will go on?" I wondered.

Because the lobby was so dark, I felt depressed. I walked out of the hotel. This building is Madison Square Garden. You can see basketball games here. See? No lights on the electric board. And the ballon basketball was deflated. Only cars moved. Of course, subway stopped. People walked home.

Accroding to the Newsweek magazine, people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge home.

Time magazine showed this picture. Empiere State Building was two blocks away from my hotel. I panned to g up the building to enjoy night view, but I could not.

The night came. My family had to sleep on the stone floor of the hotel. Our guide was a veteran. He had more than 70 people on the day of the terrorism. He advised us, "You have to get water and food at first." He found a shop for us. So I went out to go shopping. One of the grocery store was opened with a candle light on.

Then I bought some drinks and cookies and fruits for dinner. Look at our family's first dinner in New York.

This is our family's space to sleep. We could not do anything but sleep.

Maybe we are safe because it is a lobby of a hotel. Emergency lights ran out of batteries and it became dark. Only some flashlights were on.

Anyway I slept till morning.

Next day, August 15, Friday. Still no electricity. Our guide stayed at the hotel with us, but got some food for us. We shared one Japanese bento. Because the lobby was dark, we walked out. We sat on the sidewalk in front of Madison Square Garden to eat it. Many policemen controlled traffic on the roads.

"What shall we do today?" Some shops opened. We could see a hot dog stand, too.

I was surprised to see this. Red Cross members served water and snacks.

I got a lemonade and snacks. I drank and eat it and thought of the day schedule. We decided to walk up to Central Park, which is 30 blocks away. We walked and walked.

And we reached the park. It was calm and peaceful there. We lied down on the grass and took a rest. Then we headed for Times Square because I wanted to check one thing. I have bought tickets for the musical, "Beauty and the Beast." I wanted the show open because our sheets were the 2nd row from the stage.

At noon on August 15, lights came back. The person at the theater said, "we are going to open the show." "Great!" We hurried to the hotel. We got to the hotel, but still no electricity there. However we could check in anyway. I was surprised to see the rom key. It says 1218. Wow, it is 12th floor. No elevators were running.

We walked up the emergency staircase with a flashlight on. We had just walked 60 blocks in total. We wer exhausted until we got to the 12th floor.

Now, we had another trouble. We could not find out the room. It was dark. Finally we could enter the room. However, no lights, no water. Only sun light came. Anyway there were soft beds. We slept like a log for a couple of hours without intension.

We woke up and walked up to Times Square again. In the area, electricity came back. Many TV clues broadcasted on the street.

We went to the steakhouse. After 24 hours in New York, we finally ate New York Steak with a huge glass of Coke.

We enjoyed musical after dinner. Then we took bike taxi to the hotel. At the hotel, lights came back and everything went well, except no hot water at schower.

Next day, I bought this T-shirt.

Back to the top