Shoeshine Guy, on Fifth Avenue

Photo by myself at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, in Midtown.

A photo from the stash, from an earlier, sunnier, calmer time.

A shoeshine guy relaxed in his raised perch, near the New York Public Library. People, mostly men, do get their shoes shined on the sidewalks. I often see fellas on their lunch breaks or just off of work in the chairs.

-- A huge thank you to everyone for the good wishes to our city, during Hurricane Sandy.

Apologies for the very late post today. We spent the whole day hunkered down, listening to the wind howl outside and watching the lights flicker.

So far, we've been very lucky. Park Slope, where we live, is just outside the flood zone. Park Slope, as the name implies, is situated on a slope (!) that slopes up inland, away from the East River. Areas closer to the water such as Red Hook, Coney Island and lower Manhattan were evacuated.

Our electric supply lines are buried underground, so there is less a chance of an outage, though one due to flooding is always possible. Mark's mom out in Long Island lost her power this afternoon.

During the day we heard reports of the tunnels closing, then bridges closing, then water rising in the tunnels. Eek. Thankfully, work was cancelled today and tomorrow.

What struck me most about this hurricane is that hurricanes last a long time. Hurricane Irene took a while too, but most of it took place in the wee hours, after we went to bed. Today, the winds battered our building the entire day. I mean, the entire day.

'How much longer?' I'd ask after hours of listening to things thud against the windows.

Mark would look at the weather and say, 'Well, we're not at the high point yet. Another hour or so...'

Oh my gosh.

I'll venture out tomorrow morning and send photos then.

Related posts: A Little Spit and Polish, in Midtown, The Day After, and Read All About It.