Hurricane Sandy

November 2012

Perry’s deal was: He had already made his mind up that he wanted me. I hadn’t. He has a three bedroom home, where he lived with his two dogs. I was going to stay in my own bedroom. We’d date until I decided whether or not I liked him like that. Should I decide I didn’t like him, I could move out anytime or stay there until I figured out what to do next, as friends. New Jersey was too far from California. It would’ve been impossible to date living forty hours apart.

Hurricane Sandy hit The East Coast. It was a crazy week. A huge inconvenience! Imagine living in a two storey building with an elevator for people who were wheelchair bound and then having no power! The dining room was downstairs. The nursing station was upstairs. TV room was downstairs. All residents had tv’s in their apartments, but a lot of them hung out in the downstairs tv room. When the power went out, someone was in the elevator. They had to call the people come get her out. They were quick to respond, which was nice. When they got her out, she was more concerned about her glasses she left in the elevator than anything else. Don’t ask me how they left her face! 

The facility did the best they could to make the experience as smooth as possible for the residents. They had the kitchen staff served people on both floors, the nurses did the same, everybody got a couple of torches, the generator lit up the hallway and some of the rooms. The electricity closets (where all the main switches are)  had power, I guess from the generator, there were about two per floor, where we could charge our phones. All the networks were off, towers were hit by Sandy, except Verizon. Few people in the building were with Verizon cos it’s expensive.

After talking to Perry for about a month, about seven hours per day, I decided to take him up on his offer. I didn’t know how to tell my boss and Avon that I was leaving, I postponed it until the very last minute. By the way, Just after Hurricane Sandy hit, we had the national election. I did a radio interview with The number 2 National radio station in South Africa UMHLOBO WENENE. Who of you caught the interview? It was the most fun  I had while living in that facility J. Perry had already bought me my ticket to San Diego.

The stations were closed, I couldn’t take a train from the station close by to New York, where I was going to fly from. The buses were too far, for some reason, I couldn’t get hold of taxi cabs. I suppose they had their own Sandy problems. Two weeks after Sandy, the town was still dead. Some people still didn’t have power. We got ours back within a week If I remember well. We were lucky because we were a bit far from the ocean. Avon made it past Halloween! The predictions were wrong! Three months later, she was still around. Which meant a job for me! Whew!

On receiving my parcel from N who really came through for me. I asked her how much I owed her so I could mail her a money order. The facility, where I stayed and worked was kind of out of the way. It was very far from things, I couldn’t just walk to the bank, And I don’t have a car. She told me not to worry about reimbursing her. I had to, she had spent quite a bit of money on shipping the stuff more than $30 (more than R300). I am not one for freebies. Neither is everybody I have met since I have been here, if you think you’re not paying for something, YOU’RE PAYING! You just don’t know how, yet! I sent her a money order of $50. Just before I did, she told me not to put her name on it, but just Cash. Which meant anybody who received it, could cash it. When I brought that up, she told me,it’s ok, nobody will steal her money order. I shipped it. And texted her to the fact. According to her, SHE NEVER RECEIVED IT! She said the delay must have been caused by the hurricane. I really didn’t need that kind of stress. I had warned her that it was safer having her name on the thing, she was stubborn, when she “didn’t” receive it, it became my problem. I tried to follow up with Western Union. They told me, they could trace it, at a fee of $15 (+-R150) I mean, seriously now! N told me not to worry, she was going to wait, if she didn’t get it, oh well. She had told me to refund her anyway. So basically, I threw all that money away. What do you think happened to the money order?