Manhattan Magical Mystery Tour

So Sandy stayed the course and hit the tri-state area.  And not in an anti-climactic, 'they totally got us all psyched out for nothing', 'weathermen are SO dramatic', 'if I were as inaccurate at my job as weathermen are I would have been fired years ago' kind of way.  Sandy hit in such a way that when I turned on the television last night they were having a hurricane relief benefit concert FOR MY AREA.  Talk about surreal.  The only solace that I have is that Brad Pitt didn't show up.  If he had walked onto the screen then I would have known that we were in real trouble.  But the very honest truth is, that for many of us living in Manhattan, we barely felt more than a slight inconvenience.  In a sense, there are two very different cities at the moment.  As illustrated by the lovely graphic above-below 39st St. on the East Side and below 31st St. on the West Side lost power.  Some parts of the Upper East Side, where I used to live, also lost power due to flooding.  But for much of Manhattan, things were fairly normal by Wednesday.  I am also happy to report that as of today, most of the rest of the island has had power restored as well.  People were inconvenienced but very few were harmed or lost anything of real value.  The same cannot be said for the outer boroughs of New York City and the Jersey Shore.  Things aren't great on Long Island either, my parents are still without power, although the Long Island Power Authority is predicting restoration by Nov. 7th at the latest.  From the news reports, it appears that those along the shoreline in Brooklyn and Staten Island are in great distress.
If any of you reading would like to do something to help, I direct you to the American Red Cross.  A donation to the ARC will benefit not only those in need now, but those in need any time a disaster hits.  American Red Cross Donation Page
Of course, amid all of the Sandy-chaos, J and I still had a move to take care of.  Our furniture delivery was postponed, quickly followed by our actual move.  Unable to reach our management company, we figured this would not pose much of an issue-if we weren't able to move, we doubted the new tenant would be able to move either!  We were able to quickly reschedule our move for Thursday and found that the storage company (keeping our things until we find permanent residence in London) receives deliveries!  This was excellent news.  Tuesday night J's sister came to stay with us as she lives in what quickly became referred to as Manhattan's hottest new neighborhood 'SoPo' (South of Power).  This was especially nice as it gave us all some extra time to spend with one another before J left for London on Friday.  We spent the next evening figuring out what needed to be put in long term storage, what needed to be shipped to corporate housing, and what needed to stay with us.  For me, that meant a month's worth of clothing, shoes, etcetera.  I thought it would be one suitcase.  But- no.  I've been traipsing about Manhattan ever since with one rolling suitcase, 2 Vera Bradley bags, my purse, and a bag for laundry.  (On the laundry-the money card machine for the laundry in our building stopped working during the hurricane-we did not know this until basically the night before the move at 9 PM.  That was a really great moment, let me tell you.)
I am officially a hobo.
Which brings me to the Manhattan Magical Mystery Tour that I embarked upon Thursday after work.  J's company had gotten us a hotel room for the night before and of his departure.  This was really fabulous.  The original plan was for me to head out to LI to live with my parents for the month of November, but as they are currently sans power, we decided it might be a better idea for me to stay in the city.  Also because, until yesterday, there would have been no way for me to get there and back as the Long Island Railroad was not running.  So first stop on the MMMT: Palace Hotel (so Gossip Girl).  Next stop: my awesome friend Ray's apt.  Ray was heading to Vegas and saw that I was possibly a little bit homeless.  So he offered up his apt.  In a nutshell: Ray ROCKS!  Where I go from here?  Who knows!  Hopefully power will be back on Long Island soon.  But if not, and you see a girl walking the streets of Hell's Kitchen with one rolling suitcase, 2 Vera Bradley bags, a purse, and some laundry-offer her your couch.  She will repay you with copious amounts of wine and excellent company.  She may even rearrange your closets for you...