Last night was pretty much a smash-bang-up success. Everyone found my apartment and managed to fit into it with minimum discomfort. Tom was a saint and brought me apples (after which I neglected to feed him anything resembling dinner, sorry Tom!), and the apple cobblers actually were rather good. Here’s an interesting thing to note, though: neither a midget-sized whisk nor a blender are the ideal way to make whipped cream. Methinks we need an eggbeater in our household.
So today I left the apartment close to on time and merrily strolled along Bleecker, iPod earbuds inserted in their proper location, en route to the West 4th station. I noted four police choppers hovering directly overhead, but I sort of shrugged it off since nobody seemed to be panicking over anything. When I rounded the corner to 6th Ave, though, I realized that there had to be something going on. The West 4th station was blocked, and I could see lots of flashing lights and some smoke up ahead. I made a couple calls but couldn’t get anyone on the phone to tell me what was going on. A few calculations told me that the N/R/W line was more likely to be running than the 1, since it’s farther east, so I walked across Washington Square Park and over to the 8th Street stop and picked up the N there, along with an awful lot of other people who were likely in the same predicament. Needless to say, I got here late.
Here’s what the New York Times says:
October 21, 2005
Storage Room Fire Halts Service on 7 Subway Lines
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — An apparent electrical fire in a subway storage room produced heavy smoke below and above ground, forcing the evacuation of the West Fourth Street subway station and shutting down a half-dozen Manhattan subway lines, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, and the fire was still burning more than an hour later, said police Capt. Stephen Hughes.
The fire, reported at 8:05 a.m., forced the suspension of service in both directions on the A, B, C, D, E, F, G and V trains, along the Sixth and Eighth avenue corridors, said NYC Transit spokesman James Anyansi. West Fourth Street is a major subway hub along Manhattan’s West Side.
The smoke rose through street grates, causing a heavy smoke condition at street level as well, said David Billig, a fire department spokesman.
He said 106 firefighters and 25 pieces of fire equipment were at the scene.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
A large subway fire in January knocked out service to two of those busy subway lines, causing officials to initially say that repairs would take up to five years. Transit authorities later backpedaled after an outcry from the public, and said the revised estimate was six to nine months. Full non-peak service on the A and C lines was restored Feb. 1, nine days later.
The January fire caused extreme damage to a signal room in lower Manhattan.
I’m glad that’s all it was. The NYPD on the scene seemed pretty relaxed so I figured it wasn’t anything too important. Plus . . . if someone wanted to wreak havoc on the rush hour subway traffic, the village would be a dumb place to pick. There aren’t a lot of professional types - or at least not as many as, say, midtown.
Ironically, I still got here before anyone else on my desk. But they all ran into the same thing.
Anyhow. I have got to buy some groceries tonight. I may clean the apartment, too, as it’s my week and if I do it tonight I won’t have to do it tomorrow. And The Royal Tenenbaums came to the apartment yesterday, which I haven’t seen but want to, so I may watch that.
Tomorrow is Saturday, and I am not traveling! In fact I think it will be a good day. Dunno what I’m doing all day . . . yet.
So Bank of America is cool, and I say this despite the fact that I work here. I had to go to the branch across the street to get some cash last week, because my new ATM card hasn’t arrived yet. The teller told me about a new program they are running where they round up all your debit card to the nearest dollar and put the change into a savings account. After three months, they match the savings 100%, and 20% from then on. It seems like kind of a brilliant idea all around. The customer wins, because you basically get free money, plus it’s an easy way to start a savings account. The bank wins, because they have more money sitting around to lend out. This place really is rather innovative.
Ok, this is a behemoth of an entry. I shall cease and desist.
Filed at 10:18 am under Daily Goings-On
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