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| Whole Foods in Union Square was packed with people as Sandy approached. |
After the storm barreled through, the streets of
blacked-out Lower Manhattan were deserted,
All stores, restaurants, etc. were closed.
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| Above 42nd Street, where the lights did not go out, it was business as usual. A refugee from downtown could eat a gorgeous meal, if she was willing to walk three and half miles each way to get to it. |
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| Power companies from all along the Eastern seaboard sent their employees to help New York get its citizens back into the 21st Century. The visiting workers marshaled in Union Square. |
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| The National Guard came to help, too. All along Park Avenue, one could see military vehicles, many painted in desert camouflage and guardsmen in fatigues. |
 Though the power was off for almost a full week, five hours after it came back on, the first store to open in our area was the venerable and incomparable Strand Bookstore--at 9 AM on a Sunday morning. |
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| With the Sanitation Department stretched to its limit trying to clean up in devastated neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten island, the city stopped picking up recyclables until further notice. As of November 15th, they are still piling up. |
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| By Tuesday, November 13th, life was so back to normal, that four stalwart mystery writers along with their moderator were able to present a panel at the Mid-Manhattan Branch of the New York Public Library. Let to Right: Julia Pomeroy, Jon McGoran, Lucy Burdette, Dirk Robertson, and your reporter. |
