Friday, November 2, 2012

A message from New Jersey

My best friend at Cliffside Public School in Toronto was Brian Clark. (he was also a good friend of CBC's Rick Cluff).  On September 11 2001, Brian was sitting in his World Trade Centre South Tower office when a plane struck the building. He was one of only four people in the South Tower to escape from a floor above the plane's impact. His heroic story can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Clark_%289/11_attacks_survivor%29

I mention this since Brian now lives in New Jersey in what I suspect is a very nice neighbourhood., When I witnessed the scenes of devastation in New Jersey on TV, I wrote to him, expressing my concern for him, his family and friends, especially since I knew he had already been through one incredible disaster.  Today I received this response:

Michael ~~
Thanks for your note of concern.


We consider ourselves to be in the 'fortunate' group.  We lost power only for the first thirty hours but a huge area all around our neighbourhood is still without electricity.  At night, our street and two or three around us look like islands in a sea of darkness.  We don't quite understand how this has occurred but we dare not question the facts.


However, our cable company has not yet recovered.  That means we have no TV, no Internet and no land-line phone.  I have just come to my son Tim's in-laws' home where they are running on a generator. Their cable service is from a different provider so, for the first time since Sunday, I have connected to a wireless hub and can find out what is going on in the rest of the world.


The residential streets around us are a mess.  Detours are everywhere around huge downed trees and power-lines.  The damage in our area is extraordinary and we are miles and miles from the Jersey Shore where the property damage is even more extensive.  In our area, things will eventually get back to "normal" but the changes along the coastal area will, in many cases, be permanent.

~~ Brian 



It's hard to fathom what life must be like for the many thousands of people who remain without power and all the other things we all take for granted four days after the storm hit. Somehow it hits closer to home when you know someone who's having to live through it.

5 comments:

Frank Ducote said...

That is an amazing story about a very fortunate man. Thank you for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

Hello Dear, are you truly visiting this website daily, if so then you will without doubt get
nice knowledge.

my blog ideal waist to height ratio

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it's just me or if perhaps everybody else experiencing
problems with your blog. It looks like some of the written text on your posts are running off the screen.
Can somebody else please comment and let me know if this
is happening to them as well? This may be a issue with my web browser because I've had this happen previously. Cheers

Male Enhancement Reviews *endurosmale.net*

Anonymous said...

For most recent news you have to pay a quick visit world-wide-web and on world-wide-web I
found this web page as a best web site for most recent updates.



turbo force muscle

Anonymous said...

I'm truly enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It's
a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit
more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme?
Great work!

My weblog garcinia cambogia