The Times They Are A-changing

Hello World,     Well, what hasn't been going on in the local area lately, and much of it decidedly not at the top of anyone's Wish List, I dare say! After the warmest February on record, in the history of them keeping weather records to start with (in fact, I believe the dinosaurs will agree with me that it was Thak who invented the weather forecasting dartboard that is still in use by meteorologists today) March has certainly lived up to its reputation for squirrely weather since then. We had not one, not two, but three nor'easters come barreling through here in 2 weeks, and to say that none of them was a welcome sight would be an understatement of epic proportions, I can assure you. The first one was known officially as Winter Storm Riley, and came thundering across the plains, leaving a trail of disaster and destruction in its wake, with deep snow, frigid temperatures, and dangerously high tides made even worse by driving winds and a full moon. Trees fell on every side, taking power lines with them, and leaving many hundreds of thousands in the dark, and it goes without saying, thanks so very much not. The overwhelmed utility companies were unequal to the task of restoring power to their besieged customers, and trying to get anywhere - between downed trees, broken traffic lights, flooding, and the total lack of mass transit - was just an exercise in futility. We lost power at our house on Friday afternoon, along with a handful of neighbors, and looking (unhappily, I might add) at a long, cold night in our drafty old domicile, with nothing to recommend it. So we called our nearby diner to find out if they had electricity, and when they said yes, we scurried right on over there, to take advantage of their heat, lights, and a hot meal. It turned out that getting over there was more than half the challenge, as most of our part of town was completely blacked out, and traffic lights were almost non-existent. Luckily it was business-as-usual at the diner, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal, and even more so, the restorative benefits of their light and warmth and convivial company, after the chilly gloom that we had left at home. The evil minions at Con Edison gave us no reason to hope for any impending improvement, so rather than sit in the dark and be miserable, we decided to take in a movie.     Luck was with us once again, as it was again business-as-usual at our local cinema, and we were able to score some excellent seats to see the new "Black Panther" in glorious IMAX 3-D, and even better, all the electricity we could possibly hope for. The character of Black Panther had already been introduced as part of the Marvel Studio multiverse in the most recent "Avengers" movie, but this was his first solo outing, and it was obvious that the studio spared no expense, and pulled out all the stops, in their efforts to turn this into another blockbuster in the Marvel line-up. I will say that I personally did not find it as incomprehensible as "Wonder Woman," but I thought it was still plenty hard to follow, and while the special effects were outstanding, the story left me dazed and bewildered. Now it's possible that even with the most perfectly lucid story, this might not turn out to be the superhero of my dreams, and might work a lot better for me in a group setting like the Avengers, rather than on his own, and no shortcoming of the movie itself. On the other hand, the place had heat and lights, which we didn't have at home, and under the circumstances, that was good enough for me, I can tell you that.     We spent a very uncomfortable night under the sheets, trying to sleep in basically everything we owned, and hoping against hope of waking up once again in the modern era, with all of the conveniences of home at our fingertips. Alas, it was not to be (BOO!) and hearing the news reports of widespread devastation across the region in no way encouraged us to expect any sort of rapid resolution. We finally decided to cut our losses, get outta Dodge, leave behind the cold and dark, and hit the road to our happy place that would be sure to put a smile on our faces, no matter what. And luck was with us one more time, as it was business-as-usual at Denny's in Danbury, and we were delighted to settle in for an impromptu lunch on the go, with all the (heretofore) comforts of home, and once again, thanks ever so. We weren't exactly sure what we were going to do with ourselves next after our unexpectedly special lunch outing, but when we tried to phone our house, and the answering machine dutifully picked up the call, we realized that the power had been miraculously restored in our absence (YAY!!!) so we turned back towards hearth and home, to enjoy all of the wonders that modern civilization has to offer, and not taking any of it for granted, that's for sure. And may I say from the bottom of my heart that electricity is not over-rated, and God bless you, Thomas Alva Edison.     It turned out later that getting our service back after only 24 hours made us some of the most fortunate among the local citizenry, as the media continued to bombard us with horror stories of beleaguered residents without power for days on end, and some as much as two weeks, if you can imagine that. Even worse, the next of the unwelcome nor'easters slammed into our area while work crews were still trying to clean up after the first one, bringing even more havoc to communities reeling from Riley's onslaught, and once again, thanks ever so much not. Oddly enough, the second unwelcome interloper was known officially as Winter Storm Quinn, which even the most backward schoolchild of the meanest intelligence could tell was woefully out of alphabetical order, since it arrived after Riley, for some reason. Unhappily, this ushered in a new round of trees and power lines going down, mass transit shut-downs, traffic lights on the blink, and another swath of neighborhoods without electricity. In a perverse twist of fate, many of the original customers without power, who had theirs restored in the brief aftermath of Riley, lost it all over again in Quinn's relentless march to the sea - and which would have to be considered an unfair double whammy that should be outlawed by the Geneva Convention of climate protocols, after all. Our electricity went out again also, but fortunately only for about an hour this time, and to say that we greeted its return with a euphoria usually reserved for winning the lottery would be an understatement of mythic proportions, believe me. Now we were left with the nuisance of resetting all of the clocks and timers around the place, and try to get on with our lives as usual.     Speaking of resetting clocks and timers, of course last weekend brought us the infernal return of the dratted Daylight Saving Time once again, as a misguided humanity went springing crazily ahead an hour, like some primitive society of cavemen who all fell victim to a kind of widespread voodoo hogwash. For those of us who go to work early, the resulting change is that it's even darker in the morning, thanks not, although admittedly light for longer in the afternoon, if you like that sort of thing. (Or like me, do not necessarily consider it a change for the better.) Now, it's inescapably true that our prehistoric forebears worshiped the sun, as indeed they would have to, in the absence of anything else around at the time - at least until Thak invented the wheel, as it were. But as for me, while I'm as big a fan of the sun as the next fellow, I don't mind saying that personally I'll take mine with a big side of electricity, and don't spare the kilowatts, my good man! Elle