pre-irene: battened & unbattened in brooklyn

Battened: cellar door


Unbattened: cellar door & metal garbage cans. The lids, they're battened.


Unbattened: this is not going to be pretty. At all.

NYC is on lock-down. The MTA shut everything down at noon today. But today is Saturday, August 27, the day before Hurricane Irene is due to hit. While we were running around the track this morning, I heard two runners saying, "Yeah the mayor is a fascist. He cancelled all events, and we could have run the Bronx Half today no problem." And I was like, oh yeah! That was today. That would be a bummer if that was your first Half today, after all that training and anticipating. My hubby ran it last year. But I digress.

I guess I was rather irked that they shut down the city a day early. I had to respond with Battened & Unbattened in Brooklyn. I struck out in Greenpoint at around 2:30pm with camera in one hand and umbrella in the other, expecting to see all the stores closed; but instead, found lots of people out and plenty of stores open. It made me feel better. Plus it never rained. Be sure to read all the picture captions. I got to vent about my true feeling about chain stores too :-).

In observing New York's pre-emptive frenzy, my conclusion: New Yorker's don't really know how to batten.

Battened?


Battened: garment bags & Hefty bags scotch-taped to windows.
So not really battened.


Battened on the top floor: x'ed windows,
but they get to keep their AC window unit.


Battened: Evacuating with provisions out of ZONE B. Whatevs.


Unbattened, but pre-broken.


Unbattened: all the Polish Stores are still open for biz, but the
Duane Reade & the Starbucks pre-emptively close. Chain stores. Bluck.


Starbucks has many typos. (Sbux in Gpoint) One customer does not let one
typo go uncorrected. But lets "insident" slide. Note: correction is made directly
on the window. Sign posted on the inside of the glass.


A cop telling ZONE B to evacuate. We were mostly outraged.


Unbattened: all Polish bakeries still open. That is nice :-)


Unbattened: the B43 still running! 2 1/2 hours after the noon cut-off.
Hmm. Conspiracy!



The Media.


Kindly Unbattened: our video store enforces a nice Irene policy.
Also, note their perfect spelling, unlike yucky chain stores.
Sbux, I am speaking about you.


Unbattened: thankfully no panic-lines in our 'hood.


Battened. Subways but not busses. Again, conspiracy?


Battened: with plastic. Okay.


Battened: yes tape and plastic will surely hold. Surely.

Over-battened.


Battened with a mattress. See the dude's white socks through the window
to the left? He's lying on another mattress. Not pictured: giant plate glass
window just above mattress. So again, not so battened.


Battened: the Chinese casino busses are moved to dryer ground,
just a wee bit outside of where they park. Like a half a block. Phew.


Battened: our water tower protectorate.