[CherylNYC]

Thanks to everyone who asked about us. I don't know why I avoided looking at this thread until now. Hurricane Sandy wasn't particularly kind to me, but she was far more destructive to some of my neighbours. I live in Red Hook, Brooklyn, which is very much in the A flood zone. I evacuated with my vehicles. My electricity was restored a few days ago, but some of the other houses on my block are still dark. My boiler, which is as old as I am, was fully submerged. I have a few electric radiators running in the house, but it will be quite awhile before I have proper heat again.

I feel quite fortunate. Having lost bikes and a car in a Noreaster that flooded my Manhattan neighbourhood in '92, I'm particularly sensitive about the possibility that any vehicle of mine might become submerged in salt water. I had the foresight to move three bikes to higher ground, (FZ1, R6 track bike, and EX500), but the rest of the disreputable bikes in my backyard which were in various stages of disrepair will never run again. They were submerged under 5-6 feet of salt water.

Goodbye to Gertie, the '82 650 Seca which I bought for more than she was worth from Byron and Alan before they succumbed to AIDS at a time when there was no treatment and no hope of long term survival.

Goodbye to the adorable little 250 Yamaha of unknown provenance which my late gf Caren bobbed. I thought it was the most ridiculous project she could have undertaken until I saw it. SO CUTE!

Goodbye to the engines on the FZ1 parts bikes that I thought would keep my current FZ1 running forever.

Goodbye to a large box of parts for the R6. Most are simply unsalvageable.

I'm feeling particularly lucky to not be saying goodbye to all the sculptures that were stored in a structure at the back of my property. A fast moving, 5 foot wall of water washed through that house, knocking the boxes full of my life's work over willy-nilly off the milk crates which I thought might keep them safe from a flood, onto their heads and fronts before they were completely submerged. I was sure they must be utterly destroyed, and I couldn't make myself open the crates until today. It seems to me that I really can save some of them.

New Yorkers are the most wonderful and amazing people on earth. I was surprised by volounteers who knocked on my door to offer their help today. They're just regular folks who mobilised to bring water and supplies to people who needed the help. They also were offering basement clearing help to people in my particularly hard-hit neighbourhood. I felt strange and guilty to be using the resource since I'm always the one who rescues other people. It took me a moment and some hard swallowing before I could say yes to the offer. My house took 8 inches of water and the crawlspace was pretty grisly, so the help was very welcome. And I would have had a lot of trouble making myself open those crates if my new friends hadn't been there to mobilise me. New Yorkers really do shine in a crisis.

I'm not complaining because I feel so lucky compared to some of my neighbours who lost everything. I'm glad everyone here seems to have weathered the storm safely.