Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 8/28

By the time Irene arrived in Brooklyn she was no longer a hurricane but a tropical storm. I took a brief walk at around ten and another at noon. By then stores were starting to open. I was able to get the Sunday paper at the convenience store at the end of Sheepshead Bay Road, which faces the water. There were people out and about, but not as many as usual. I saw little damage. There was a lot of debris, mostly leaves and twigs. What surprised me most was the lack of puddles, especially at certain street corners where the sewers always back up. Perhaps they had been cleared ahead of the storm. After Katrina and last winter's blizzard, government seemed determined to get the response right this time. I did not see any downed trees, which was surprising not because of the high winds but because the ground was at the saturation point even before it started raining. In terms of damage, a thunderstorm two years ago did far more, tearing huge trees from their roots all along the Ocean Parkway promenade. I saw none there today. In fact, I did not see anything more than two large broken branches until I turned the car onto my old block, where one of the younger, thinner trees had snapped in half. Fortunately, there wasn't a car under it. The basement to the old house had taken in hardly any water. Of course, my laundry was still damp. It almost always is during warm months. Only in winter, when the heat is blasting, do the clothes dry. There were no obstructions on the roads. One traffic light was out. Our building got off easy. The custodial staff must be thrilled. There wasn't any debris on the sidewalks of the complex. The garage escaped flooding. Further up the street, in the middle of the block, a private house and large apartment building that stand side by side were each pumping water from the basement. It's still pretty breezy. I have only one concern left. I could not resist taking a parking spot advantageous to the floating bookshop. I won't have to lug the crates very far tomorrow, provided the old trees surrounding the car don't keel over between now and then.
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