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-   -   O.T. to Rusty (very long) (http://www.craftbanter.com/showthread.php?t=63939)

Olwyn Mary January 26th 06 11:41 PM

O.T. to Rusty (very long)
 
Just over a week ago Rusty was kind enough to ask after me. Right after
that my server went into a huff and refused to give me any messages for
several days, and it has taken me until now to catch up.

Anyhow, I am slowly recovering from the pneumonia, but it is taking a
long time. The docs told me it would be eight to twelve months, but you
have to add to that the fact that life is still stressful here in the
(not so) Big (not so) Easy.

I am one of the ones fortunate enough to live on that narrow strip of
land near the Mississippi - the "sliver by the river" - which did not
flood, but it is jam-packed full with returned residents plus recovery
workers - insurance adjusters, construction workers, cleanup
contractors, you name it. There are still only one-third of the
pre-storm restaurants open, and then only for limited hours and with
limited menus; likewise very few grocery and drug stores. All of these
are full all of the time, with lines for everything. Restaurant owners
complain that they are working non-stop but not making any money because
the shortage of labor has sent costs way up. Even fast food places
which paid minimum wage are now paying $8 or $9 per hour. Grocery
stores are generally open 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.

You may have seen President Bush on tv last week telling everyone that
New Orleans has recovered and is a good place to bring a family. Snort!
How would he know???? His handlers brought his motorcade from the
airport to St. Charles Avenue in TEN Minutes!!!!! Of course, all the
roads are cleared when he goes anywhere, and I am told sharpshooters are
stationed on every overpass he goes under but still. Even at dawn that
trip takes me half an hour!! Yes, St. Charles has been cleaned up. It
is the city's showpiece boulevard!! Almost all the downed trees have
been removed, as have most of the head-high piles of debris. The side
streets are a different story. It would be an educational trip for
older teens, but the Zoo is only open weekends, the Children's Museum
and the Aquarium are closed indefinitely, as are Charity and University
hospitals.

Then our illustrious mayor and his "Chocolate City" comment. Of course,
he was talking to a Martin Luther King Day audience of about 75 African
Americans, but he knew the cameras were there and should have had more
sense. On the other hand, he has often been criticised in the past for
being "too white". He also mentioned that he didn't care what "Uptown"
thought. Sigh. There are a LOT of black residents Uptown.

The day the Prez was here, DH had an eye doctor appointment in the
'burbs. At first I thought we would have to cancel, as our street was
blocked off by a cop car. All the side streets leading to where he was
were blocked, and I was sorry for an elderly lady who had to park in
front of my house and then walk three blocks to her apartment which has
covered, secure parking underneath it!!

However, I managed to back out of the street, and take side streets and
surface roads instead of the freeway. My way led me through the parts
of Uptown which were also flooded. Shocking. There were all these
$250K, $500K, $750K homes, in a lovely neighborhood, all ruined. You
can see the highwater marks on the outsides. Some "only" had four feet
of water inside, others had ten feet. Some of the two-story ones which
took less than eight feet of water had the ground floor gutted but where
the power had been restored there were a few in which the families were
living on the second floor, cooking on charcoal or bottled gas barbecues
in the back yard or a microwave in the bedroom and washing cooking pots
in the bathroom sink. All of the ground floors and the one-story homes
have been completely gutted. There are still head-high piles of debris
all over the neighborhood, and in one place I had to take yet another
detour because one of them was being loaded onto a big truck. On that
detour into a less well-off neighborhood we came across a house which
had been blown or washed off its foundation piers and was drunkenly
leaning partly on a parked car in its front yard and partly on the house
next door.

After the apointment, it was time to eat. Many of the eateries in the
'burbs which did not flood were destroyed by wind damage. However, I
did find a Shoney's which was open (until 3 p.m.) and with a notice on
the door which gave their new, limited hours and said that they could
only serve from the buffet, no regular menu. We were thankful just to
find food, but when we saw the President of the United States on tv
later that night, telling the world that New Orleans had recovered, you
could have seen the steam coming out of my ears.

It is going to take decades, not years, for the entire Gulf Coast from
Florida to Texas to recover from Katrina and Rita. We cannot do it
alone. If the rest of this great nation wants to keep on having seafood
from our wetlands, petroleum products from our offshore wells and
onshore refineries and the use of our ports to get their goods to market
we need major help.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Rusty January 27th 06 12:24 AM

O.T. to Rusty (very long)
 
Hi Mary,

Thank you so much for a look at what life is really like down in New
Orleans. It must be so hard to go through this day after day after
day.

I can't even imagine what it is like to have just about every part of
your life changed so drastically. (If our power goes out for even five
minutes, I'm on the phone calling the power company. I can't possibly
be without electricity for even a little while.)

So I congratulate you, although 'congratulate' may be the wrong word,
perhaps 'admire' would be a better one, for having the inner strength
to keep going under such awful conditions.

Thank you again for your amazing description of life in the new New
Orleans, and please know that you are in my prayers.

Rusty in CT, USA


Shillelagh January 27th 06 05:29 AM

O.T. to Rusty (very long)
 
Dear Olwyn Mary

Thank you for your very realistic report on life in present day New Orleans.
I wish there was some way to show it to your mayor and Dubya (who is an
idiot).

I wish you nothing but the best, and hope you will continue to update your
friends on RCTY as to what is really going on down there.

Shelagh

"Olwyn Mary" wrote in message
m...
Just over a week ago Rusty was kind enough to ask after me. Right after
that my server went into a huff and refused to give me any messages for
several days, and it has taken me until now to catch up.

Anyhow, I am slowly recovering from the pneumonia, but it is taking a
long time. The docs told me it would be eight to twelve months, but you
have to add to that the fact that life is still stressful here in the
(not so) Big (not so) Easy.

I am one of the ones fortunate enough to live on that narrow strip of
land near the Mississippi - the "sliver by the river" - which did not
flood, but it is jam-packed full with returned residents plus recovery
workers - insurance adjusters, construction workers, cleanup
contractors, you name it. There are still only one-third of the
pre-storm restaurants open, and then only for limited hours and with
limited menus; likewise very few grocery and drug stores. All of these
are full all of the time, with lines for everything. Restaurant owners
complain that they are working non-stop but not making any money because
the shortage of labor has sent costs way up. Even fast food places
which paid minimum wage are now paying $8 or $9 per hour. Grocery
stores are generally open 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.

You may have seen President Bush on tv last week telling everyone that
New Orleans has recovered and is a good place to bring a family. Snort!
How would he know???? His handlers brought his motorcade from the
airport to St. Charles Avenue in TEN Minutes!!!!! Of course, all the
roads are cleared when he goes anywhere, and I am told sharpshooters are
stationed on every overpass he goes under but still. Even at dawn that
trip takes me half an hour!! Yes, St. Charles has been cleaned up. It
is the city's showpiece boulevard!! Almost all the downed trees have
been removed, as have most of the head-high piles of debris. The side
streets are a different story. It would be an educational trip for
older teens, but the Zoo is only open weekends, the Children's Museum
and the Aquarium are closed indefinitely, as are Charity and University
hospitals.

Then our illustrious mayor and his "Chocolate City" comment. Of course,
he was talking to a Martin Luther King Day audience of about 75 African
Americans, but he knew the cameras were there and should have had more
sense. On the other hand, he has often been criticised in the past for
being "too white". He also mentioned that he didn't care what "Uptown"
thought. Sigh. There are a LOT of black residents Uptown.

The day the Prez was here, DH had an eye doctor appointment in the
'burbs. At first I thought we would have to cancel, as our street was
blocked off by a cop car. All the side streets leading to where he was
were blocked, and I was sorry for an elderly lady who had to park in
front of my house and then walk three blocks to her apartment which has
covered, secure parking underneath it!!

However, I managed to back out of the street, and take side streets and
surface roads instead of the freeway. My way led me through the parts
of Uptown which were also flooded. Shocking. There were all these
$250K, $500K, $750K homes, in a lovely neighborhood, all ruined. You
can see the highwater marks on the outsides. Some "only" had four feet
of water inside, others had ten feet. Some of the two-story ones which
took less than eight feet of water had the ground floor gutted but where
the power had been restored there were a few in which the families were
living on the second floor, cooking on charcoal or bottled gas barbecues
in the back yard or a microwave in the bedroom and washing cooking pots
in the bathroom sink. All of the ground floors and the one-story homes
have been completely gutted. There are still head-high piles of debris
all over the neighborhood, and in one place I had to take yet another
detour because one of them was being loaded onto a big truck. On that
detour into a less well-off neighborhood we came across a house which
had been blown or washed off its foundation piers and was drunkenly
leaning partly on a parked car in its front yard and partly on the house
next door.

After the apointment, it was time to eat. Many of the eateries in the
'burbs which did not flood were destroyed by wind damage. However, I
did find a Shoney's which was open (until 3 p.m.) and with a notice on
the door which gave their new, limited hours and said that they could
only serve from the buffet, no regular menu. We were thankful just to
find food, but when we saw the President of the United States on tv
later that night, telling the world that New Orleans had recovered, you
could have seen the steam coming out of my ears.

It is going to take decades, not years, for the entire Gulf Coast from
Florida to Texas to recover from Katrina and Rita. We cannot do it
alone. If the rest of this great nation wants to keep on having seafood
from our wetlands, petroleum products from our offshore wells and
onshore refineries and the use of our ports to get their goods to market
we need major help.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.




Katherine January 27th 06 04:27 PM

O.T. to Rusty (very long)
 
Olwyn Mary wrote:
Just over a week ago Rusty was kind enough to ask after me. Right
after that my server went into a huff and refused to give me any
messages for several days, and it has taken me until now to catch up.

snip

Wow, Mary, that is incredible! What is even more incredible is the fact that
people lie to us - including the media!
I'll continue to pray that things return to as close to normal as possible.

Higs,
Katherine



norabalcer January 27th 06 05:33 PM

O.T. to Rusty (very long)
 
Hi Olwyn Mary,

Thank you for giving us the correct version of what is going on down
there. Now I heard they are giving the homeowners only a certain number
of days to go back and salvage what they can before the houses are
bulldozed. What a shame that more stories like yours can't get out to
everyone. Keep us posted.

Hugs,

Nora



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