DISCLAIMER: This is a record of my
personal experiences of Hurricane Isaac; I haven't had access to radio
or TV news for a couple of days so cannot say whether it hit other
areas of the city or other states much worse, but in our northern
part of the French Quarter this is how it was on the ground, as it
happened. Generally, the mood here now is relieved and cheerful that
it wasn't a lot worse, and the clean-up's already well underway. Go
NOLA :)
CLICK HERE for video of the storm on Wednesday
We were woken by lowish, stormy light streaming into the room but ignored it until around 9 – there wasn't much to get up for, as it was still raining heavily and blowing hard outside. Around 11am one of the hotel clerks came round on a charging run – there was another property nearby that still had power so they were collecting up the guests' mobile phones and laptops to charge them, which was very thoughtful.
Tuesday was something of a washout: the
storm was still playing hard to get (even though it had been
predicted to hit around 4pm) and despite the fact that nothing much
was going on, weather-wise, everything was still shut. It was dirty
weather all day – heavy rain on and off and blustery winds; not the
sort you'd want to be out in, admittedly – but the temperature
outside was balmy, and the wind and rain were no worse than an
English November (and a good deal warmer). Nonetheless, Bex and I
were stuck at the hotel and pretty damn fed up. Little did we know how fed up and stuck we were yet to become …
The honourable exceptions to the
“Hurrication” rule were (luckily) the general store down the road
and the lifesaving bar (Buffa's, pronounced Boofer's) opposite. Buffa's had pledged to stay open 24/7
throughout (power permitting) and as the hotel was not really stocked
or equipped to provide dinner, we wandered across around 7pm to get
some takeout (see below) of a cheap and cheerful down-home variety.
We then scoffed this in front of reruns of The Big Bang Theory. We were just congratulating ourselves on the situation
being pretty tolerable, really, when the power went out.
Then it came on again.
Then it went out.
It went on one final, teasing time
before conking out for good, and we suddenly realised just how dark
it was outside. We got tiny candles from Reception and the awesome
desk clerk Brian brought us some wine and cheese as well:
this would have to last us for much of the next day, along with our bought-in
hurricane supplies (see right).
It was about 9pm by this time; we went
through some photos on my laptop (which still had battery, luckily)
and I did a bit of reading on my Kindle, but it's amazing how hard it
is to entertain yourself in a blackout with a member of the same sex
who's also a blood relative, and eventually, around 10.30, we just
gave up and went to sleep.
Wednesday, 29th
August 2012
We were woken by lowish, stormy light streaming into the room but ignored it until around 9 – there wasn't much to get up for, as it was still raining heavily and blowing hard outside. Around 11am one of the hotel clerks came round on a charging run – there was another property nearby that still had power so they were collecting up the guests' mobile phones and laptops to charge them, which was very thoughtful.
 |
| Bourbon Street is NEVER this deserted |
After lunch we
went for a walk down Esplanade and back into the quarter, wandering
down Royal and Bourbon in search of somewhere that did food and wifi.
Patrolling the almost-empty streets we saw tons of police cars and
even a couple of Humvees (I think that's what they were, anyway - big military-looking jeep type things) in both green and yellow flavours.
The
only place we found open – apart from a couple of dodgy bars on
Bourbon (we weren't ready to start drinking quite yet) was the “World
Famous” Clover Grill,
a New Orleans institution which is what we'd call in the UK a greasy
spoon, serving up fried things and coffee 24/7 to the good folk of
the city. But the queue was out of the door (literally – we were
asked to wait on the street, in the rain) so we came back, noting the
various damage – not major, but noticeable – yesterday's storm
had wrought on the trees and streets.
 |
| Bent but not broken. |
One
of the unexpected problems of being housebound by weather –
especially with the power off – is the boredom. Bex and I both had
books with us, but
there's only so long we could read, and eventually we asked Reception
for a pack of cards to help pass the time. We tried to remember how
to play Shithead for
an hour or so while nibbling on the remaining cheese and crackers,
and even invented a new cocktail, the Storm in a Teacup, with the
materials available to us – but by about 7pm we had cabin fever.
STORM IN A TEACUP:
- Take one shot
Sweet Tea flavoured vodka
- Add two
Coffee-Mate Original Flavour coffee creamer pots and one French
Vanilla
- Mix with straw
- Serve in espresso
glass.
Enjoy!
The weather
outside was frightful, as the song has it, but the idea of a warm,
lit, (wi-fi'd) bar was so delightful that we put on our most
rainproof clothes – flipflops, shorts, and two anoraks one on top
of the other for me – and hit the streets.
Down
on Frenchmen and
Decatur the roads were dark and deserted: we asked a passerby (there
was only one!) where was open and had power. Checkpoint Charlie had no power but were
still serving by candlelight (nice one) but we eventually dropped
into a rock/metal bar called Ann Tiki's.
There was nothing of the Tiki bar about it, but it was warm and noisy
and dryish (unlike my phone, which had taken on water in the front
pocket of what I can no longer call a “rainproof”, and was
wigging out, flashing randomly in an alarming fashion) – so we
ordered a couple of Amaretto sours and hung out.
 |
| Nope, definitely not a Tiki bar ... |
Finally we made
our way back via Buffa's, on whose wifi I had given up – you could
get signal in our hotel room because it was just across the street,
but couldn't connect – and miracle of miracles, it worked. They'd
almost run out of food but were still doing a breakfast menu (this at
10pm) so we ordered takeout (egg and cheese muffin for me, eggs and
bacon for Bex) and a couple of drinks, and I posted updates
reassuring our various friends back home that we were OK.
Back
at the hotel we had a romantic meal by candlelight, and using the
last precious hour or so of battery power on my laptop, I read Bex a
couple of new Liars' League
submissions to entertain her in the dark of our hotel room. Then we
went to bed.
Thursday 30th August
Thursday 30th August
 |
| Does L'Oreal do a product for hurricane hair? |
This morning we
awoke missing something. It was the sound of rain and wind battering
the crap out of New Orleans. Hurrah! The storm had passed … pretty
much. It was still raining on and off, but not remotely as hard as
last night, and when we went out on the porch at around 8.30 we saw a
wondrous thing: a big yellow digger scooping up all the leaf debris
and fallen branches and dumping them into a black and white garbage
truck. The Big Clean-Up had begun!
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