Yes, we’ve got basic utilities: water and gas and electricity.
But we are still sadly lacking basic information services. We have no phone, no cable, no internet.
The newspaper won’t deliver to this area yet. Even the Post Office isn’t delivering to our neighborhood.
(At least there’s radio. But my favorite station, WTUL, seems to be broadcasting in lower fidelity. Somehow it seems appropriate.)
And there’s no timeline for getting these services back.
I’ve heard maybe February for telephone, but actually we’re not planning to get our phone service restored. Since the storm we’ve been depending heavily on our cell phones, and I’m not sure we have any use for a land line.
I’ve been typing this post while standing in line at the Mid-City Station Post Office. The lines have gotten much longer than they were a couple weeks ago. That’s a good sign: People are coming back. I just picked up our mail for the last week or two, including some Christmas cards and end-of-year newsletters from family and friends.
I also discovered there’s a form you can fill out to have delivery resumed to your residence. I filled it out, but another patron said she’d filled it out two weeks ago and still wasn’t getting delivery.
Hang on to your hat, ’cause a whole bunch of college students are heading down during the next ten days. I just launched a small caravan (three Loyno boys, plus two Old Miss kids and one U of Arizona boy coming to NOLA to play for the holiday weekend), heading your way. I strongly suspect that the “sliver by the river” is about to get busier, by a whole lot, when these universities crank up again.
I suppose it’s appropriate that I’m commenting on the “information hole” post… just happens to be the one you posted on the day that I found your blog. I can’t even recall at the moment how I found it, but am really glad I did. See… I’m one of those folks who have an unnatural affinity for the city in which you live and am feeling terribly cut off. I feel like I’ve gotten more of an update from the last month of your blog than I’ve read in our local Wisconsin papers in a very long time. Thanks for taking the time to put your adventures and thoughts out here for everyone to read.
Fight for yer land line. It works when the electricty is off. It works when your satalites are down. If anything, it’s another option for disaster.
This is why I’ve fought my SO to keep a standard phone in the house. Not a remote, but a phone that’s connected to the wall. You don’t need AC to call 911.
B, Happy New Year, thanks for the invite, but my wife is really not a late-night person and the daughter was up late last night so we’re just staying home. They’re already in bed, I’ll see the New Year arrive for the three of us when I can tear myself from the computer.
I’m skipping the land line for now, too. It’s not like anyone will actually come when you call 911 anyway whether you can get through or not. And I called to get the TP delivered and they did for a week and now nothing. Oh for the days of the boy on the bicycle…
Again, Happy New Year, we all need it!
Peace,
Tim