Sunday, August 28, 2011

New York to Houston ... the long way - part four


Later the same day as the previous entry ...


At home, I don't normally watch the weather on TV, but, stuck in my Newark hotel, I have plenty of time. A hurricane sure brings out all the special effects.


Graphics with rolling waves to make you queasy.



Something called a 'Futurecast', which strikes me as simply a forecast.



As the storm comes through, predictions of flooding alarmingly close ... happily, I'm five floors up.



While the rain sheets down, I focus on a nearby flag ...



... but sleep through most of it.


Although there's major flooding, damage and many deaths in much of the northeast U.S., a discarded umbrella is one of the few signs of destruction I can find near my hotel.



And that tattered Stars and Stripes continues to disconsolately flap over the railway station.


New York to Houston ... the long way - part three


Hurricane Irene has passed. Two days ago, while the subway was running, I got to Manhattan. The New York area transit system would soon close in case of flooding and I wanted to see the World Trade Center site before the storm.



In a fortnight - on the tenth anniversary - the memorial will open. The morning of September 11, 2001, I flew into Heathrow to begin my last freighter voyage around the world. On the ship's bridge, we listened to crackly BBC reports about the attacks.


Most visitors - I was - seem surprised by the extent of the place.




Down the street, New York harbour was getting choppy and the container cranes - you can see them beyond the Statue of Liberty - were about to stop work.



Back in Newark, businesses were closing.




This man had just taken down his flag rather than have it blow away.



At breakfast on Friday, the cashier said, "Have a SAFE weekend!"

Friday, August 26, 2011

New York to Houston ... the long way - part two


Go to YouTube and remind yourself of the atmospheric title sequence for The Sopranos: Tony drives past Newark Airport. The container docks from which I will leave are just beyond the runways. Newark has reputation for poverty, violent crime and corruption.


Although downtown's well past its heyday, there are wonderful Twenties and Thirties skyscrapers with the 'stepped' architecture I so like.



Riots in the Sixties did it in for the old city centre. Whites largely departed and so did most of their businesses. What stores remain are often down-at-heels. Not a place one would linger after dark.


The Paramount Newark, with a stunning facade, is looking for new tenants.




The United States Savings Bank, which unfortunately opened this branch on the eve of the Great Depression, is also for rent.




The Broad & Market Tavern - "In the hub of Newark, serving you the best" - served its last drink long ago.



I was supposed to board my ship tomorrow, but Hurricane Irene has intervened. The port's shutting down for the next three days. The Toronto Star's website tells me that, "The Canadian government issued a warning Friday to avoid all non-essential travel to the U.S. east coast as Hurricane Irene rolls toward the shoreline this weekend."


Don’t book a freighter trip if you’re a control freak. You're at the mercy of factors – weather, engines, cargoes, capricious gods – completely beyond your influence. No sacrifices to Poseidon or Neptune or whatever deity dictates the destinies of seafarers will guarantee things turn out the way you’d planned. Hand over the money and resign yourself to your fate. The gods laugh.


Looks like I'll be staying longer in Newark than expected.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

New York to Houston ... the long way - part one


There’s a posh gallery on my building’s ground floor. Not long ago, I noticed paintings in one window had been replaced by maps.



The maps - a thousand dollars each - date from just after the Great War. Apart from empires long vanished, most interesting are the ‘Principal Water Routes’. The dark blue lines show when West European countries and the United States dominated world trade. With apologies for the reflection, click on the second picture and compare the considerable transatlantic, with limited transpacific, traffic. Then think about today's imports from China to North America.



Bringing home the groceries, I often stop to examine the maps. I don’t have space for one on a wall, but they did encourage me to go to back to sea.


Little better illustrates globalization than a circumnavigation. Sea lanes are maritime highways for the world’s supply chain and shipping reflects the international economy. The countries I will visit and pass, the waters that will bear me are headline fodder - war, terrorism, refugees, competition for political influence, food and resources. The voyage will not lack possibilities for a tale or two.