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Monday, October 29, 2012

The Weather A Weekend In New York: Suicide, Hurricane Sandy, and Swedish Candy

Posted by Megan Seling on Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 12:42 PM

I've been in New York since Wednesday evening. My husband and I came to visit friends, do a little cookbook promotion, and eat everything at Momofuku Milk Bar. It was supposed to be a fun, relaxing, awesome vacation.

There have been a few bumps.

Thursday night, we watched a woman swim out to the middle of the East River and let herself drift off to sea. Helicopters and police boats searched for her, her body, for nearly two hours. Divers stood by waiting for the call to go in the disgustingly brown water, but they never found any sign of her. We stood there next to the river, watching the current, telling the police what we saw over and over again, but we didn't see enough to be of any help. We just saw her drift away, silently and without a struggle.

We were supposed to fly out of LaGuardia tomorrow morning but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOPE. We were able to get out of the city before the trains were shut down—we came up to Connecticut to visit some friends and try to escape the worst part of the storm. While here, we figured we had a chance to do whatever it is the opposite of storm chasing is, so we rented a car, booked a flight out of Akron and figured we'd take a little road trip. After less than an hour on the road they shut down all the highways in the state.

Now we're at a Holiday Inn outside of Hartford waiting for winds that are supposed to reach 90+ MPH. It's starting to rain harder, but it still isn't incredibly windy. The Denny's and Starbucks are both closed because of the storm. We have granola bars, Swedish candy from Sockerbit in the West End (go there, it's great!), two large bottles of water, and I'm currently downloading the latest episode of Walking Dead, so NO ONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS.

And please, no one else drift away to sea.

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Go to Sockerbit? When? It's all going to be gone. All gone.

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on October 29, 2012 at 12:47 PM

Don't worry, hurricanes, like bridges, are great events for people to commit suicide.

It's the whole "I want to die in a public way that makes a spectacle of my worthless life" attitude.

Some think the surfers who die during such events have similar death wishes, but prefer a bit more anonymity.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on October 29, 2012 at 12:52 PM

welcome to CT! I hope you enjoy your stay.

Posted by eastcoastreader on October 29, 2012 at 12:53 PM

Rent "Christmas in Connecticut" with Babs Stanwyck. Such a good movie.

Posted by Pope Peabrain on October 29, 2012 at 12:56 PM

Sad as it is, the form of death she chose(swimming out into the river, being swept out to sea in the middle of a hurricane) does have a strange and haunting beauty to it. She deserves some props for artistry.

Posted by Dedalus on October 29, 2012 at 1:00 PM

The new episode explains that the zombie apocalypse all started because of a horrible hurricane on the east coast.

Posted by Calvin&Hobbes on October 29, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Some zombie heads get smashed, punctured and decapitated. And some people get killed. What else ever happens in Walking Dead?

Posted by dbgill56 on October 29, 2012 at 1:03 PM

Oh wait... a Swedish Candy store? I though you americans hated salt candy?

Or atleast most Americans I've tried it on... Salmiak, Salt Licorice even the really sour kind of candy.

Posted by JensR

on October 29, 2012 at 1:06 PM

I love salty licorice. For someone from NYC, that story is pretty much what I'd expect. Nothing you can do, but try to stay charge until the power goes out in . . . 3, 2, 1 . . .

Posted by biffp on October 29, 2012 at 1:10 PM

Omg! I just checked Sockerbits homepage and its plockgodis! You have at every supermarket, every kiosk or store - its like this huge rack of cheap candy... How much does this cost btw? I mean it looks expensive but the candy is just the ordinary kind (not that its not tasty or anything, just that its like someone selling a snickers bar as something exclusive)

So anyone in the US wanna set up an import business - me (and the other swedes here) can hook you up (that and snus) :)

Posted by JensR

on October 29, 2012 at 1:12 PM

oh, not martin rev and alan vega...that's nyc too ya know.

Posted by birdy num num on October 29, 2012 at 1:21 PM

I'm looking at a weather map, and sorry to disappoint, but I don't think you're going to be seeing any 90 mph winds in Hartford. Will you settle for 36 mph with gusts to 55?

Posted by Brooklyn Reader on October 29, 2012 at 1:49 PM

@10, you have some competition. Ikea sells salty fish licorice that get your heart racing after a couple bags. the spicy licorce market is still wide open.

Not that anyone would want it, but I think the imported Australian chocolate licorce market is also open to you.

Posted by biffp on October 29, 2012 at 1:53 PM