"Sandy" on the "Shore"

"Sandy" was no "Nargis"

From historic sport (my last blog) to historic storm, last night I found myself in the path of a Category 1 hurricane. For many people all over the world this is not such a rare occurence unfortunately, but for me, I would like to think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Embarrassingly enough, we actually could follow one of the spoofed "Romney Storm Tips" and so took shelter in the "second home" away from the trees and seas of Connecticut. New York City had been getting storm-proofed for days and Mayor Bloomberg, reassuringly as always, was putting in place stringent and cautious warnings, evacuations and closures.

On the morning of October 29th,  the city was already starting to look like a ghost town. Shops and businesses, except for some Chinese restaurants, were barricading themselves up. The grocery stores, where the shelves were now emptied of water, batteries, torchlights, milk and bread, were still groaning with queues of desperate shoppers. No bottled water? No problem, thought I, in Marie-Antoinette fashion, "Let them drink wine!" And so it was that my final shop included 6 bottles of lager and 4 bottles of Chardonnay and Cotes du Rhone. (Groan, another spoofed "Romney Storm tip"!)

The loud gusts arrived at around 8pm while we were in the middle of movie viewing. Looking out on the river and the 59th Street bridge from the relative safety of a 20-storey apartment building in Midtown Manhattan, the scene looked ominous. Horizontal rainfall, howling winds and shaky storeys made us compelling viewers of all TV news stories emanating from the numerous journalists who were sent to report from the frontline of the eye. Floods, power outages, tree and building damage were the results of this record-breaking storm, affectionately known as Frankenstorm due to its proximity to Halloween and to its unknown extent.

The most heart-warming part of being in this historic, news-breaking situation were the surprising number of messages of concern, solidarity and sympathy from family and friends from all parts of the world. These arrived in phone calls, skype calls, emails, Facebook messages, texts and Tweets. Even Mum and Dad were sleepless in Somerset as they viewed the progress of the storm via the BBC and urged us for news that all was okay. Thank you, we are all safe and well. Of course we cannot say that for all those in New Jersey and surrounding areas who bore the brunt of the damage and for whom this is a living nightmare.

The most chilling part is that having just seen the brilliant and disturbing documentary on Burma, "They Call it Myanmar", the scenes of havoc and destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis in 2008 were fresh in my mind. Nothing can compare to the life-altering experiences of a storm in an under-resourced, mis-managed country such as my birthplace. The two storms could not be more different both in impact and media-coverage, as the gulf between rich and poor ever widens. This tropical storm, Nargis, was the worst natural disaster to hit Burma and caused at least 138,000 fatalities. Without the accountability of a rich democracy in place, true statistics and reporting will never be known.

We, New Yorkers, Americans, American Immigrants and all who were here yesterday, we should continue to count and share our blessings.....it could have been a lot worse.

Olympic Success

Olympic Success!

Just returned from one of the most exciting weeks spent in my hometown, London, proud host city to the Summer Olympics. Having always been a big sports fan and patriotic to the Union Jack flag, the combination of colourful, euphoric flag waving and world class sports was like a dream to me.

Fistly, our arrival at Heathrow on Day 4 of the Games was such a pleasant and fast experience which was totally unexpected. At first, I was worried that the Games had been cancelled or that maybe it was like throwing a great big party where no-one showed up! London seemed ominously quiet, where the polite, pink and purple-clad volunteers seemed to outnumber us visitors. When I asked "where is everyone?" I got the reply "we put on extra staff and extra transport everywhere. After these next two weeks everything will go back to its normal chaos!" Yeah, this is the best time to visit London, folks!

First we had tickets for Centre Court, Wimbledon where we got to see Andy Murray and Serena Williams in their third round games. Both later went on to win Gold Medals for their countries. I was glad to see that The Pimms No 1 Cup and strawberries and cream tradition were upheld at this hallowed venue alongside the McDonalds stands. Bumped into Roger Federer on his way to Court 18 which was like another dream....

Then onto the Olympic Park to see Basketball and climb the latest London attraction, The Orbit. Now here we encountered some crowds - all packed in civilised fashion into one superb area of stadiums, food stands, arenas, shops, bridges and walkways.  But we had the Orbit virtually to ourselves and enjoyed the views from the mirrors and the observatory and got to walk down the spiral 431 metal stairs all on our own.

It was great to be amongst the home supporters at Greenwich Park (pictured above) to see Gold brought home by TEAM GB! We thought the stands would collapse under the weight of the cheers and cries of glory. Singing along to "God Save the Queen" at the Victory Ceremony, another huge highlight!

I was delighted to share this amazing Olympic experience with my loving, patient husband, who had to put up with my giggles and screeches of excitement and nostalgia every few minutes, and my two gorgeous daughters and their boyfriends who were equally enthralled with the euphoria of Team GB and the Olympic hype of their city. LONDON, WELL DONE! Very proud of the British nation at this moment and feeling very privileged to have been brought up here.