Rats with Wings

Today was one more in our string of blistering cold days here in the northeast. As usual, I made-the-most of the day and tried to have fun with the customers.

I got back to the office shortly before five and turned my completed paperwork into the dispatch office. One of the other 'outside' guys was also in the office. I heard him talking about Canadian Geese. He was complaining that they were 'rats with wings' and all should be shot. He saw me enter the office, knew I had overheard, and asked me if I didn't also agree with that comment. I made a po0litical comment, everyone laughed and I proceeded directly to the bathroom.

I came out of the bathroom and into the breakroom. I noticed the guys were intently watching TV. As I got closer to theTV I could see they were watching reports of a plane crash in NYC. I asked the guys were in the city the plane had gone down. They said, 'into the Hudson, off W. 48th Street, close to the Intrepid.'

I was like, 'OMG!' Friends Steve and Nancy live half-a-block from the Intrepid museum in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. I immediately called Nancy to see if she saw anything and to find out what was going on. She picked up, told me she was on the other line with her daughter in DC, I was the fourth person that had called and she would call me back.

She called me back as I drove home. She told me it was funny as she had been home at the time and knew nothing about it until Steve called her from work and told her and she turned on the news. US Air flight 1549 had taken off from Laguardia and moments later encountered engine trouble. The pilot expertly landed the plane in the only 'safe' open place he could have in the metro area; on the Hudson River. All passengers and crew survived having been rescued by ferry boats that regularly traverse that section of the river. Many of the ferry companies' terminals are located on that stretch of the river. I am sorry to say, Nancy told me by the time she was aware of the incident the fuselage had floated down to 21st Street. She told me she wasn't going to try to walk down there to see it with as cold as it is outside. She said she never heard it, didn't see it and bemoaned the fact that she seems to miss a lot of the 'excitement' of life in the city.

Thankfully, it seems right now that everyone is alive; despite some injuries.
Pretty amazing. Damn those 'rats with wings!'

It was great talking to Nancy; I will see her in a few weeks.

I hope everyone is safe tonight, if in the north that you are all warm, too.
It's DAMN cold outside here! BRRRRRR!