Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Maria log day 8 September 29, 2017, Friday, Livin' la vids loca

Friday, September 29 Day 8


This morning I'm braving the line for gasoline. I'm sitting here with hundreds of other people waiting for five gallons of gas. The gas truck isn't here yet so there is no gas to get. Everyone is making the best of it, livin' la vida loca in the gasoline line.




The Corona beer truck pulled in and got almost as much applause as the gas tuck will get if and when it finally gets here.





Because the line was long and not moving, I decided to walk to the grocery store since it is sort of open. The way it works is you put your can in your place in line and leave it there. Everybody respects the placeholder. If the line shuffles, for example, if someone leaves, people move your can(s) so you keep the same place in line. 



 

The grocery only has limited stock. No water and no Clorox. They are only letting a few people in at a time so there is a line there too.


And it is cash only. Credit, debit and food stamp cards don't work because the whole network is down.

Our collective First World dependence on electronics is catching up with some people. It may catch up with us soon. In the First World it's pretty common for companies to direct deposit pay checks. I have two checks that are direct deposited. What happens to those deposits when the entire system is down? Even if the deposits go through, there is no access to that money. Banks are closed. If they were open, they don't have access to "the system." People are running out of cash.

So did my direct deposits deposit or were they rejected by the non-working system. Will they be there in a month or so when we we get power back? It is a 25 mile round trip to get to our bank to find out.. If it's open. I just don't have gas for that trip.

Surviving the hurricane was easy compared to surviving the aftermath.

I sat at the gas station for 11 hours waiting for a truck that didn't show. I was so hungry I finally left.

Back tomorrow.

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