Here's the latest from my friend:
Kia Ora my friend!
it indeed is getting cold and today I have to drain the boiler system and the heating system so our pipes do not freeze. As of yesterday my basement is cleaned out wall to wall, and the floor bleached - chlorine smell filled the house, better than chocolate cake !
With the help of several friends, we successfully cleaned the entire contents of the basement out and it was hauled away by the sanitation people. My family is living with my sister and my parents in Long Island as well as many of our friends that literally have lost their homes ( not just sustained damage as we have ) have to do. Read about what is happening on the Rockaway Peninsula, that is where my kids go to school and a lot of our friends live. The end of the peninsula, going west toward NJ is called Breezy Point - it was destroyed by fires during and afterwards and now septic systems have been compromised and residents told to leave 2 days ago not to return to their homes - can you imagine? A contaminated environment unfit for living, and up to a year to clean up and return to. Another area just south of me going toward the beach is called Broad Channel - it has been declared also unfit to live in because of heating oil tanks being compromised and oil spilling out into the wreckage - so this has far reaching consequences for almost 40 thousand families in my area of the world, many of them friends who have lost their homes and all possessions, just as the winter sets in. None of us have ever seen anything so devastating in our lifetimes or have been affected directly as we are now. For me, a major pain in the ass for others, a life changing sequence of events.
I will stay in touch, going to drain the heating system today and clean up more - I have to contact the plumber and electrician today so I can disconnect my electric panels that were submerged in salt water for 24 hours and get the new ones ready to install. All in all this will set us back about 30 K to restore the house to being liveable again, and since it was a flood, there is no insurance that covers anything. No electricity at the house for another 7 days so there is no rush but the cold weather is setting in so I have to now protect pipes from freezing! Thing after thing - the crazy thing is - on top of this with my office is in the house so I cannot work and earn any money til this is resolved. Now a week vacation is never bad, 2 weeks off is pushing it financially with bills always needing to get paid. Push it to 3 and it is very tight and I am not even enjoying myself on same sandy shore in Hawaii !! Oh well, this what I have to do.
let me go start my day - more tonight if I can
my best to you
