measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boston, 48 hours later The atmosphere here in Boston is still understandably VERY tense. The Westin Hotel where they made the arrests yesterday has a distinct police presence around it. This is just a couple blocks from my apartment. It's creepy. I often go through the Westin from Copley Square during hot or damp weather since I can use the entire Westin-mall-Marriott-Prudential complex and basically have a block run to my place, as opposed to about five or six, making all the difference when you need to thaw out from the winter wind tunnel that is Huntington Avenue. One of the oddest things that I noticed last night as I did some errands were the darkness of the skies. While I was watching, two planes went overhead-- I only saw the faint red blinking lights, and knew that they had to be fighter jets since they were in such close proximity and matching each other in speed. But other than those two, the sky was dark. Completely dark. Like, only those very few bright stars that manage to get through all of the wasted artificial light show up dark. Even in Montana, I'd never seen a sky like that, and most certainly not around Boston, where the darkness seemed unnatural. Human life was once again restricted to the ground, and even that life was scurried and hushed. People were somber. Those who were smiling or laughing seemed out of place. I heard the FAA is reopening U.S. airspace for planes around 11 a.m. today. Other than a couple of flights that had been diverted, it's my understanding that Logan will stay closed today. They've towed every car out of the B-terminal garage to Suffolk Downs, a racetrack several miles up the road. Why? Because with the new parking restrictions, this garage now breaks those restrictions. The ENTIRE garage breaks those restrictions... because B-terminal is shaped like a big U around the parking garage (USAir on one side, American and a couple others on the other). Logan Airport is already under massive construction, both to update the airport, as well as all of the connections with the Big DIg. I wonder what these new restrictions will mean for the current construction plans? While the parking ban doesn't really affect me right now-- I have always taken the subway or a taxi to the airport since I don't have a car here in Boston-- I wonder how it will affect travel to and from Logan Airport. I mean, it's an extremely busy airport. Not like JFK, Laguardia, or LAX, but still extremely busy with several dozen airlines flying out of it. No curbside luggage? Again, never concerned me because I had issues with it anyway, and I found that the lines were often shorter inside because of the people waiting by the curb. Guess that will change. Then again, the lines at USAir are always hellish. So my normal 2 hours ahead of time will start turning into four, eh? Well... hey, I'd rather be safe. And in Logan Airport, it's going to be kinda hard to feel safe for a while, so I'd rather see extra security rather than none at all (or the lackluster that they have had... which I agree they've had). Depending on what my neighborhood is looking like tonight when I get home, it's going to be hard to feel safe at home, too. No offense, but I find it a bit difficult to sleep knowing that there's a guy in full protective plate standing a block from my house fully armed. Dunno why... --Mel. 9:35 a.m. - 13 September 2001 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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