Hey Brian,

Happy New Year to you and Nell...

Yes, indeed, I was certainly one of the lucky ones. I'm doing fine, but must confess I've done little beyond a general clean-up since the storm. My biggest success this past year was getting my car running again, about 6 months later - It's the only car from the neighborhood still on the road... And, my driver side stereo speaker in the door that never worked for as long as I've owned it, is now working after going underwater... Go figure... (grin)

But, in general, the recovery in this area has been painfully slow... I'm mostly hearing horror stories from everyone having to do major repairs or rebuilding, things like the permitting and inspection process are completely out of control, and randomly enforced. My accountant went a couple of months before he could get his electricity restored, and they originally insisted that he completely re-wire the SECOND FLOOR of his home, which had gotten about a foot of water inside the ground floor... that was probably one of the biggest bullets I dodged, that I was one of the lucky ones who never got cut off from the neighborhood power grid...

Myself, and most of my neighbors, have definitely suffered a bit of a delayed reaction to this event, and have gone into a bit of a depression that seems to have settled upon the area... Mine has always been a pretty quiet neighborhood, especially after the summer ends, but since the storm the word 'dead' would be a better description... At least there were some Christmas lights around this year, and a few more people have now returned and moved back in... But, lots of people are simply walking away, and will never return... And, homes are still being demolished even now... This neighborhood has certainly been changed forever, and not for the better, I'm afraid...

One thing we have never seen much evidence of in my town, is much of anything being done apparently with the massive amount of Federal relief money that was granted to NJ... Oddly, there's been a recent spate of road re-paving projects completely unrelated to storm damage, but that's been about it... The only sort of public works project I've seen around here is the building of a bicycle path alongside one of the roads I routinely ride through the nearby wetlands... One of the stupidest expenditures of public funds I've ever seen, I hardly ever see any other cyclists whenever I take my ride, and even I will continue to ride on the road, rather than that stupid path...

Of course, in the wake of the pickle our Governor has gotten himself into lately, there's lots of speculation around here that Brick Township might be getting a bit of short shrift when it comes to access to some of that Federal money... Our mayor just happens to be a Democrat, and one of those who did not endorse Christie in his recent reelection campaign... (grin)

Here are some links to stories about the state of the state, one year after...

http://www.app.com/section/special1802

And, a pretty good series on my neighborhood in particular, with links to some photo galleries that give a sense of the area. Paul Jones Drive is the street right at the end of my lagoon... The house in line with my mast is another one now gone, just in the time since this pic was taken during the recent deep freeze...

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2013/10/sandy_paul_jones_drive_brick.html

Best regards,

Jon