Yesterday was my first day back at the office.

For those of you who don't know, I work about a block away from the World Trade Center here in New York City. The last time I was here was about 9:15 am on September 11th. I've been working at home for about forty-one days. Since that time, I haven't been back to the downtown area. Heck, I haven't been south of 110th Street and had to be convinced to go that far down on the island.

Commuting is a pain. Every access to and through Manhattan requires at least two people in a vehicle, except on the George Washington Bridge. On the GWB (no, not the current US President), they have two levels. Trucks are not permitted on the lower level, so they crowd the upper level and the express lanes. The lower level is feed by the local lanes which, on I-80, just before the merge with I-95, are currently under construction. Even if you take the GWB to get to Manhattan, you're up at 175th Street. If you need to go all the way downtown, you've got to take the subway.

The subways are a bit odd these days. First of all, the current subway map has colored lines drawn all over Manhattan with a noticeable gap in the Financial District. Secondly, all the A/C/E (blue line) subway stops still have their signage up. On all the stops, the local side of the platform still reads "E to World Trade Center all times". The A/C stop at Chambers Street still reads "Chambers Street - WTC".

I was told to find an escort station where a NYPD officer or a National Guardsman would allow me to cross Broadway and access my building. I couldn't find any escort stations around the area. Broadway is cordoned off on both sides of the street; barriers prevent people from crossing. However, one can always walk down to the Wall Street area and cross there, where there are no barricades. I had a slightly embarrassing encounter this morning when I asked a police officer how I can get across the street. He told me, "Just go that way." I turned to see that I just had to go twenty feet to my left and cross over.

There is dust in the air. I've seen one person wearing a suit and gas mask. I've seen many others wearing dust protectors or whatever they're called (you know, the things that look like bra cups). There is a haze over the western part of the area, mainly dust and smoke from still-burning fires. Yes, still-burning fires. I saw the flames from one fire in one pile of wreckage. The rescue workers remove some debris, air gets to some smoldering material, and a fire starts a month and a half after all this happened.

From my vantage point, I look for the car barriers they had all around the WTC. They're all gone obviously. I also look for the sphere from the fountain that was in the middle of the plaza. I wondered what happened to it. I half-excepted it to come rolling off the fountain ala Fight Club and take out a Starbucks, except there was no Starbucks nearby for it to roll into. It is now sitting where the Sam Goody store used to be. The sphere is hollow, I see. There is an open area where I can see some supports for the ball. I'm not certain if that is the bottom of the sphere that was cut away or if that's damage from the falling buildings. There is a huge dent at the top of the ball. I tell this to some co-workers and one of them heard that it rolled around like a pinball which led to a few jokes about bumpers and flippers down by South Ferry.

There aren't that many people down by the WTC site. I expected it to look like a freshly-knocked over anthill with workers swarming all over the mound. Lots of people standing around in groups, lots of trucks, a fire department tanker raining water down on the fire. When I look at the site before I leave, I notice a large orange flag in one of the rubble piles. I know what this means and it's disturbing.

There are ghouls in the world. Broadway is lined with them -- people who specifically came down to gawk and take pictures of the site. I can understand people who live here, people who work here coming down to see the site, but people here on vacation? THIS IS NOT A TOURIST ATTRACTION. Some New Yorkers are even worse. Despite a ban on taking pictures or videotaping the WTC site, stores in the area advertise they sell disposable cameras and film. The comic book store I used to go to has a few signs like this in their window. I'm never going there again.

One store is protected from rain by scaffolding; the dust from the collapse of the WTC still clings to the facade. On the windows, various people have written messages in the dust.

More ghouls approach. Do I want a photo of the WTC pre-impact? How about a poster? How about a ribbon pin? These are the same people who sell sunglasses and watches, all with their briefcases ready to close in case a police officer comes walking by. Some of these photos are old, before the World Financial Center was built. Someone is selling FDNY caps. He has a small tarp ready to cover them. Profiteerers. I don't remember which circle of Hell Dante said they'd be spending eternity in.

Along the same lines is the following link. October 18th and October 20th entries. Beware gentle reader, for there is one or two instances of foul language on the site.

-FP