Matt Shove Photo
A dream came true after Superstorm Sandy for a 10-year-old — and she used the opportunity to show her gratitude to a lineman restoring power to her neighborhood.
The 10-year-old, Riley Wilcox, has always dreamed of being able to draw on high-speed Forest Road, a winding state thoroughfare where her family lives, and where cars zip by at all hours to everyone’s peril.
The storm knocked out power to the street and the surrounding area for a solid five days. And it closed Forest to traffic.
That meant she could draw on the street itself.
Riley got out her chalk and, as United Illuminating Matt Shove climbed high above the ground to get the juice turned back on, she offered her an impossible-to-miss message of gratitude. Shove saw it and shot the above photo.
Bridgeport, where neighbors pelted UI crews with eggs, seemed far, far away.
Great little story.
UI restored our power today. 3 trucks, about 8 guys, to restore power to about 10 houses, cut off because a tree fell. Do the math and that explains why it takes so long; it's just labor-intensive, and the smaller the outage, the lower the ratio of results to the effort put in.
The guys were cheerful, hard-working, and friendly. They were probably exhausted, but they got to work and as they repeatedly said to us, "We're not going anywhere till you get your power back."
Thanks, UI.