Thumbing through my company office diary of 1983, I was struck by the fact that
weather forecasts can be, at times, unpredictable at the height of winter –
especially in the Northeast of the US of A! Witness the photo above captioned
Winter in New York City, 1983
The blizzard of 1983, which hit from Feb. 10-12, dumped so much snow
on New York City that cars were stranded on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
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After meticulous planning of international meetings in late December through early January, whereby Government officials from India’s SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited) and Canada would be forgathering in Toronto mid-February with my company officials, drawn from Pittsburgh and New Jersey, all was going pretty smoothly until Mother Nature put a spanner in the works as recorded in caps in my diary on February the 11th:
“NORTHEAST GRINDS TO A HALT.
FLIGHT 109 (AIR-INDIA) DIVERTED TO MONTREAL.
JFK CLOSED DOWN.”
Suffice it to say that in those days there were no instant means of communication except long-distance telephone calls and Telexes. I called in quick succession J.F. Kennedy International Airport, Air-India, Airport Authority, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and New Delhi.
On February the 12th I wrote pithily:
“DIGGING OUT”
Further calls to Newark International Airport and Air-India revealed there were further delays and flight Air-India 109 was not expected until early Sunday a.m. with no particular ETA offered. I suggested to my colleagues in Pittsburgh and New York that they go directly to Toronto come what may. In essence, February the 13th was, as I penned:
“A LOST DAY”
Eventually, the Indian team got a flight on Air Canada 781 and my team and theirs reached Toronto almost together for the first of several fruitful meetings in the USA and India.
Reference: My Daily Reminder 1983
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