The "Remember Where You Were On December 31, 1999" Story

It was an ordinary day.  December 31, 1999 and the world is about to come to an end...at least according to a neighbor of mine.  Grocery and department stores reported bottled water, flashlight batteries and canned goods were in short supply.  Some of my neighbors reported buying oil lamps and kerosene heaters.  

A few Y2K (Year 2000) checklists recom- mended taking a few extra hundred bucks out of the bank in case computers and money machines stopped working.  But, the final day of the year was reported to be very calm in banks, hardware stores and pharmacies where the lines were endless earlier in the week.  Managers of many stores in Lancaster reported cautious concern, but not true panic.  The Y2K craze and panic didn't seem to bother most residents of traditionally laid-back Lancaster County.  Actually, there was more important news in the evening paper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  One of the members of my wife's favorite Rock n' Roll band, The Beatles, was stabbed as reported by the Lancaster New Era.  

Front page of the New Era on December 31, 1999.

The headline was bigger for this event than the fact that we were about to enter a new millennium.  I can still remember from my 9th grade class in Latin that the word millennium is derived from the Latin mille, thousand, and annus, year.  And that is about all I remember from that class that I took in the late 1950s.  Y2K caused many fears about the possibility that the switch from '99 to '00 might cause cliches in computer systems that weren't updated to account for the change.  Was the world going to end?  Would the power grid go down?  Would banks somehow delete your life savings?  Would planes drop from the sky?  The city of Seattle canceled its entire New Years Eve celebration because of fears of a terrorist attack linked to the new millennium.  As far as my neighbor is concerned, he felt it was necessary to have a neighborhood meeting to talk about what might happen when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999.  He put in a very large propane gas tank for heating and cooking, took most of his cash and turned it in for gold bullion and purchased a heavy safe in which to store the gold.  Also asked all who attended the meeting if they had a gun and if they would use it if necessary.  He suspected that many of those living in the city of Lancaster might come into the suburbs to try and loot.  I believe a few may have agreed with him, but very few were as alarmed as he was.  We all now know that nothing at all happened when the clock struck 12:01.  I must admit that I did stay up just to see what may have happened.  Was I disappointed?  Nah!  Now, I don't think I want to be around in 2099 when it happens again.  That could be a real disaster!  Banks might lose my account and planes might fall on the roof of my house.  And, my Latin teacher will come back to life once again and haunt me!  Still seems pretty silly...right!  And, it was back in 1999, also!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.