The one pharmacist manning Vons Pharmacy on Coast Village Road in Montecito was slammed on Thursday. With spotty electricity, the phones were not reliable to receive calls or faxes from doctors' offices. A constant stream of customers went through the small shop. Two woman in line who did not know each other spoke to each other as though they were lifelong friends. “Patience is a virtue,” one said to the other, laughing, “Seldom in a woman; rarely in a man.” Her husband, she explained, was in the parking lot, growing impatient. She picked up her ringing cell phone in the middle of the transaction: “Yes, we are alive and kicking,” she said into the receiver.
The other woman, upon being told her prescription had not been renewed by her doctor, pulled out her cell phone and got the doctor on the line. He spoke to the pharmacist who was not really sure what to do. “I guess I could talk to him,” he said, “Because my phone is not working.”
The sentiment at the Vons shopping center was concerned. A National Guard vehicle was parked in the lot while chaplains set up tables of snacks and water nearby. An MTD bus waited to pick up residents and take them out of the Montecito area. Most Vons shoppers were Montecito residents who had been stuck at home for days without power. Many expressed gratefulness that their homes survived the storms.
