Sunday, October 01, 2006

50-Hour Blackout

When I woke up yesterday, we barely had any drinking water left. Eletricity returned to our house yesterday at around 3 pm, making the duration of the blackout at around 51 hours. However, I wasn't home the rest of the day to appreciate the return of electricity. The Rasberry Rapture ice cream I bought from Fruits in Ice Cream is one of the casualties from the power failiure. Of course not all is well in Metro Manila. Some places still don't have eletricity, and the surrounding area is still pretty much damaged. Clean-up of trees and other fallen debris isn't complete, and there are still some hazards, although the stormy weather has ended.

It's also interesting how Filipinos reacted to the power outage. Lots of people were in the malls, due to the fact that there's little to be done at home and that it was a payday weekend. And what an ironic payday weekend it was: malls were on sale, but the ATMs that dispensed people's salaries weren't all online. And of course, the banks were closed. Other interesting venues to note were the hotels, and if you had a smaller budget or simply desperate, the motels. Such establishments were fully booked, and families and individuals flocked there just so they can get a nice bath and an air-conditioned room to sleep in. Oh, and an interesting sight to see in the malls were how Filipinos were flocking to various Internet cafes, probably to check email, read blogs, or simply go online.

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