A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

Finally made the move. We made it to the Left Coast last Sunday, October 30. We’re still in the middle of settling down out here but it’s a relief considering the last week we had to endure over in Florida.

Ever since Hurricane Wilma struck Monday, we didn’t have electricity until Thursday. Four days without electricity is a walk in the park for us. When you’ve been to a not-so-remote barrio in Leyte for weeks without electricity you learn how to live with it, and of course prepare for it.

Not so with my First World hosts. Hurricane Wilma was on Florida’s consciousness for more than a week, watching images from the Yucatan as the Mexican peninsula got drenched in rain and whipped by strong winds. There were constant warnings on TV, radio and the newspapers about it. Floridians aren’t strangers to hurricanes. One interview I caught even described it in the colloquialism of “it ain’t our first rodeo.” It sure seemed like it though.

Our area got hit by two hurricanes last year, the first in some 40 years. You think they would’ve learned something? No. The day after the storm hit, there were long lines of people at the gas station, despite the warnings to fill-up on gas days before the storm hit. These weren’t just the ordinary cars nor service vehicles like trucks which are used to restore electricity. Most are the gas guzzling SUVs, mini-vans and pick-up trucks. I don’t understand where these people are going since work and most businesses are shut down and warnings from authorities that people who have no business being on the road shouldn’t be on the road for safety concerns (traffic stops were blown down so major intersections were hazardous).

To top it all off, the people in these gas drains were just filling-up on their vehicles but brought separate gas cans for their generators. Understand of course, that having the lights out in this country is not the norm unlike say Manila. But whining about long gas lines and no hot water for baths was just amusing for us Third Worlders. There was one stand-up comic who said that he agreed when newsman Tom Brokaw said the people who fought in World War 2 were the “Greatest Generation” for fighting the evil of Facsism and Communism. These days, the comic said, we’d whine when the cable tv is out. That was what we were feeling when we celebrate my wife’s birthday over take-out Chinese food and candlelight with people whining over the radio complaining why it’s taking the electric company so long (it was just 24 hours since the storm hit fer cryin out loud) to restore the electricity (over 14 million homes were without electricity). It’s not like there’s a New Orleans/Katrina like situation happening. (More stories and pictures from Pen. She lives in the area which got hit badly by Wilma.)

So anyway, because of the storm some of our moving plans were pushed back. When we dropped off our rental car over at the airport, they still didn’t have electricity. That was already early Sunday morning. I have to confess getting on the plane to California was exciting. Of course having a one-way ticket to anywhere assures you of a security search at the airport it seems.

We’re done with hurricanes for now. Bring on the quakes.