We have often mused in the past about life on a remote tropical island. Its a great and at times leveling existence and can often break life down into very simple terms.
The recent Typhoon took something from Malapascua that we had all learnt to love. It was something relatively new. something pretty special and something the rest of you take for granted every day. When the storm hit every electricity pole on the island toppled over and every line went with it.
The island plunged into darkness.
This is an interesting experience. “I will just flush that toilet” . . . nope we need the water pump for that and its driven by electricity. Oh dear.
Or in the early days after the storm
“Hey this fan isn’t working”.
“ . . . because there is no electricity”
“Oh yeah . . “
And warm, warm beer. But that’s one you kind of get used to.
Malapascua got electrified in early 2010 so this modern luxury is still a bit of a novelty. The island had a boom in TVs and karaoke machines and soon everyone had a fully charged cellphone with Poker Face as its ringtone.
So for most people losing electricity was one of the hardest things to cope with after the storm as babies lay awake in the heat at night crying and life ground to a halt at an equatorial 6pm every day.
But this tale has a happy ending. For Xmas we received a functional grid again and almost everyone is back enjoying the most basic of life’s luxuries – power! But doing without helped make us better, stronger and more humble people and more appreciative of life and what we take for granted. Happy New Year.
Disclaimer – Evolution ran a back up generator from day one post storm and bought a primary generator as soon as physically possible, so as to learn as little as possible about life without power.
