Yesterday's typhoon took the city by surprise. Trees fell. Roofs flew. streets went under the water. And light succumbed to darkness. Just how important electricity is to city-folks became very apparent when PSP- and videogames-reared kids aired their boredom by creating all sorts of noises. Even adult neighbors in the condo were visibly dampened by the lack of anything to do -- with no TV, no compo, drained iPods, drifting cell signals. Instead of cursing the darkness, I sort of embraced it. It gave me time to read, listen to AM radio (a lost art, if you'd ask me), do some chores that begged for some downtime like collate my travel pictures. I consider myself lucky as the only thing the storm really inconvenienced me was a leak in the roof (others had it worse). If anything, the power outage reacquainted me with fire. having taken electricity for granted, we city folks have lost touch with something as ancient, as primitive, as fire. Time was when families and communities huddled around the fire, swapping stories, creating bonds. It is during times like these when such bonding can happen again, even just for the time it takes for Napocor to restore power.
