As I told you yesterday, it is currently a big holiday week here in the Philippines. Today, as I publish this column, it is All Saint’s Day. Tomorrow is All Soul’s Day. Saturday and Sunday will probably be days that most people take off from work, because it’s a post-holiday weekend after all!
One thing that I find annoying during times like this is that if something stops working, it probably won’t be fixed until Monday. For example, if my Internet Provider (PLDT) goes down anytime between Wednesday afternoon and Sunday, it will likely not be fixed until Monday, when the full staff is back at work. Funny thing, it seems that every time there is a long holiday weekend, the Internet always goes down on the first day of the holidays too! 😉
The same goes for almost any basic service. If electricity quits working, it will probably be fixed, but at a very slow pace, as the number of workers available for such a fix will be very limited.
I’ve been living here for almost 8 years now, though, so I have somewhat grown used to this. In years past, I would get angry about this. If the Internet was down, I would go days being angry, and feeling almost distressed. Now, though, nothing I can do, so I just live with it.
How about you? Could you live with it, or would it drive you crazy?
We lost power the other day for 5 hours. It was annoying and for me the worst thing was having no fans… it was swampy as heck! The power eventually came back but at low voltage so everything was acting weird. The next day we lost the water in the village. No electric the day before ment no pumps so the village water tank drained. It took all day to refill the tank. Yeah I get frustated, but in the end nothing I can do about it.
Bob,
As you mention, angry or not, you have to deal with it.
2 years ago, when Hurricane Wilma came through Florida, I lost power from monday through friday and phones went out from monday night through thursday.
From the experiences the previous year, I set myself up with a battery powered tv and a battery or hand crank generator radio. Plus flashlights and battery lanterns.
For me it was the sensory depravation. No lights except candles or lanterns, the same news over and over, but you continue to listen like something new will be said. And being alone with no phone, and having nobody to talk to.
After the storm passed, each day I would drive to my mom who was staying with her boyfreind since he has hurricane shutters.
Even cell phones, which I do not have, were not working since the cell towers lost power too.
The best part of power comming back was hot showers and hot food.
Hi Louis – Yeah, we had an all day (or most of the day) brownout last sunday. No water all day here too! It was a hassle. Brownouts had almost completely disappeared in here in Davao, but have you noticed that they are becoming much more frequent in recent months?
Hi Bruce – Having service outages from a hurricane is understandable, such a powerful storm would be almost certain to cause outages of certain services. What I am talking here, though, is something more simple. Maybe just a switch needs to be flipped to get things back online, but nobody is around to do it at the office. That, I find frustrating, although I've kind of learned to live with it! 🙄
Bob,
Yes I know what your article was about, but any outage is fustrating, but you either get upset, or learn to go with the flow.
Hi Bob and to all of you, for me it is frustrating, because like you we are depending on electric power even while writing. If the power interruption takes too long, I just do other things… . Let's enjoy our vacation. Hooray, the Internet is still working…
Hey, even the squirrels running in the cage get the holidays off 😆
On a more serious (or should I say less humorous?) note, one can judge his/her acclimation to life in the islands by how much he/she is inconvenienced when the "creature comforts" don't work.
Happy hols. (32 more days & I'll be keeping it simple!)
I would survive very well without internet service, tv, etc…. The last time I checked electricity is not required on the golf course. If all else fails I can read a book or take the family for a nice walk along the beach. Ron
Hi Klaus – Yes, even today the Internet is still working! Thanks to the Lord and PLDT for that! 😆
Hi Paul – I agree with your assessment that being able to live without creature comforts is a judge of suitability for being able to live here!
Hi Ron – Nice ideas! The book reading may be a little hard after dark, though. 😉