Who would have thought that we would spend our 5th wedding anniversary living in the aftermath of Typhoon Milenya. Despite the fact that we had only one power socket working from the emergency generator, on Friday morning I got a cappucino in bed. Nigel had carried the coffee maker out to our one working socket (via extension cord in the hallway), and made my coffee. It was very much appreciated.

Nigel had a half day at work. The typhoon, which turned out to be the worst the Philippines had seen since about 1995, had badly affected the school. The new senior block, where Nigel's classroom is, and which was finished only a week before school started last month, had a roof collapse and it flooded. Trees were also everywhere, shade-sails had been shredded by the 160km winds, and of course there was only generator power.

The girls and I spent the morning visiting a family from church. As we drove there, we saw trees and debris everywhere. In the tree-lined village where our friends live, those same trees had wreaked havoc on the streets, power-lines, fences, and in some sad cases, houses. Our friends had a huge mango tree lying in their swimming pool, on top of the felled fence. While I was shocked to see this, they were pleased it had gone into the pool, not through their living room window. They, like the rest of Manila, and in fact the whole island of Luzon, had no electricity, but they also had no running water. While there was bottled water to drink, we couldn't flush the toilets. It would be three days before they would be able to take a shower again. (which, in the heat, with no air-con, is quite something.)

We were actually very lucky in our apartment. At least we had one power socket running off generator. This meant we could plug in a fan, and have some moving air. And we had plenty of running water, for cold showers, which was fine, especially when it was 30 degrees. We have never bathed so often!

Friday night, leaving Jenalyn in charge of the girls, Nigel and I went out to celebrate our anniversay. We found the big malls had plenty of generator electricity. We had a nice mediterranean dinner (cooked by a Filipino chef, who had trained in London) and then we went to a movie.

We didn't get power back till tonight, Sunday. In the end, we got off very lucky. The worst it got for us was heat rashes and bad moods. Some 100+ people lost their lives around the country, crops were destroyed, houses and cars. It really makes you think how quickly things can change, and lets you appreciate what you've got.