I had a hot shower this morning. First one since Friday morning! And I'm sitting in blissful airconditioning right now. It feels heavenly to be clean and cool. And Andrea called to see if we were okay! I was very touched. And it was so nice to actually hear her in person!

Friday night's storm was quite something. I've never experienced a wind like that before. When we walked outside on Saturday morning, the devastation was incredible. Trees everywhere, with their roots ripped right out of the ground. We were very lucky. Our house was pretty much unscathed. We lost some of our fascia, and the fence blew down, and there was a huge swampy mess in the yard. But no serious damage. Many of our neighbours weren't so lucky, though. Several houses in our street had trees fall on them, and (obviously) had major roof damage as a result. All the streets were blocked with fallen trees, and there were downed power lines snaking everywhere.

So Saturday was a hot, sweaty, clean-up day. Dragging branches, raking leaves, repairing damage, being bitten by various insects ... it wasn't fun. The neighbourhood really pulled together, though. One guy who had a chain saw was walking round the neighbourhood letting people who needed it use it, for instance. It was nice to see.

Sunday ... more of the same. By this time, though, there was no water to be had in the shops. Also, no propane, no charcoal, and no gas. And definitely no ice. And it became clear that the power wasn't coming on that day. Which was worrying for us, as we'd just received a $1500 shipment of Emily's growth hormone on Friday. Which needs to be kept refrigerated. It was packed in ice, but, clearly, the ice wasn't going to last much longer. Bobby ended up buying a mini-fridge that runs off a car battery. It wasn't too expensive, and it'll be useful when we go camping. But it was a real pain getting up every few hours through the night to run the car so that the battery didn't go flat. Reminded me why I always had my babies in bed with me.

Monday, Bobby got to go to work and sit in air-conditioning. (The power was already back up there). He would've rather been at home, he says, but I would've traded places with him in heartbeat. It was hot and sticky here (temperatures have been in the nineties, with the humidity bringing it up to a feels-like-100+), the kids were bored, and everyone was starting to get snappy and irritable. We eventually decided to go climbing, which gave us something to do, but left us even grubbier than before. Cold showers just don't remove dirt the way hot ones do. I am immensely grateful that we had water at all, though. With running water, the power outage was perfectly manageable, just inconvenient and a bit uncomfortable. Without, it would have been really miserable.

Monday night was sweltering, and the whole camaraderie good neighbourliness thing was wearing thin. The neighbours behind us had bought a generator, and, while they were (I assume) sleeping peacefully with a fan gently cooling them, we were being driven crazy by the generator's dull roar. We could choose : either open the sliding door in the bedroom that leads out to the pool and get a little clammy air circulating, but be deafened by the damn generator, or close the door, swelter in airless misery, but have relative quiet. We went with door open and noise, and sent silent death wishes in our neighbours' direction.

Heat definitely makes tempers fray. I was livid when I'd queued for gas for a good forty minutes, and had a car sneak into the pump in front of me at the very last minute. Luckily for me the guy who'd been in front of me in the queue (a big burly construction worker) dealt with the line-jumping car. I was shocked by how angry I was, though. I would've liked to have thought I could keep a bit of perspective and stay calm. But apparently not.

Tuesday the kids and I fled to the mall and saw The Princess Diaries, which was not as bad as A Cinderella Story, but ... well, let's leave it at that. It was airconditioned in there and that was good enough.

And Tuesday night, the power came back on. Much joy and jubilation : I was so excited to be able to do laundry! What with the heat and damp, our whole house had begun to have a nasty sort of sweaty-sock aroma.

I am very grateful that we got off so lightly. There are so many people further south who've lost everything, and so many people right here who have major, major damage to contend with. The clean up has been pretty efficient, as has the power restoration. When I saw all the destruction, it seemed almost impossible that they'd ever get the power back up again. But they brought in workers all the way from North Carolina, and worked flat-out, and they've done wonders.

Time to go to the grocery store now : it's so exciting to have a working fridge again! I wonder how long before this feeling wears off and I become totally blase about all my beautiful appliances.