Day to Day happenings in my life

An unforgettable experience.

Those four words reminded me of a journey I’d rather forget. John and I were in Manila in the Philippines on holiday. After a few weeks we booked a short flight to the island of Cebu.
On the day we were to depart, warnings of an impending Hurricane made us wonder if our flight would be cancelled. After many calls to the airport we were assured that our flight would still be departing at the scheduled time.

The winds were getting stronger when we arrived at the airport and one look at the departures board told us flights were getting cancelled, although not ours.

The call to board the flight was called, ours being the only one not yet cancelled. Through the windows we saw our plane sitting on the tarmac, buffeting about in the tumultuous wind.
John went to speak to the captain, who was also waiting at the door to board the plane, and expressed our concerns as to the safety of this flight but was assured we’d be fine.

Not being at all religious I spotted a collection box in the guise of the Virgin Mary craftily installed at the boarding gate and just for a bit of extra Godly insurance I dropped my money in as I said a prayer for deliverance.

A bus drew up to take us across the tarmac as by now it was impossible to navigate our way through the wind and blinding rain to the plane.

At last we were all seated, there was absolute silence as no doubt every one on board were either praying or wondering what madness had led them to this moment.

The plane rocked and rolled as it sat unmoving, rain streamed down the windows, the noise of the impending storm was deafening.

Then came the voice of reason as the captain made the call to abandon ship, so to speak.
A collective sigh of relief swept through the plane and we made the hazardous return journey to comparative safety of the airport lounge.

A man stood at the huge glass doors letting the bedraggled passengers in, then a gargantuan wind whipped the door out of the poor man’s hands, blowing back, pinning him against the wall.

John and I left the airport to try to find a place of safety for the night. Sheets of roofing were hurtling through the air ready to slice off an unsuspecting head.

We were taken to a hotel by a foolhardy taxi driver, who was braving the elements and picked us up. We later discovered it was actually a brothel. There was no electricity or water because of the hurricane and to say the least it was a long night.

The next day we left the brothel to return to the airport to discover the death toll was over five hundred people.