Cyclone Rene brings winds of change.

Well, there have been quite a few changes for me following the cyclone which ripped right thru Tongatapu (the main island) a week ago Monday.
First of all I'll tell you about the cyclone itself...the rain and wind started on Sunday and lasted all that day and the next and then on Monday about 6 p.m. the wind got really serious, enough so that you didn't dare to open a window or door. It was howling and trees were blowing over and roofs were blowing off buildings. About 2 hours into this the wind stopped, this was the eye of the cyclone and lasted about 45mins. and everybody went outside to see what damage had been done. Behind the house a large tree had fallen across the road and in the driveway a breadfruit tree was down. Then the wind and rain started up again even stronger. Another two hours before it started dying out and by morning all was calm. This was my one and only experience of a tropical storm and it was hair raising to say the least. I can only wonder how the people here lived thru these storms when everyone lived in the traditional fales which are constructed out of palm leaves!!

Once the storm was passed on Monday I biked to the school to see what had happened there. The roof of the automotive classroom had been blown off but apart from water in the other classrooms there was no other serious damage. The library however had about 2 gallons of water on the floor and approximately 150 wet books all because at one end of the room there was some open louvres at floor level. It took me 3 days to mop up the water and I am still working on saving all the wet books. Hope to be done soon and get back to work on the regular stuff.

A few days after the storm I once again went to see the school principal with my, by now old, complaint about the noise at night where I was living. Not only that but my Tongan landlord was allowing female friends to spend the night with their boyfriends and I would be woken at 2 or 3 in the morning to hear them fighting...well, this finally got the principals attention and by the end of the day I was packed up and moved to "Lovey's Lagoon Apartments" which as the name says is on the lagoon...so I now have a two bedroom apt overlooking the lagoon and some very nice palangi neighbours from Britain. I can't begin to say how much better this is. Even tho' it is a little further from the school and there is a dump across the road, it is quiet at night...only two dogs and two puppies to worry about and NO CHURCH BELLS. What a treat.

My new neighbours, Jen and Mark are about my age and have offered to take me shopping when they go every Saturday morning which means no more biking downtown in the blazing heat with bags hanging off my handlebars and limited carrying capacity. Had to get a new bike as the one I was using belonged to the previous house and was falling to pieces anyway. I managed to install a large wire bike basket which is so much more convenient for carrying things....when you live in a place like this very small things become important and can mean the difference between a good and not so good day.

Hope to get some pictures on here soon and will post again ....my best wishes to all.