If you’ve been without power over the past ten days, you’ve probably fantasised about warm showers, hot meals and TV.

But what’s the very first thing you reached for once the electricity returned following Hurricane Gonzalo?

For personal trainer Becky Wright, it was her favourite hot drink. “I made coffee,” she said. “I needed coffee ... so bad.

“Then I had a shower. You remember that old Herbal Essence commercial with the woman in the shower going ‘Ooooo yes! oohhhhhh YYYESSS!’ as she washed her hair? That was me. It was the best shower of my life!”

Filmmaker Lucinda Spurling said she was fortunate to have power back on Saturday afternoon. She immediately dashed to make calls to her loved ones.

“The first thing I did was call friends and family to let them know [we were okay] and offer up our shower,” she said.

“Later on we did some sightseeing. My dad kayaked out to see if his boats made it (which they did) so he took us out around the East End once he got the boat off the mooring, to survey the damage. We counted about 40 boats that had either sunk at their moorings or were on the rocks.”

The Royal Gazette news reporter Jonathan Bell spent the long weekend sleeping and working at the office, so he was beyond relieved to get back to the comforts of home on Monday night.

“I’d lost power on the morning of Tropical Storm Fay — and I was stuck in the Gazette for two nights trying to keep up with all the Gonzalo news — so I was in pretty grimy shape by the time my lights came on [Monday] night,” he explained.

“It was a magnificent surprise when my power came back. I let out a victory shout, called my friends, poured a celebratory rum and coke, and had a hot bath as soon as the water was ready.

“I sat in hot water reading The New Yorker, which I couldn’t read by candlelight because the print’s too fine, and washed off all the salt and dirt from the hurricane. I went to bed early, deeply contented — and woke up to find the power had gone back off again. Such is life.”

Entrepreneur Janson Cross said the first thing he did was catch up on work.

“I was actually sleeping at the time, but I heard the refrigerator and saw that the cable box was on.

“First thing I did was turn on all the lights just so the house can finally have some real light. After that, I turned on the computer so I could check e-mails as I was waiting on a radio/video commercial for [an event I’m organising] and my cell had no juice left.

“I have to add that my wife and I didn’t get too excited as the power had come on twice for about three minutes on Saturday and then went off again.”

Duncan Hall, of Bermuda Docs Festival, said: “Our power came back on at 1.07pm on Sunday — about 45 hours after it went out. So, after I stopped cheering, I went back to reading the novel that I had picked up on Friday.

“Had it come on earlier we would have been even more excited, but that morning we had already been to my mother-in-law’s for a hot shower, a nice breakfast and hot cup of coffee.”

Groundswell Lionfish Tournament co-founder Selange Gitschner still doesn’t have any power after a transformer went down on her lane.

She said: “The first few things I did right after the storm were as follows: High-fived my boyfriend and brother (as we worked nonstop for 48 hours preparing for this beast of a storm), then I tried to touch base with family and friends — all of whom were okay! Next I ran outside for fresh air and assessed the damage in our neighbourhood.

“We were amazed by what we saw. The roads were in great shape and no major damage in our neighbourhood.

“As we didn’t have power we walked over to a friend’s and made an awesome breakfast which we devoured in seconds, followed by showers all around, which makes you stop and appreciate running water. We ended the day with cleaning and more cleaning. [After all this I’m] really proud to call myself Bermudian. We put all issues aside and came together as one — two big thumbs up!”

Marketing and Communications manager at Fairmont Southampton, Carlita Lodge said her power didn’t return until last night.

“All evening, I sat with a window to the street open, jumping up in excitement whenever a truck went by, hoping it was Belco,” she said. “The first 30 or so times, it was not. When Belco finally arrived, I waited in anticipation until the lights finally flickered back into power. My first act? I ran outside and thanked all the workers for restoring my power at 11pm. I hope they got a good night’s rest, they deserved it!”

Mark Anthony Anderson, who performs as Sybil Barrington, described Gonzalo as the worst hurricane he’s ever been through.

He said: “The first thing I did after it ended was to thank the good Lord above unconditionally for watching over me and the house.

“One of my lady friends who did not want to be in her house by herself because her husband was away, ended up staying with me through the storm. She was a real trooper. We partied all night long to [singers like] Patti La Belle, Diana Ross and Donna Summer! Thanks to Barcardi rum for helping us through the night!!!”

Bermuda Regiment Commanding Officer Michael Foster-Brown spent the storm at Warwick Camp with his troops but said he expects his wife got busy cleaning up once power returned.

“At home, in Whale Bay, one of the windows blew in and there was some flooding,” he said. “Thankfully though we were spared the significant damage that some sadly experienced. Shortly after the electricity came back on later that day I suspect my wife made a cup of tea and was doing laundry to clean the towels that had been used to mop up the water.”