|
|
|
Sept 17, 2016 5:41:44 GMT
|
|
Good to see you still kicking George.
I have once had the pleasure of replying three times to a bike buyer and raising the selling price by £150.00 each time he offered less.
At £450.00 over the original £3200.00 price, he suddenly offered cash for the asking price...... Funny that.
And the clueless ones here in the UK, who cannot read or speak English with a variety of stupid questions and actions..... Don't even get me started there.
Look after yourself mate.
As always, we are all watching.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 17, 2016 16:41:24 GMT
|
|
Nice that things are looking up George - and I share your pain re E Bay car buyers!!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 18, 2016 1:43:32 GMT
|
Good to hear things are looking on the up and up. If you end up in Australia, just remember not to buy anything described as 'mint'  Where would that job be, anyway? Melbourne? |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 22, 2016 10:33:47 GMT
|
Got proper connection back at last and just catching up on all the bookmarked threads, which is taking a while. Shame there's not much news from here. Yet. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who attracts every idiot whenever I try to sell a car.  Seems they are global, doesn't it?  Looks like it's still an interesting presidency We're running at around a thousand dead a month, 'resisting arrest'. Strange thing is, no-one I talk to (street person in Malate or CEO in Makati) is complaining. Maybe he's just doing what lots of folk would like to see, but their government hasn't got the will? I know when the girls come back from a weekend in Tondo, they always say how much safer they feel, what with the crackdown and the 10pm curfew. Good to see you still kicking George. I have once had the pleasure of replying three times to a bike buyer and raising the selling price by £150.00 each time he offered less. At £450.00 over the original £3200.00 price, he suddenly offered cash for the asking price...... Funny that. And the clueless ones here in the UK, who cannot read or speak English with a variety of stupid questions and actions..... Don't even get me started there. Look after yourself mate. As always, we are all watching. Thanks Rian. I suppose they do have an excuse for the English here, but it seems d txt spk, that refuge of the idle, is global too. Trust the nomance is still rocking along. Best wishes to both. Your antics, attitude and stuff you make have kept me smiling the last few weeks. Nice that things are looking up George - and I share your pain re E Bay car buyers!! I have decided that I'll keep the '38 until either I snuff it, or hell freezes over. whichever comes first. Dying is just easier than trying to sell. Good to hear things are looking on the up and up. If you end up in Australia, just remember not to buy anything described as 'mint' Where would that job be, anyway? Melbourne? Aye, read all the posts about "mint". Suitably warned. Dunno. Sydney and Melbourne are that busy now with rail, it could be either. I know Melbourne better, but I'm not fussed really. Australia aside, I've literally just had a mail asking if I can be in Bangkok on Monday for a month. I've told them I can make Tuesday night if that'll do. Got a meeting here on Monday I can't cancel (again) and it just so happens to be near where a certain '65 Falcon is for sale. May just kill two birds with one stone, and if work comes together, at least I've seen it. Would like to go back to BKK having spent most of my early Asia years there. My previous visit was when the revolution before last was on. They chained the hotel doors closed whilst we watched the stack of tyres burn in the middle of the road and insisted we avail ourselves of the free bar and restaurant. Oh, go on then. Anyway, Madam and I love Thailand and the Girls have never been, so it may be the next update is sponsored by Singha. Watch this space. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 22, 2016 23:25:49 GMT
|
Things to do today:- 1) Go to Immigration and cancel the visa I just spent Tuesday morning down there getting renewed. The Philippines is the only country I know where a foreigner needs permission to leave! 2) Whoops, before that, get some 2x2 colour photographs on a white background. Sod's law states that when you already have one, you'll actually need two. 3) Ring the mighty Asia United Bank to see if their ATM card works overseas. Knowing the answer, asking if they can provide one that does. By Tuesday. If not, then it'll be a right wodge of cash to take. I've just told HSBC they can stick their accounts where the sun never penetrates and whilst this gave me huge satisfaction, it also means I have no cards of any use! 4) Book some flights - in an actual travel agent. 5) Let client know arrival day/time so they can book hotel and pick up for me 6) Do some work - this may, or may not, actually occur 7) Anticipate meeting up with my Little Bottle Openers after school, which sounds a lot easier than it actually is. They've got exams today and tomorrow, so finishing time is an even more movable feast that usual. They have smuggled a mobile in and will send me a coded message when they've finished. 8) If we can coincide, buy them the biggest chocolate milk shake that Adriatico can supply. Going to miss them. The Girls, not the milk shake. 9) Take dog for poo 10) Buy a couple of bottles of Singha over in 7-11 so I can get the taste again  I blame the old UK Egg Marketing Board for subliminally getting me hooked on things with little lions on. 11) Cook devastating roast chicken. This is the same chicken I've been going to cook for the last two nights but stuff got in the way. Yesterday it even made it as far as the roasting tray before getting shoved unceremoniously back in the fridge. It's getting bored now. 12) Eat 13) Fall into bed. The oil change on the '38 will have to wait until tomorrow, as will all sorts of other things that I'll probably remember need seeing to. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 6:59:29 GMT
|
|
'Kay, where are we?
1) Why, when it now takes 45 minutes for a visa renewal, does it take 3 hours to cancel? Got to go back Monday as well for my "Permission to Leave the Philippines"certificate.
2) Did that.
3) No and no. So I'll take a right wodge of cash. Not too bad, the client pays hotel direct and there should be US$100/day per diems waiting for me.
4) Done, including the ticket to nowhere that I'll have to show in Thailand on departure to prove I'm not staying in the Philippines.
5) Done
6) Not a cat in hells chance
7) Still waiting. Just hope they don't get the signal source triangulated before I can get to them.
8) See above. I've worded Adriatico as to arrival.
Coming up soon (Philippine 'soon') Tasks 9 - 13
Remembered why I can't let the '38 go, idiots aside. So many nice comments today and, when I was sat at some lights on the way home from Immigration, a very pretty young lady came over and said, "Can we do it in the back of your car?" Of course I declined, she couldn't afford it, but why would I part with my baby?
New fluids tomorrow. By which I mean engine oil and filter, not what you were thinking!
|
| |
|
|
Smiler
Posted a lot
I no longer own anything FWD! Or with less than 6 cylinders, or 2.5ltrs! :)
Posts: 2,492
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 9:38:57 GMT
|
|
Sounds like I really need to get a P38!
|
| |
www.Auto-tat.co.uk'96 Range Rover P38 DSE (daily driver) '71 Reliant Scimitar SE5 GTE 3.0ltr Jag V6 Conversion '79 Reliant Scimitar SE6A 3.0ltr 24valve Omega Conversion '85 Escort Cabrio 2.0 Zetec - Sold '91 BMW 525i - Sold '82 Cortina 2.9i Ghia Cosworth - Sold '72 VW Campervan - Sold '65 LandRover 88" - Sold
|
|
Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,881
Club RR Member Number: 15
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 11:24:36 GMT
|
Sounds like I really need to get a P38! But but but ....... which one is best for living in Manila    |
| |
Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here |
|
Smiler
Posted a lot
I no longer own anything FWD! Or with less than 6 cylinders, or 2.5ltrs! :)
Posts: 2,492
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 11:55:08 GMT
|
|
I prefer my Lightnings Avon powered.
A bullet proof RangeRover could negate the need for the gun version.
|
| |
www.Auto-tat.co.uk'96 Range Rover P38 DSE (daily driver) '71 Reliant Scimitar SE5 GTE 3.0ltr Jag V6 Conversion '79 Reliant Scimitar SE6A 3.0ltr 24valve Omega Conversion '85 Escort Cabrio 2.0 Zetec - Sold '91 BMW 525i - Sold '82 Cortina 2.9i Ghia Cosworth - Sold '72 VW Campervan - Sold '65 LandRover 88" - Sold
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 19:10:09 GMT
|
A bullet proof RangeRover could negate the need for the gun version. It might be bullet proof but can it put out fires... Do the rear sets fold to make a bed ala Maxi style |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 21:06:41 GMT
|
Sounds like I really need to get a P38! But but but ....... which one is best for living in Manila Just make sure item 2 is carried in item 1 and you're done. The accessory of choice in a certain Range Rover is one of these...  or would be if I felt the need to accessorise A bullet proof RangeRover could negate the need for the gun version. When I first started to look at buying here I noticed a lot of the ads said "Bulletproof" and i initially thought they were referring to their reliability and dismissed it into the same category as "100% flood free". Then I noticed one or two actually went into detail of what calibre they were proofed against and realised that half the motors in Manila are carting around half a ton of extra plate steel! Do the rear sets fold to make a bed ala Maxi style I couldn't possibly comment, but the average Filipina's that small, you could use the glove box, although you then run the risk of the Walther digging into stuff. Anyway, back to the list... 7 & 8 didn't happen. The Girls came straight home from school having decided I should skip to item 11, quick-sharp. Did 9 whilst waiting on 11 Can you believe it? The day before, both the local 7-11 and mini-stop had Singha. Yesterday? "No Hab" Scratch 10. 12 & 13 kinda fell naturally into place. This morning shall be getting the work I didn't do yesterday done, taking the '38 to "We Changee Oil" place, trying, and probably failing, to find someone, anyone, who can sell me a 5w rear sidelight lamp and then meeting the lasses for that milk shake at 3pm to celebrate the end of exams before bundling them of to Tondo for the night. Another busy day, but as it doesn't involve Immigration, it doesn't seem so. Only three sleeps to Bangkok |
| |
Last Edit: Sept 24, 2016 0:06:53 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 23, 2016 23:54:38 GMT
|
Just reading this post retrorides.proboards.com/thread/192623/selling-advice-scam?page=1&scrollTo=2248669 and thinking back to my half-witted Range Rover buyers, we've just had completely the reverse experience. We've had two of our Tondo houses for sale on and off for a while now. One's all been tarted up after we evicted the family (see Page God knows how many back) and the other is a right dump (by any standard but Tondo's) that she lets out to around 8 or 9 tenants, including the one brother - talking of half-wits - we've had to be sort of okay with, as he's the father of our eldest Bottle Opener. On Tuesday last, a woman walked into the water station and asked how much Madam wanted for the dump. Madam fires her a price, woman says she'll come back tomorrow. Yeah right. Following morning, woman pitches up, as promised, with two carrier bags full of cash! Took some counting, but deal done! Just goes to show... Another upside is that we don't have to think about brother any more. If the new owner wishes to evict him, which is likely as he isn't used to paying rent and his last career, as a small time shabu dealer, has been brought to a premature (but unfortunately not permanent) end by one Mr Duturte, she can feel free and it's not our problem. |
| |
Last Edit: Sept 24, 2016 0:08:00 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 24, 2016 12:36:41 GMT
|
|
Exciting times George - hope your trip works out well.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 24, 2016 23:17:42 GMT
|
Exciting times George - hope your trip works out well. Thanks Phil. Given what I'll be doing there though, expect the standard of English in my posts to decline rapidly over the next few weeks. The job is to help a company write a tender document for around 20kms of tunnel and associated rail systems. Now this is something I've done a fair bit of (and, he says modestly, with 100% success so far) but the problem comes with translations. For some reason, Thailand has gone to insisting that all tenders are now in English, presumably so the foreign bankers/backers can understand them, and therein lies the problem. I'm happy with the systems bit, I can talk all day about signalling, rolling stock, power supply, ventilation, etc., even though they're not my core disciplines. I can do the bits on plans as well; Health, Environmental, Site Safety, Traffic Management, blah, blah, blah. I'll be writing those sections myself, so no problem, see? It's the civil stuff that causes the issues. The Thai engineers will produce a section written in their bestest Tinglish and I have to convert it to something comprehensible. As it's all about tunnelling, on which I'm no expert, you first have to read what they have produced and ensure that you understand what they are trying to say, then you do the 'translation' bit. You can't skip the reading/understanding bit first and just dive straight in, or you wind up in all sorts of trouble. Here's an example from one I did there a few years back. This, of course  , is all about the Asymmetric Cast Balance Cantilever Bridge Construction Method. What else? "This system needs to construct on one side of span alternately and the counterbalancing weight for each side is ½ segment different. Thus, there will be effect to the pier and need additional structure but this system would be more efficiency of workers because there is no need to construct on both sides at the same time. For the bridge level checking, due to construction on one side will effect to another side, all activities that related to bridge level must be checked."
All okay? The problem is that when faced with a couple of hundred pages, your mind kinda glazes over and starts to read the most outrageous stuff as being perfectly normal! After a few days of this, you even find yourself talking pidgin, let alone writing it. So yeah, some language regression risk coming up! |
| |
Last Edit: Sept 24, 2016 23:19:39 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 25, 2016 6:51:40 GMT
|
|
Ah the old ACBCBCM......I thought Colin Chapman had a similar, but lighter, system.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 25, 2016 12:50:30 GMT
|
Ah the old ACBCBCM......I thought Colin Chapman had a similar, but lighter, system. He may well have done, but did he consider this? "Bride construction in the Chao Phraya River
Following the construction of foundations, the next steps will be to construct the bride columns and the pile tablets to support form traveler, which will be used in the construction of the balance cantilever superstructure.
Construction in rivers is obviously more challenging than on land for all stages of the works."And, in a desperate attempt to get some mechanical content into this thread, we went for a Poo in the Park this morning. Well, the dog did, but I was there as well, and we came across this little lot... Sorry the sound's lousy, but I don't remember actually saying anything of merit anyway. |
| |
Last Edit: Sept 25, 2016 12:51:48 GMT by georgeb
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 25, 2016 14:50:34 GMT
|
|
|
| |
- Kerbside Kustoms -
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 25, 2016 14:53:50 GMT
|
|
The Shiek on the red bike was cool as f*ck lol
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 27, 2016 9:14:43 GMT
|
sure was. Didn't know a thing about it. Just stumbled across them all. The Shiek on the red bike was cool as f*ck lol Wasn't he just. There were a load of other cool bits I didn't get. One of the sidecar combinations was a 3x3. Can't remember if it was Zundapp or Ural (or BMW?) that did those and, as I was exhaust-on to it, couldn't see a badge. Smart though. Anyways up, this post comes to you via the good offices of the San Miguel Brewery Inc., San Fernando, Pampanga, or will do if my Little Bottle Openers get home from school on time and do their job. I know, I know, it should be sponsored by Singha Beer, Boon Rawd Brewery, Bangkok, but i'm not there, I'm here. Got tickets all booked on Friday, went to collect my "You May Leave the Philippines" papers on Monday only to receive an email late that evening. "Dear George, In keeping with true Asian organisation, can you delay your trip? We've made a huge cock-up, to which we will never admit, so it'll be a few days before we're ready for you. Love Thailand." I enquired what a 'few days' would be and got, "We let you know" which makes it a doddle to change tickets. So yes, I'm officially stateless. My visa was good until 20 November, but now I've applied to travel, and received permission to do so, that's what I've got to do before 23 October or apparently Mr Duterte will elevate me to the top of his 5hit List and come and execute me personally. Actually that's probably not strictly true, but I'm not sure where my present status leaves me. Never mind, eh. Oh, and talking of Asian organisation. Whilst I had the '38 for sale, I thought it would be caring of me to nip to my local LTO office and see if my 2016 registration sticker had arrived yet. I know it's only been nine months, but you never know. The LTO normally looks like this...  but has now been transformed, courtesy of Komatsu or similar, into this...  Yup, just knocked it down with no signs mentioning re-location or anything. Had a look on the internet to see where they may have got to and it seems they are now making a fortune off people who are late registering their car due to the office not being where it should be. Nice one! Turns out that they are now co-located on the same site as Manila Central Post Office. My heart is well and truly sunk, as regular readers will know what that'll do to wait times. Is that the front door? "San Mig please, Girls!" |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Sept 28, 2016 11:47:40 GMT
|
Oh aye, the hooky brandy. For some reason, I almost forgot. Well... Like much of Asia the Philippines is an easy target for dodgy goods. "Never!" I hear you cry,but yes, from Rolex to perfume, to handbags, Viagra and just about anything else you can think of. If it's a knock-off, it's available. A while back, our driver (not content with trying to kill just one of us) presented us with a bottle of "Jonnie Walker Blue." Why, I'm not sure as neither Madam or I are whisky drinkers. But, had it been called "Jonnie Walker Domestos" there would have been no argument, but this was pretty obviously mainly detergent and ethyl alcohol (available in huge bottles at any outlet near you) but it did clean the loo a treat. We know, as this is where it went. Undeterred, the other day he arrived with a bottle of Martell Cordon Bleu.  In a box with the name spelt right and everything.  Now, I'm partial to a spot of Cognac, not to excess you understand, but when I've cooked a particularly devastating roast chicken, fine Angus steak, cheesy hot dogs or indeed, anything, a drop of brandy afterwards does wonders for the digestion process. Not this stuff. It seems purpose made to stop any and all biological processes the body usually carries out. Let's just say politely that it's a rotgut brandy in an expensive bottle, but on the bright side, he can get as much as we want. Hmmm. Then he pitches up with a bottle of Camus, Grand V.S.O.P  In a box with the name spelt right and everything.  Never heard of them, says I. By God, this is good stuff though. Slips down as smoothly as old engine oil. I have to say, if pushed, bloody lovely and as genuine as a genuine thing. The source? An American who needed a bit of quick cash, which means that is the one and only bottle to be had in the Philippines for five quid!  |
| |
|
|
, is all about the Asymmetric Cast Balance Cantilever Bridge Construction Method. What else?
