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Got a real treat for you today, but a couple of little bits first... The Girls came home from school yesterday all smiley and happy, a joy to behold. I was on the balcony (with a cold one) and the eldest ambles up and says, "Daddy George, there was a ghost nun in the Year 9 CR this afternoon." Just for your information, CR is Comfort Room, otherwise known to us international types as loo, bog, whatever. "Really darling, weren't you frightened?" "Oh no, she was hanging around our classroom last week." Do ghosts just 'hang around'? This sparked an interesting discussion about why a nun, supposed to be good, pure and all that, should be trapped betwixt this world and the next, condemned forever to wander the uninspiring corridors in the girls section of Malate Catholic School. We concluded she must have been a right bad 'un!  Was on the balcony on Tuesday (yes, yes, I know) when one of the meanest Men o' War I have seen for a while pops in. Most of the ones we get have been US or occasionally Japanese and Indian. They are most uninspiring looking super-modern vessels, probably brilliant at their job, but just give the impression of being, well, the Toyota Vios of the maritime world. But let's face it, if your going to send a gunboat up someones Yangtze, it should look the part, shouldn't it? Well this one does...  Thanks to Reuters for the picture. I mean, it's got proper gun turrets to point at people, looks like it goes like hot snot, everything. Just what you need for scaring up the natives. Seems the Russian Pacific Fleet had a whip-round up Vladivostok and got enough together for some derv to send the Admiral Tributs over to see us. First of many? The great irony is not only is it docked at the berth once exclusively for the use of US warships, it's right outside the American Embassy as well! Any way, enough of all this, let's get to the real reason we're all here. I know you're dying to find out. This morning I was waiting for a phone call from Dubai. All well and good, but they are around 1000 years three hours behind us so I decided, having finished and submitted my document yesterday lunch (just in time to pop onto the balc...well you get the idea) to make good use of my time. And here it is. New Year's Eve in Tondo. Fillumed, captioned, commentated, edited and generally stuck together by yours truly. Can't you tell?  |
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2017 5:06:20 GMT by georgeb
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Thanks 👍
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Caravans are cool
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Great vid. My New Years involved driving from Berwick to Sunderland, collecting some wheels, taking them to Leeds, offloading them to a certain traveller gnome for his dragster, collecting more wheels, driving to Bristol via Standish, having a lovely time over new year with awesome friends I've made from here over the years, meeting a Sierra pervert in a service station car park to give him the wheels from Leeds then cannonballing home and managing to be right behind a car whose driver nodded off, drifted into the central reservation, woke up, panicked and shot across all three lanes, ramping up the embankment, rolling and ending up on his roof, pirouetting gracefully. Eeek. From the way you discuss the littluns, it's clear that your approach is to coach them towards asking and answering their own questions rather than just telling them things. Top dadding! *n |
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Top grammar tips!
Bought = purchased. Brought = relocated
Lose = misplace/opposite of win. Loose = your mum
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You are welcome. Whilst I'm still curse word at it, this editing malarkey is quite good fun! Great vid. From the way you discuss the littluns, it's clear that your approach is to coach them towards asking and answering their own questions rather than just telling them things. Top dadding! *n Sounds like quite a trip. Glad it was someone else on their roof! And thanks for the kind compliment, I hope you are right. I think it's been discussed before but the education system here (and much of Asia) depends on you blindly learning what you are told, thought is not involved, questioning frowned upon, difficult topics avoided. This, of course, has the result of stamping out little mindless clones who then need to be told what and how to do everything when they hit real life - I know, I've tried to employ them. Now, this may well fit beautifully into the local (and strictly vertical) corporate structure, but is damn all use anywhere else in the world. My goal is to counter this, get them to query the status quo and let them see that by answering their own questions, with me as backup to point them in the direction of those answers if they struggle, they're capable of independent thought and action. They are both bright girls and I'd hate for them to just wind up as just like other Filipinas, condemned to a life of little opportunity and seen as cheap labour. Plough your own furrow! To me this is natural, but if their school ever found out I'd probably be burned at the stake as a heretic, but hey, it's actually quite good fun. |
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Jan 12, 2017 23:52:11 GMT
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Well, today will mark a watershed in my Philippines experience. It'll be my first time going to the Post Office in an attempt to send an envelope overseas. I know a while ago, Madam tried to send a parcel over to my son and his girlfriend (then living in Phnom Penh) with a complete and utter lack of success, so how hard can it be? At least I can't miss finding the place...  And my route shall be as follows...  of course, I shan't walk, I'll take a sidecar. Life on the edge, eh? The more eagle-eyed amongst you will note that a certain Cafe Adriatico is at almost exactly the mid-point and I can't help but feel that I shall be needing their services on the way back. Let's see shall we? I know I don't need to remind you that this Sunday sees the annual, and world famous, Santo Niño Festival in lovely downtown Tondo. Think Henley, think Wimbledon, think the Buck House garden party and you won't be at all surprised to know that your correspondent will be attending this glittering occasion, along with anyone who's no-one. It's a strange one. The day seems to consist of ladyboys dancing around accompanied by drum bands and people kindly handing you empty envelopes which they seem to expect returning full of currency. Very odd. Half the people spend the day wandering around carrying effigies which, I'm sure you'll agree, wouldn't have looked out of place in The Exorcist or Omen...  The other half sit down and very seriously get completely and utterly bladdered. Not a problem though, nobody has a job to go to on Monday anyway! Got to admit, I tend towards the latter camp myself. As you can imagine, it's not to be missed, and miss it we shan't. I think it may be our last one though. Madam has just found a tenant for the water shop and as my apartment lease is due in May, it's looking time for a move to pastures new, or at least pastures with a garage! We may have to change the title to Letter from Olongapo or Batangas, or wherever. |
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Last Edit: Jan 28, 2017 20:52:18 GMT by georgeb
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Enjoy your PO trip George - how hard can it be....We await with bated breath!
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,971
Club RR Member Number: 29
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I'm intrigued about 'Marksman Security and Inv Agency Inc'...
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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Post office colouring looks like it could be related to the German postal service.
Yes, the Marksman business address looks interesting.
Let's see if you have to deliver the letter yourself in the end.
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Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,888
Club RR Member Number: 15
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Chucky got a girlfriend then? I shall not sleep much tonight  |
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Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here |
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Jan 13, 2017 14:44:21 GMT
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They ^^^ look DISTINCTLY unpleasant!
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Chucky got a girlfriend then? I shall not sleep much tonight They ^^^ look DISTINCTLY unpleasant! I was surrounded by them on Sunday, it was quite surreal, especially after a few lubricants! Enjoy your PO trip George - how hard can it be....We await with bated breath! Easy peasy, see below. However this is no guarantee that anything further will ever happen. I'm intrigued about 'Marksman Security and Inv Agency Inc'... We've got investigative agencies coming out of our bloody ears here. Can't go five yards without tripping over one. Post office colouring looks like it could be related to the German postal service. Let's see if you have to deliver the letter yourself in the end. Only in colour Rian, only in colour! If I'd thought on, I could have combined delivery with visa run. On second thoughts... Well hasn't it been a busy week so far, girls and boys? Santo Niño notwithstanding, on Monday morning, the Bureau of Immigration up the road in Intramuros beckoned. The way it works here is that you can stay for 36 months just by doing visa extensions but after that, you have to leave. So you do a quick flit out of the country and upon your return the following day, the 36 months starts all over again. So in my case, I need to leave on the 20th, this coming Friday. Before you do this however, you need an Emigration Clearance Certificate which a) allows you to leave and b) says they have no real problems with you coming back. Basically it proves you are a lovely person who hasn't, despite numerous provocations, murdered anyone in the "service" industry recently. I may have mentioned before that the BOI have streamlined the visa renewal process so effectively that you are now in and out in around 30-40 minutes. Unfortunately the ECC application hasn't yet caught up with this level of efficiency. So, it's Window 43 where he gives you a fistful of forms (don't bother downloading the ones on the website, they're out of date - who knew?). Duly completed, you hand them, along with 3 photographs into Window 5. He takes them from you and passes them to a young lady hovering behind who immediately disappears. You now have no idea what happens and he is now dealing with the next applicant and ignoring your questions. It seems that you wait at Window 6 for another lady to give you a number to go to Window 44 where you are photographed (what did they need my 3 for?) and fingerprinted. He gives you another piece of paper to take to Window 14 where you are relieved of nine hundred peso and get another piece of paper in return. This entitles you to proceed quick-smart to Window 10 where, miraculously, your paperwork has reappeared. The nice man there gives you yet another piece of paper telling you that you may return (deep joy) on Thursday to collect your ECC. Wonderful! It actually doesn't take long to type, but there was a snag I'd forgotten about. You see long term foreign residents (spouse/retirement visas, etc) have to re-register annually with the BOI and guess when? Yup, January. This meant the place was absolutely heaving and as the ECC windows are shared with the re-register windows, there were huge queues everywhere and the process took a gentle five hours. Note to self, do the next visa run early! I was also supposed to be sending an envelope to a fellow board member here so a trip to the Post Office, as mentioned above, was necessary, the couriers wanting around 100GBP for a small letter! Anyway, after 300 minutes up Intramuros, I was in no mood to tangle with the good representatives of PHLPost. So that was the first job this morning. Jumped a sidecar and we whizzed around the corner. Bound up the steps to find I am the only punter in the place (perhaps they're all up the BOI?), am very efficiently dealt with and emerge 10 minutes later complete with tracking number. This means we can now watch it sit in Ermita PO for the next few weeks in real time! Anyway, just back from that and the next stop was the local travel agent who has the simple instructions of out Friday, home Saturday, cheap, cheerful and a hotel near to the airport. No idea which country I'll be going to. Isn't it exciting? |
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Last Edit: Jan 17, 2017 3:25:53 GMT by georgeb
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Guess it doesn't matter where you go in this instance as long as you make it back safe.
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Guess it doesn't matter where you go in this instance as long as you make it back safe. That's certainly a big part of it! Anyway, I is going to Taiwan it would appear, providing China doesn't invade it in the next few days of course. Cheap turns out to be an upturned orange crate on Cebu Pacific along with hideous flight times. I get to Taiwan at ten past midnight on Saturday and I arrive back in Manila at 4am on Sunday morning. Lovely. Cebu were good when they first started and we used them quite a bit on KL - Manila trips but they went the way of all budget airlines and now, if there's two of you, with luggage, it's cheaper to fly with full-fat carriers. Me, with a toothbrush, clean polo shirt and a pair of undies, at least won't have to pay baggage. Thank God I'm not taking Madam! Never been to Taiwan, so it'll be a first for me and I'll have a fair bit of time to kill between being thrown out of my hotel at 12 noon Saturday and not flying back until 1:25am Sunday. Looks like a wander, some Chinese food and a few cold beers are in order. I'll be staying at the Pleasant Hotels International (I've seen worse) whose website endearingly tells me, "Pleasant Hotels International was located at Taoyuan downtown and close to Taoyuan International Airport." I'm really hoping it still is! Oh, and on the sending post to the UK front, I tried the tracking number this morning and it's not even in the system yet. Did they really say, "International Express Mail"? |
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eternaloptimist
Posted a lot
Too many projects, not enough time or space...
Posts: 2,578
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Jan 18, 2017 16:24:00 GMT
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Looking forward to the Taiwanese update this weekend....
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XC70, VW split screen crew cab, Standard Ten
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Jan 18, 2017 22:45:34 GMT
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Hmmm, "Letter from Taiwan - One man's struggle to get home to his family on a budget airline". Looking forward to this. No pressure! |
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Jan 18, 2017 23:42:54 GMT
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First up, post. It's MOVED.  Not very far admittedly, but it's a start? Looking forward to the Taiwanese update this weekend.... Hmmm, "Letter from Taiwan - One man's struggle to get home to his family on a budget airline". Looking forward to this. No pressure! Oh yes? Six hours of airports, five hours of crappy airline torture, half a night in a second rate hotel, ten hours to kill in downtown Taoyuan, and a 4am arrival back in Manila, all for the amusement of some folks on the other side of the planet? Ah, what the hell, gotta be done, right? In other news, I was browsing around the interweb the other day and came across this...  Possibly the best advert for a motorcycle manufacturer and condoms I've ever seen! And just to prove that we Brits are still spreading our great culture around the world. Yesterday, the eldest Bottle Opener had a school project to buy the ingredients, make and get independent reaction to a sandwich, all with a photographic record. This may sound mundane, but it's something you don't often see Filipinos eating, so pretty damned erotic exotic here. May I therefore present the...  Great Bacon, Ham, Cheese, Egg and Chip Triple Decker Butty! And yes, that ketchup is Heinz. The consumer comment? "Masarap (very delicious) and the dog liked it too!" |
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Last Edit: Jan 18, 2017 23:48:17 GMT by georgeb
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Jan 18, 2017 23:56:17 GMT
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Yes, but can she make a kebab?
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,976
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Yes, but can she make a kebab? [pistonheads]sod the kebabs is she single[/pistonheads] |
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Yes, but can she make a kebab? Not yet, but she's a dab hand at instant noodles! |
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Yes, but can she make a kebab? [pistonheads]sod the kebabs is she single[/pistonheads] Yes, and she's staying that way!  I've invested thousands in her education, as she wants to be called to the bar.  I'm damned if I'm letting that go to waste! |
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Last Edit: Jan 19, 2017 2:39:09 GMT by georgeb
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