Sunday, October 30, 2005

"Well, that seems a safe enough distance..."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make.

Incredible as it may seem, both the observations of science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars."


Sixty seven years ago today, Orson Welles managed to cause a fair amount of panic in America when his adaptation of H.G. Wells novel "War of the Worlds" was broadcast on the radio.

A copy of the script here.

And coincidentally 30th October also marks the anniversary of John Logie Baird transmitting the first moving image on a mechanical television.

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Quick question....

Because I feel that I just don't have enough to keep me occupied at present I want to get a second blog up and running...this one more personal and just for family...only thing is I want to make sure that only those I want to access it have access....do any of you more experienced bloggers have any ideas or suggestions of how I can have a password protected blog....

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It can get worse....

a few things I learnt last night...

a)the majority of shops in Manila that sell lights...don't sell light bulbs.

b)MegaMall is one hell of a long mall..particularly when you hike up and down 6 times in an hour, in high heels with a deep cut on one foot(after dropping a bookcase on it!)

c)pet stores here are for dogs...not cats...however, a kitchen sieve makes an ok substitute for a cat litter scoop.

d)there are only two organised taxi ranks in the world...the first is at Changi airport arrival, the second at the Central Star Ferry terminal - MegaMall could learn from these two places...

e)cats don't like spending the day wading around in an inch of water - although it does make for brief human entertainment to watch them try...

f)it takes about 5 hours to clean up a flat's worth of flooded water

g)a can of cold San Miguel beer is an excellent substitute for dinner

h)generally, shop assistants here are very helpful and willing to fetch and carry....last night I spent the equivalent of about HK$800 in one shop and for that they dispatched two guys to help me to the taxi rank..they then waited in line with me and made sure all my stuff fitted in the taxi...

i)the majority of the time I enjoy being single - I value the freedom and the peace and quiet...however, the last couple of days it would have been nice to have a man around to help fetch, carry and fix - and just generally be around to share the joys of the last few days!!


And the final thing I learnt last night was that the reason that I like Ikea is simply down to the fact that whatever you need you can take home with you...you don't need to wait for delivery - which satisfies my "instant gratification" streak....and...most importantly, they sell lights AND lightbulbs.

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Saturday, October 29, 2005

dirt...

As I move from city to city, I realise that each city has its own unique brand of dirt....

Amman - desert sand that used to blow in through window frame cracks and under door ways and coat surfaces in a fine, grainy yellow/orange layer...unless it was during a sandstorm in which case you would come home and find a thick layer and a veritable dune blocking the front door!

Hong Kong - in a word...."mould"...growing on walls, on clothes, on handbags...

Manila - the pollution is actually tangible, it covers everything in a thick, black greasy layer of dirt - electrical appliances, floors, window frames, furniture....and it never seems to come off completely....

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Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse....

left work at about 9:30pm on Thursday night with the plan of going back to my new apartment and unpacking a few boxes before falling into bed....

The Gods had other plans....got home, lock on front door didn't work....four hours later was finally in my house..took so long because when the locksmith finally turned up, he had forgotten his tools..........

Note to the wise...pizza delivery is quicker and the timing more accurate than getting a locksmith who allegedly is based just around the corner....second note to the wise... a locksmith here doesn't unscrew the lock and change it like in HKG - he picks the lock and then takes the lock apart to make sure your keys work in it....

So by the time he has finished it's about 1am...I have a cold pizza to eat...open the box and discover that my not really listening whilst I order has left me with a Hawaiian Pizza....I HATE pineapple on my pizza....so cold, congealed, pineapple pizza...yummy.

Unpack a few more boxes, working up a good sweat, down a few bottles of water...need the toilet....yup, you guessed it - toilet (both) and shower break...by this point I am seriously not happy...

Skip to the next morning, after about half an hours sleep, I summon my agent....she arrives and I vent my displeasure..I have to say that I was so angry that I actually can't clearly remember what I said...anyway the last I saw of my agent was as she ran out the front door - crying..I think she got the message as during the day a steady stream of people turned up to fix various things...

At some point in the proceedings I received a delivery....


As a result, for the rest of the day whilst unpacking and putting things in their place, little heads kept popping out from behind boxes and packages....





They had been travelling since about 3:30am on Friday morning, arrived at my house at about 5pm and then proceeded to explore the house, all evening and all night...this morning they actually looked tired!!!

So, finally yesterday evening at about 7pm I left the house in search of domestic items such as a brush, dustpan etc...and food...had not eaten since the cold pizza of the night before...

Went to MegaMall - Bad, Bad, Bad idea...payday, a sale night and a Friday night - with the mall open to midnight...couldn't have picked a worse night if I tried...anyway managed to get the basics and left the shop with all my shopping - about 10 bags plus brushes, mops etc - went out to the taxi queue...about 200 people waiting for taxis so after a moment of dispair I pulled myself together and collared an FX taxi driver (closest thing in HKG would be a red or green minibus)...his car was empty so I said to him I will pay whatever it takes but I want you to take me to my front door...so he packed me in the front seat with all my shopping, offered a few more people a ride and then we set off...it was great - door to door service and then finally when I got home, everyone piled out and helped me into my building with my shopping...not bad for 100 PHP...

So back home to clean...until about 3am this morning...fell into bed and then into work this morning...feel like crap, so tired and achy...but this was my view this morning as I had my cup of tea....



Next time I decide to move house/country....remind me of this post....

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Thursday, October 27, 2005

Showing one's true colours....

Just taken in my local branch of National Bookstore...


a few suggestions.....
there has been a recent delivery of Iranian and Iraqi flags
there are going to be delegations from the two countries visiting Manila
there is a special discount on Iranian and Iraqi flags
or the person manning the flag counter is showing his support

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Welcome to Manila....

from Madras

An entertaining look at settling into Manila!

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How you find me....

Apparently someone has found my by searching google for why pilots are unfaithful...take it from me...I am not an expert and never will be on the subject of a pilot's love life!!!

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Of milk and horses....

Last night I did my first real piece of grocery shopping since I came to Manila....quite a few oddities from chocolate toothpaste (will try later in the name of research!) to a huge variety of milk all taking up three complete aisles in a very big supermarket!


If you can't find it here...I don't think it exists!!!

Television viewing last night was Hong Kong's horse racing scene via the National Geographic channel, if you ever get to see this program, do it's worth it...they really managed to capture the spirit of horse racing in Hong Kong... a few facts and figures I jotted down whilst watching...

US$10 billion a year is spent on horse racing in Hong Kong

Given the amount of money that is bet over a year's time...that could ensure that every piece of money printed or cast in Hong Kong would pass through the Jockey Club's hands at least once

The amount of tax the Jockey Club pays makes up 70% of HK's tax revenue


The program also follows the lives of a few people involved in horse racing - a trainer, a reformed gambler, a tipster and a guy who managed to win two triple trios within a month and then bought a flat, put the rest of the money into a bank account, went on a long holiday and when he came back he found his wife had emptied his bank account of the HK10million....he went to court, he lost and is back at the track side looking the elusive third triple trio win....

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Wednesday, October 26, 2005

One step nearer to home...

This is what 51 boxes (49 boxes of books!) looks like...



and whilst I managed to clear out most of the horrific artefacts in the apartment before I moved in....this charming lamp remained...as a monument to really bad taste!

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So that's what people think of me....

e-mail from my boss to our HRD...

"Please also include Madame Chiang as she is an alien too"

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why pick on Manila....!!!

Hemlock seems to think that the grisly find at the Inland Revenue tower makes Hong Kong like Manila....as if....!!

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I like it when a plan comes together......


Yes, this is the key to my new home....finally got it this morning....

Allegedly, my shipment has been found and could possible be delivered this afternoon....

and, to the colleague who left the note on my desk saying that my shipment had been found in Jakarta....there are not words bad enough to describe what I would like to do to you!!!

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005

trivialities....

One of the new toys in M&S for Christmas is a "Sabre-toothed tiger" with sound affects....the usual thing...squeeze its tummy and it roars....so all of you who live near an M&S go in and squeeze a tiger..I dare you not to laugh....no self-respecting sabre-toothed tiger ever sounded like that..


Sabre-toothed tiger


Anyway, if the tiger doesn't appeal...then how about a pilot....of the Dear Daniel variety...according to the website he's 'hot'!


from here, via here and here.

Admittedly I do have a Cathay Pilot that sleeps next to me every night....


However, whilst looking at the CX website I see that there is now a slightly more 'flash' bear available....


Maybe the first one is the type of pilot found sitting in the DB plaza whilst the second one is the type you find living it up in Wanchai and LKF....

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So what would I be doing.....?

Just received an e-mail with the following date on it...

Monday, January 01, 1601 8:00 AM

So what happened in 1601 - Robert Deveraux indulged in a spot of rebelling and consequently lost his head, Matteo Ricci arrived in China...and it rained a lot in Russia....not exactly the most exciting year to be writing to me from....

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Of smog....and Angels...

The moving house saga continues....was all ready to hand over vast quantities of money (the payment in advance here is like nothing I have ever seen before...apparently I am lucky - only two months deposit and six months in advance!) and move into the apartment - yesterday was my day off and all was planned and organised....except for one factor - the agent had decided to 'go out of town for the day' and had forgotten to tell me..anyway will now have to move over after work in the evenings. I have to be vaguely settled before the travelling zoo arrives on Friday, experience tells me they don't like the packing or unpacking procedure!

Moving yesterday would have proved challenging as I had the migraine from hell and being released from my moving duties consequently spent the day holed up in a very dark and very cold room!

Having read the SCMP on Sunday I see that HKG's air quality over the last few days has been pretty diabolical....Manila isn't any great shakes either on that front...below two photographs - same view,same time - 24 hours apart!




Wandering around the shops on Sunday evening (buying the important stuff - toilet brushes, shower curtains, bug killer!!) I went through the Christmas decoration department - which seems to be growing each week, at this rate by December there will be nothing to buy except Christmas decorations!



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Ramadan...a time of peace?

Baghdad....

"These terrorists... really don't mind who they kill, provided they kill somebody in the name of a totally perverted ideology"

Jack Straw
UK foreign secretary

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Sunday, October 23, 2005

Another weakness...

Richard Quest.....

When Quest used to host the BBC World Business Report I became an avid watcher and was not happy when he moved over to CNN...I don't particularly like CNN...

Last night I watched his latest Quest, this time, all in the Quest for beauty...he interviewed Hugh Hefner, learnt how to walk as a model and then took part in a fashion show, had botox and spoke to Joan Rivers about face lifts...

Richard asks: "If you weren't Hugh Hefner would you be called a dirty old man?"

"Probably yes" Hefner replies.

"I do think that I get away with a great deal that other guys wouldn't be able to."

The founder of the Playboy empire is proud to have changed perceptions of female beauty in magazines. His legend is established. His identity is equally clear.

"I am, quite frankly, the luckiest guy on this planet, that's who I am."


I would have thought that Richard would have considered himself fairly lucky given that he was being taught the secrets of catwalk modelling by Ms Capmbell, Ms Schiffer and Ms Evangelista.

It was a good programme and as always with Quest - highly entertaining!

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Saturday, October 22, 2005

What happens now...?

So the UN report is out with fingers pointed at both the Syrian government and some key people in Lebanon...so no surprise there. This gives the US govt. another reason to go after Syria and already the US is pushing the UN (by the way, if you haven't already read this book, you should, it's quite a reality check on how the US govt. demands things of the UN and then when things go wrong, blames the UN) to start considering sanctions. That Syria was involved in the murder of Rafik Hariri was, I don't think ever questioned...it was just a question of confirming the suspicions. This article from the Daily Star makes no real mention of the Lebanese involvement in Hariri's murder.

Whatever happens now the political fallout will be huge...and could further destabilise the region.


Still in the Middle East Al-Jazeera has a whole page on conspiracy theories...during my time in Jordan I was amazed at the rumours and conspiracy theories that abound in that part of the world, fueled mainly by the guys that sit around in the coffee houses smoking their argeelah!


Rudolf Ottenfeld, Backgammon 1890


.....One of the more elaborate conspiracy theories I heard whilst in Jordan was as follows:

The US was invading Iraq in order to free up Iraq in order to move 'Jordan' into Iraq, therefore "uniting" the Hashemites, put the Palestinians into Jordan and let Israel have the rest of the West Bank, Gaza strip etc...

Interesting school of thought...but quite a few of the people who told me about this - from my Lebanese hair dresser to my Jordanian landlord were adamant that this is what was behind the US' intended invasion of Iraq...it all boils down to the perceived 'bad boy' of the Middle East....Israel.

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Friday, October 21, 2005

"Kiss me Hardy..."

Among the famous last words (allegedly) from one of England's finest naval commanders who managed to lead the English navy to victory against the French and Spanish...The Battle of Trafalgar put paid to Napoleon's ideas of having a little saunter over the Channel and invading Britain...not unlike Drake and the Spanish Armada some 200 years previously.

Today marks the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar...an historic era for England and a sea battle that has produced so many stories that are part of growing up English (or British!)...the heroic, 'manly' Georgian naval commander asking the captain of HMS Victory to kiss him, the flags spelling out a sentence that will be used for many hundreds of years to come, the fact that this battle showed England's ability as a small nation to fend off would be attackers and finally the amusing name (well, it amused me at school anyway!!) of the ship tasked with carrying the great news of the victory and tragic news of Nelson's death....HMS Pickle

And this gives me an excuse to show another of my favourite paintings...yet another by Turner....but who can resist this? Although not historically accurate this painting of HMS Victory is spectacular...the historic innacuracies of the painting are (if memory serves correctly - no time left to search!) - as the Victory is showing the "Every man" etc flags the painting is timed at about 11:50 and the French ship Achille is on fire in the background which didn't happen until late afternoon and French ship Redoutable is shown sinking in the foreground which didn't happen until the next day...also something about the flags being on the wrong mast/pole...Anyway, who cares..it's a great painting...



Before the battle commenced, Nelson famously ordered the flags raised to communicate one of the most famous lines in British history - "England expects that every man will do his duty".



There was a good article in the IHT yesterday (full article here) about the Battle of Trafalgar..

(Alex Beam is a columnist for The Boston Globe, where this article first appeared.)

Friday marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, when Lord Horatio Nelson whipped the bloody bejesus out of the combined French and Spanish fleets off Gibraltar. It was perhaps England's finest hour. In one of history's most famous rallying cries, the one-eyed, one-armed Nelson informed his sailors that England expected "every man to do his duty," and for the most part they did.

Cool Britannia has turned the anniversary into a year-long orgy of nostalgia. Understandably so. Once Nelson expired in a pool of his own blood after the battle, it was pretty much downhill from there.

Here is a nation that ruled and, yes, civilized, much of the known world for centuries that is now best known for 1) domiciling a transoceanic airline that offers in-flight massages (Virgin Atlantic) and 2) a monarch-in-waiting who talks to his plants (Charles)




As an aside - but not completely off topic (she was after all at Trafalgar)...I forgot to mention that obviously others in Britain agree with me that Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire" is the greatest painting that Britain has within its shores...

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Thursday, October 20, 2005

One circus is just not enough...

Not content with the 'trying to find a home and move' circus, I have now added in the 'let's ship two cats' circus..

Friday 28th is d-day...they will arrive in true Cathay Pacific style and no doubt from the HKG side all will be smooth and simple...I've sent them before from HKG and it is remarkably easy...the fun and games will start when they arrive in Manila...actually correction, the fun and games started this morning...

I received a call from the CX office in Manila...

CX: "I am calling to confirm that you are willing to receive two live cats next Friday morning"
MC: "Yes, Live would be good"
CX: "Oh they will be live, but do you want them"
MC: "Yes please"

then followed some of the CX paperwork that had to be done and where their office is at NAIA...

then...

MC: "So what about customs, where do I go?"
CX: "Not sure about that"
MC: "So where will the cats be?"
CX: "Not sure"
MC: "OK I'll sort that out, what do I need to bring with me?"
CX: "Don't forget to bring your passport and money (the word money accompanied by a high pitched giggle)
MC: "How much money?
CX: "Don't know (this accompanied by full on laughter! - never a good sign)

So the CX staff give me a number to call at customs so I can find out...at customs they tell me where to come after the CX office and again tell me to bring my passport and money....

MC: "How much will this cost?"
Customs: "depends on the value of the animals...what value are they?"
MC: "To be honest they actually have no monetary value..they are street cats"
Customs: "So one thousand US dollars then?
MC: "Er no....probably about US$100 each (suddenly remembering when I left HKG for Jordan that I had 'faked' a bill for them at about HK500 each and also realising I had thrown away the fake bill thinking I wouldn't need it again)
Customs: "Not sure how much it will be, will need to sort that out when they arrive"
MC: "OK fine"

I put the phone down and realise that next Friday will be an 'interesting' day!

Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek are literally street cats...they were pulled out of a garbage can behind Sogo in Causeway Bay....this has earned them the moniker "The Trash Can Kittens"...I can't help wondering if taking them back to Sogo and letting them go might not be such a bad option, but then I wouldn't be able to add another red part to this map that shows their travels so far....

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"The curse of the jibbering wreck"

Last night I thought I would go and see the latest Wallace and Gromit offering...The curse of the were-rabbit. As usual, Nick Park and his team have come up with a great film...an hour or so of great entertainment.

Unfortunately I timed it so that I was in time for the trailers....now having a very low fear threshold I find that usually the trailers are for films that I would never even consider watching and as a result by the time the main feature starts I am a shivering wreck...so last night the trailers went something like this - in this order....

Pride and Prejudice (ok, fine - will probably go and see it, - my kind of movie)
Prime (looks fairly 'fluffy' could be an entertaining hour or so)
Little Manhattan looks like a fairly crap story..too mushy for even me...however, will probably go and see it because it has Bradley Whitford in!!!

by this point I am lulled into a false sense of security by these nice gentle trailers........

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (great book, Disney film - but the trailer was too scary)
Harry Potter (you've got to be kidding, I hid behind the chairs of the cinema when I went to see the first one....this one looks even worse...but admittedly some of the special effects look pretty good)
Flightplan (no bloody way)
Doom (are you serious.........no bloody way)

so yet again I start to watch a movie a jibbering wreck wondering why on earth if it is a 'nice' film showing that they don't show 'nice' trailers that aren't going to scare the living daylights out of the likes of me....?!

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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

follow up....

as a follow up to this post (which has provoked a flurry of comments, a lot of them not from my 'usual' readers)...this...who'd of thought he was being sarcastic?

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Oddities....

Whenever and wherever I travel I always manage to find at least one little 'oddity', this recent trip to Cebu, whilst wandering around the Philippine Airlines terminal in Manila (which by the way is very nice!) I found this...


granted it's not a very sharp picture, but you can make out the English saying "direct call to Korea"...I just wondered who one would eventually get through to?

In one of the malls in Cebu city my friend and I passed one of those religious artefacts shops and the following was one of the posters in the window....


I am wondering if there is a whole advertising possibility there.....

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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Moonlight Shadows....

So back to reality...from a weekend with lots of sleep (very necessary), copious quantities of Pina Coladas...for some reason the drink of choice...including a pitcher drunk whilst dabbling feet in the pool, telling silly stories and watching the moon rise. Given that I must (unfortunately) avoid the sun at all costs Cebu doesn't hold too much to do...but the break was more about recharging batteries and spending time with a friend who I haven't seen for a while....

plus enjoying a wonderful beauty treatment at the Chi Spa...well worth a trip just for that.


And it was wonderful just to be by the sea again...I know we have Manila Bay...but it's just not the same as this....


and this.....

and this.....


scenes like this are gentle reminders that there is a life outside the concrete jungle....






I didn't make it to the Chocolate Hills, but that just leaves me something else to do for the future!

And then yesterday evening just as I was about to leave...I watched the moon rise..




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Friday, October 14, 2005

Home & Away....

At 3pm I shall be heading out to the airport...(domestic terminal this time, from all accounts much better than the international terminal)...fresh air, sea and sunshine await in Cebu.

On the home front (literally) yesterday, I paid a deposit for an apartment..so hopefully this one is in the bag...it needs a little renovation work and when I went over to see it yesterday there was a little army in there cleaning and touching up the wallpaper etc...it is not in the original area I was looking at but it's close enough....and I was sold on the view. So DV&WP I will be moving in next week.

And finally, this week I have been coming to work a little later than normal...because of this...it has been on the National Geographic channel for the last couple of mornings....great stuff!


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Thursday, October 13, 2005

T.E. Lawrence

Now this is an exhibition that would be worth seeing....will have to wait and see if any nice airlines come up with some cheap tickets to London....


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Happy 80th Birthday

Tthe Iron Lady celebrates her 80th Birthday today...love her or hate her....she was a driving force in British and World politics...

The bottom line is that, for many Tories, she was simply the greatest leader they have had since Churchill, both personally and politically.

Personally because nobody had ever seen anything quite like this handbag-wielding, unapologetic class warrior before.

And politically because she transformed Britain in a way you either loved or loathed, depending largely on which side of the class war you found yourself on.


A few quotations from the great handbag carrier...

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds; and I very rarely change it.

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't

U-turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning



and the best way to start a sentence...ever....

"As God once said, and I think rightly..."

and possibly the greatest trans-atlantic relationship ever...at least until the Blair/Bush "partnership"...

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Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Dragon slayers and rampant sex gods....who also happen to be nice....

Ok.....and so it starts again...

The Platypus (who has moved river bed since last we discussed this!) has brought up the fact that guys don't like being called 'nice'....actually I think that Mia started it all with this post.

Here's my tuppence worth....nice guys call when they say they will, nice guys remember birthdays/anniversaries/special dates, nice guys can look after their women...this does not exclude them from slaying dragons and being bad boys in the bedroom (now there's a good piece of alliteration!) it just means that they have all the ideal qualities combined....

Platypus is half way right...women do want an element of badness, they do want a man with a bit of 'animal' in him...however they also want a 'nice' man....one they can take home to their parents and know how to drink tea from a bone china cup and eat crust off cucumber sandwiches...who can charm their mothers and discuss DIY with their fathers...

So guys...if a woman calls you 'nice' and you think you are a bit of a dragon slayer...then you are probably a bit of both...and in my book - there's nothing wrong with that.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Manila Sunset.....

Sod it all...

Sod the lack of apartment, sod the fact that I haven't organised somewhere for my shipment...and I still have two weeks before the moggies have to be here....

so....this weekend I am going away for a few days....Cebu awaits with its beaches....

so, most of the time here...


with a visit here...

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Monday, October 10, 2005

Piglet and the tale of it 'all going just a little too far'



taken from Far East Cynic.

Skippy-san has written about this.........in a nutshell...more madness on the British 'politically correct' front...

"Novelty pig calendars and toys have been banned by bosses at Dudley Council in case Muslim staff are offended.

Workers in the council's benefits department have been told to remove or cover up all pig products including toys, porcelain, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

It comes after a Muslim worker said they were offended by pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the authority"


In March of this year I wrote a little bit on the same subject, then it was in response to a British court ruling that a female student had been unlawfully excluded from her previous school (in Britain) when she wore her traditional Muslim dress...

When I was living in Jordan I had a Winnie the Pooh and Piglet picture up on my wall, on one of my holidays back to the UK I went to Pooh Corner and played Pooh Sticks on the bridge...texted one of my muslim colleagues back in Jordan to tell then where I was and they asked for a 'souvenir' from the shop...I took back only a Pooh and an Eeyore for them...they asked why I didn't get them a Piglet...

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Unnecessary

Yesterday's article from the SCMP has definitely raised some hackles within HK's blogging community...

Hongkie Town
Simon World
BWG

I didn't make any comment yesterday because I was actually so surprised that what is supposedly Hong Kong's leading English language paper researched, wrote and published an article that I think is so unnecessary.

Actually, in all honesty what this article is driving at is cross-race relationships ....why don't we call a spade a spade...cross-cultural could be Dutch and English...actually even more basic...Scottish-English...now there I can understand the cross-cultural differences!!!

Cross-race and cross-cultural relationships have been frowned on through out history...the early British pioneers would have had the ladies swooning and the gentlemen shaking their collective heads had cross-race relationships occured 'publicly', the founding fathers of the US started years of intolerance towards cross-race relations and the Third Reich was also not so keen on cross-race relationships...and now in 2005, do we possibly have to add Hong Kong to this wonderful list...what a group for us to be proud of joining...

What's makes me angry about the column is not so much the reasonings behind why less Chinese girls want to date Western men (each to their own)...it is the tone of voice that was used.

Cross-cultural relationships are a fact of life in most countries and cultures now...people travel more, people live overseas more often now and the world's population is now more culturally aware...this all leads to greater cross-cultural relationships....

Having been involved with two Chinese guys in the past, the relationships did not really suffer in anyway due to 'cultural differences' more as a result of basic realtionship issues that everyone suffers from...toilet seats left up, garbage not taken out,...that sort of mundane stuff...cultural differences did occur but more as a learning curve and as part of the relationship developing than anything else...the sort of stuff that Lily Wong and Stuart went through...like this.

...and I just have to say that anyone, from any race, culture or religion who cuts their toe nails (or finger nails for that matter) anywhere near me is on a very slippery slope...some things are just better done in private...behind closed doors.

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Sunday, October 09, 2005

What...?

I realise that copy/pasting entire articles from newspapers is not really the done thing...however....I couldn't resist this one...

From the SCMP

Have HK girls stopped looking for Mr White?

Columnist Chip Tsao claims local women no longer date western men. Is there any evidence?

NIKI LAW


Dating a westerner used to be frowned upon because it was controversial, but dating experts and commentators say locals are now avoiding cross-cultural relationships because they are no longer "fashionable".
Spurred by the media frenzy over actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi being seen with a westerner identified as Jeroen, a prominent media commentator recently devoted his column to the lack of appeal in dating westerners.

In a controversial and often scathing indictment of today's expatriates, the former BBC journalist and regular television pundit Chip Tsao said in his column: "In this day and age hanging out with a gweilo is `out'. Before 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony so showing up with a gweilo at a ball or in Lan Kwai Fong escalated your status 100 times. Gweilos were high society and they either lived at the Peak or on Tai Tam Road." Writing in Easyfinder magazine, Tsao said Hong Kong's pre-colonial population of rich westerners sailed off into the sunset with ex-governor Chris Patten and the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation after the handover.

"The ones who stayed behind were left to fend for themselves. They had no choice but to move to dorms on Lamma Island or to rent stone houses that people in Sai Kung use to house pigs," his column said.

"Clad in T-shirts, shorts and a pair of flip-flops, nowadays you see them buying beer from 7-Eleven so they can get the free gifts. They even try bargaining with the new mainland immigrant cashier to try to get a 10 per cent discount."

Tsao warned local girls not to hang out with westerners in Lan Kwai Fong unless they wanted to have a one-night stand in a small flat with "a guy who was muscular but did not last long in bed".

He concluded: "In this day and age you have to be careful when choosing a gweilo. They no longer have cars or property. You might end up stepping on a penniless landmine. It's too much to sacrifice for a passport."

Asked to reflect on his column, Tsao told the Sunday Morning Post it reflected his personal observations and those of his friends. "Hong Kong used to be an international city and English was important. But now we are just like the mainland. We talk about loving the motherland. In today's atmosphere dating a gweilo is like selling out your country."

However, Mak Hoi-wah, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Studies at City University, believes that the trend has to do less with racism than with the fact that westerners and locals are now much closer.

"The difference in social status has decreased and the lines of racial division have softened," he said.

"Also westerners today feel there is no need to put up a front. People just don't feel that westerners are anything special anymore."

Anne Chow, owner of dating service Diamond Single Club, said that members used to admire westerners but clients rarely requested to meet westerners now.

"We have 5,000 members but there is only one girl who always requests to meet westerners. It is not discrimination but people just don't think it's a talking point any more."

Mr Hon of Match Maker dating service said cultural differences were too much to handle for most people.

He said that since it was now so easy to emigrate, westerners were even less appealing because Hong Kong people were no longer willing to put up with differences in return for a passport.

"Most people find cross-cultural relationships difficult. Usually in the beginning they are happy. But once they start to understand each other they realise they cannot accept the differences. There's not much magic left when you watch him cut his toenails," he said.

"The clients who ask for westerners mostly want to emigrate to places like North America. But now it is very easy to do it on your own - through business connections or relatives. As a result only about 3 to 4 per cent of our clients now request to meet westerners."

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Saturday, October 08, 2005

You know it's time to go home when....

.....some of your team come into your office and find you not only listening to very loud Arabic music but also indulging in a little Arabic dancing around the office....

so time to pack it all in....

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Lyrics that just won't go away...........

I'm contemplating thinking about thinking,
It's over rated just get another drink in

.....

I'm not scared of dying I just don't want to

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It's over.........

My precious D.C. mug has finally broken....knocked off its perch by a larger than life colleague trying to manoeuvre his way around my rather tiny little office...it's still in one piece but with a bloody great crack from top to bottom...

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My head hurts....

not from too much alcohol...not from too much thinking...

but from walking into a brick wall...literally.

3am this morning I woke up with a pounding headache...decided to get up and take some paracetamol....decided (why...I still don't know) not to switch on the light....black out curtains are a wonderful thing (normally) so my room is pitch black...anyway I feel my way round the foot of the bed...along the edge of the bedroom towards the bathroom door....and then SMACK...right into the wall...I am sure that the room lit up with the stars that I could see!!!

Anyway...I am sitting here with two distinctly different headaches....and it's going to be a long, long day!

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Friday, October 07, 2005

Words fail me.....

so today someone else's words will be my words.........

here

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Thursday, October 06, 2005

as Fagin said....

"I think I better think it out again".........

the owner of my 'possible' apartment took a deposit for it yesterday from someone else....after my agent spoke to them and told them that I wanted the apartment...

so need to reassess.....

Pissed off doesn't even begin to describe what I am feeling at the moment....

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Wednesday, October 05, 2005

light at the end of the tunnel?

I am not going to get too excited...but I think I have found a little place to call home....unfortunately it is unfurnished and unfortunately I have no furniture...but that can be worked on....

As there is no Ikea here - useful for emergency sleeping arrangements, I went and strolled around MegaMall...I found some of those airbeds which I thought would do in the interim....so, took the details and left....as I wandered out the thought process kicked into place.....air bed....cats claws...could be interesting!!! So will have to rethink that plan.

Anyway, I could be putting the cart before the horse...still not sure if the place is mine.....should have more news tomorrow.

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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Ramadan......

A possibly controversial post given recent events...but I like the Ramadan month and even as a non muslim and therefore non-observer I enjoy the festivities, socialising and special food and drink that goes with Ramadan.

Today is the first day of the holy month of Ramadan....

The concept of Ramadan is usually met with mixed reactions from non muslims...many don't understand, many don't want to understand and many feel that the idea is outdated in this day and age.

There are five acts of worship which strengthen a Muslim's faith and obedience, they are often referred to as the "Five Pillars of Islam." Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars...the other pillars are almsgiving, prayer (five times a day, bearing witness to their faith and a pilgrimage to Mecca...normally referred to as the Hajj. The Holy Qur'an says, in Chapter 2 Verse 183, "O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint."

The basics of Ramadan are that one must fast from sun rise to sun set...as well as fasting one must also abstain from smoking and sex....which is why there are very few weddings during Ramadan.

At sun set the mosques sound the call to prayer and then the fast is broken with a meal called Iftar, after Iftar one should visit family and friends where more food and special Ramdadan drinks are consumed...the eating and drinking goes on until the small hours of the morning and the final meal before sunrise is Sahour...generally involving heavy dishes that will fill you up...bucket loads of hommous are good!

The month of Ramadan is traditionally a peaceful month for Muslims and one during which they can concentrate on their faith...the good that comes from observing Ramadan can be cancelled out by five 'sins' - lying, slander, denouncing someone behind their back, greed or a false promise.

There are some exceptions - if you are a pregnant woman, if you are ill, or if you are travelling you are excused the fasting...but you will need to 'make up the time' at a later stage.

I am not a muslim and yet whilst growing up and working in various muslim countries I had to be very aware of Ramadan and particularly when I was younger we almost had to observe Ramadan..in that we didn't eat and drink in public during the day...lunch was eaten at home with the curtains closed...no bottles of water whilst we were out shopping. These days it is slightly more relaxed and eating and drinking in restaurants is acceptable although out on the street is not such a good idea. In many places alcohol is not permitted even for foreigners during Ramadan...in Jordan the bottle shops close, freestanding bars and restaurants cannot sell alcohol...only hotels.

I remember many nights standing on the terrace of the 10th floor of our building in Amman and watching the sun dip behind Jebel Amman, seeing the completely empty streets and listening to all the mosques starting their call to prayer...as I stood there I could imagine all the people at home and at restaurants all tucking into their first meal since about 5am...After Iftar which we would also join in, we used to go out to the 'Ramadan Tents'....restaurants (and hotels) around town would set up wonderful tents with beautiful decorations usually based around old Arabic villages or stars and crescent moons - here they would lay on entertainment...musical (traditional) or theatrical and we would sit and play cards, catch up with friends and colleagues, smoke our Argeelahs and eat and drink....my favourite drink during Ramadan was a sickly sweet concoction called Sehlab...a wonderful concoction of thickened hot milk, nuts, and cinammon...I always used to rather over indulge and come the end of Ramadan never wanted to see another one until the next Ramadan started...

Unfortunately due to the actions of a few and the inactions of many, Islam is no longer perceived as the peaceful religion that I think it once was. Notwithstanding, I always enjoyed Ramadan and really saw it as a peaceful month when life in Jordan reverted to a facsimile of what it possibly once was....so to all my muslim friends I wish you 'Ramadan Mubarak'....I'm thinking of you having your sahleb and argeelahs!




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Monday, October 03, 2005

Jose Rizal....writer, doctor, linguist, leader and hero

As I mentioned earlier I spent yesterday exploring Intramuros, the old walled city that spawned today's sprawling metropolis of Manila....

There was so much to see and learn that I can't write about it all at once....so am going to break it down into bite size pieces....today - Jose Rizal.

Jose Rizal is the Philippine national hero and has also been given the moniker...."The first Filipino'. He studied at the university of Manila and then sailed for Europe, starting in Madrid to continue his studies....he returned to Asia and practised medicine including some time spent in Hong Kong.

He was a prolific writer of letters and essays and he penned two published novels... Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891) which portray Philippine life under colonial Spanish rule. I have started reading El Filibusterismo but it is up against two other books at the moment so is suffering a little...

Rizal's nationalist fervour eventually led to his arrest by the Spanish authorities, he was tried, charged with sedition and in the early morning of 30th December 1896 he was executed by firing squad at Luneta Park on Manila Bay.

As the day of his execution came closer Rizal penned his last piece, a poem entitled Mi Último Adiós - My Last Farewell. It really is a beautiful piece of poetry.(English translation). Here are just two verses...

Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun,
Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our lost Eden!
To you eagerly I surrender this sad and gloomy life;
And were it brighter, fresher, more florid,
Even then I’d give it to you, for your sake alone.

I die when I see the sky has unfurled its colors
And at last after a cloak of darkness announces the day;
If you need scarlet to tint your dawn,
Shed my blood, pour it as the moment comes,
And may it be gilded by a reflection of the heaven’s newly-born light.


Fort Santiago is where Rizal was held captive until his execution and this is where an excellent museum about Rizal has been set up.

In the fort area is a small exhibition of Rizal's furniture (including some pieces that he had in Hong Kong), plus you can see the original document of his final poem, a mock up of the cell where he was kept incarcerated and the converted chapel where he spent his last night before his execution.

Rizal's Hong Kong business card

The museum is excellent, well presented and very thought provoking. The mock up of his cell is also excellent with illuminated quotes around the wall.Unfortunately the statue of him before he started his walk to his place of execution makes him look more like Charlie Chaplin...and the brass footprints leading from his cell through the fort...just stop by the ticket counter into the fort...I heard two visitors asking each other if he had been shot there?, I understand that it is not really feasible to have the footprints go all the way to Luneta park, however a little sign with an explanation may be a good idea.

The park areas within the fort are beautiful and very well maintained.



Quotes from the walls of the mock up of his cell



The real cell cannot be shown as the building in which it was destroyed during the Second World War (below).


the Chaplinesque statue of Rizal in the cell where he spent his last night alive.


The footprints that follow Rizal's last walk through the fort...I followed them from start to finish, even the bright day light and the sounds of the children playing did not dispel the almost ethereal sense of fear as I followed the prints...I was quite glad to reach the end and step out of the fort...


Rizal really was the most incredible writer and his words put me into a very pensive mood yesterday....from what he wrote it becomes crystal clear the level at which the Philippines has shouldered the colonial burden...the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans and the British have all had a foothold in the Philippines...not easy for any nation.



Reading back over this I haven't done Rizal justice in describing his life and vast number of achievements....this is a fairly bad excuse...but I have had a rather crappy day...both apartments I had lined up (an heir and a spare) both fell through, my shipment allegedly arrives on Thursday...and pathetic though this sounds I miss my moggies....

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