2007 can only be better than 2006.....

That was the year that was...

In the big scheme of things, not the best year I've ever had...in fact probably one of the worst...

Workwise, a very challenging and fairly depressing year. Unfortunately when one's boss rather unexpectedly kills himself early in the year it sort of sets the tone for the rest of the year....

Personally, some fun times, but take it from me, a year of unrequited love is definitely not a good way to pass the year!!!

On the bright side...I managed to get away a few times...mostly to Cebu, but a few trips to Hong Kong and one trip to Koh Samui...

My favourite day of the year, would have been this one... a wonderful trip and even better company...

Songs that will remind me of this year....You're Beautiful, Whereever you will go, I didn't know I was looking for love until I found you

and in the 2006 blogosphere

Best insight into how men really think...The Dog's Name....his most enlightening post First Date Slutty

One blog writer that is guaranteed to stretch my mind....and also my favourite blog from the Philippines...MLQ3....there is no competition in my book

The other two bloggers who stretch my mind would be E@L and Hemlock

The blog with the biggest concept change of the year....that of course would be Spike over at Hongkie Town...

My favourite post comment-conversation this year.....How do you know it still makes me laugh....and you know what's really funny - I still don't know!!!!

So, to all you bloggers, readers, and lurkers - here's hoping that 2007 is full of health and happiness for you.

Happy New Year.

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It's happened...

Saddam Hussein dead.

Update:
Two bloggers have written down almost exactly what I was thinking yesterday...
Skippy-San

However I can't help wondering if there were times that Saddam sat in his cell and wondered if there was one thing, just one thing he should have done differently. Obviously, in hindsight, there were a LOT of things he should have done differently, but if I had to boil it down to one thing, it would be this.

He should never have invaded Kuwait. Something tells me that deep in his mind he realized that this last year. If he had never given the order to invade Kuwait in 1990-the odds are pretty good he would still be alive and in power today.

and Rambling Hal

Seems there's a new trend on what to butcher the first day of Eid. Sheep no longer have to feel lonely about being sacrificed on this day. Starting now, they are joined by psychotic dictators as well.

They hanged Saddam at dawn on the first day of Eid....a time when mosques are ringing with the call for Eid prayer. I get goosebumps from the macabre-ness of it all.

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It's kind of busy at work so.....

Modern technology can't help us, but a room full of snakes can! Actually I kind of know how they feel...my submitting a request for annual leave is the hotel's signal that something will happen...in May my leave was cancelled due to major upheavels at work, in November, the same thing...this morning I submitted a leave request for the end January/beginning February....there are a few people sitting here with their heads in their hands wondering what will happen this time!

Richard Hammond back out on the open road....one, very lucky, lucky Hamster.

Music listening at the moment is the Virgin Radio Top 500....some old favourites I had forgotten about..Alannah MylesBlack Velvet, just to name one...

Asia's World City, is ever so slightly out of touch with the rest of the world. Spike has another take on the story. In the Philippines, we have been asked to limit our phone calls over seas. It happens, in Jordan we lost our internet connections for a week due to an earthquake in Algeria.

The Best of the BBC's weekly caption competition is out....my all time favourite was this one.

Arab media commentary on the 'upcoming' death of Saddam Hussein.

Whenever I mention snow in Jordan...people look at me as if I'm a little daft...and repeat very slowly..."Snow...in Jordan?"...and yes it does...from today's Jordan Times (link only lasts the week)


AMMAN — Around 3,000 cars remained stranded on the Maan-Aqaba highway late Thursday due to the severe snow blizzard, with the onset of frost hindering rescue operations, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Snow ploughs have been in action in Karak, Tafileh and Maan, while helicopters were called in to evacuate stranded citizens and tourists.

Tony Blair's holiday under scrutiny again...

The Sloane Ranger grows up...I guess it happens to all of us...although I still have my barbour, I also fit the grown up version...I just hope that to celebrate the 25 years they reprint the handbook...mine fell apart!!!

There are only a few reasons to have a cat....this could be one of them...although I can't see either of my two doing this...

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Be prepared, just don't leave them lying around....

Those of you that have been reading my drivel for a while, will be aware of a certain tendancy of my male visitors to leave articles of clothing lying around...

Those of you that have been reading my drivel for a while will be aware of Chairman Mao's tendancy to cause chaos....included in the chaos is his tendancy to pick up small things that make a noise, or just push them off the side they are on and then carry them around for a while and finally deposit them as a trophy somewhere near me....this covers, bottle lids, coins, bits of paper, plastic wrapping, sellotape pieces....as a result I am very careful about what I leave lying around...Chairman Mao also likes to go through my handbag on a regular basis with his paws and likes sitting up on the counter in the bathroom and watching whilst people brush their teeth and generally go about their ablutions...

Before the Island boy left on Thursday I did check carefully he hadnt left anything behind...I cant take the accusing looks from the laundry ladies anymore.... and the area was clear...he left, I went back to bed to snooze...I remember waking up and Chairman Mao was playing with something crinkly...I assumed it was the plastic seal of a bottle of water...

Later he came and gave me his trophy gift....it was a nice new condom still in its shiny, metallic wrapping... oh joy....

That's it....no more overnight guests... it's just not worth it!!!

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Bits and pieces

When I was at boarding school we had 'tuck boxes' into which was put your collection of sweets for each term. Every day after lunch the sweets were dolled out...Do you remember these...Monday to Friday you got three sweets, Saturdays four and Sundays five...obviously not all sweets were equal...10 smarties made up one sweet, one pear drop was one sweet, a sherbet dip dap was five sweets so only on Sundays could those be enjoyed...liqorice shoelaces were two sweets. I have to say that remembering this, its hardly surprising I'm borderline obsessive compulsive! During exeats, grand-parents, uncles and aunts would take us down to the sweet shop to stock up up the tuck box and we would spend quite some time working out which was the best value in relation to our sweet allocation...how long they lasted was the best indicator...for me, I always went for pear drops (which is why the smell of nail varnish now always reminds me of boarding school!!), sherbet dip daps and strawberry and cream boiled sweets! Anyway, after every exeat luggage was checked for sweets to be added to the tuck box, God forbid you would squirrel some away for illegal consumption.





All from a wonderful website called A quarter of, thanks to the kind Scottish reader who sent me that gentle reminder!

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A virtual tour of Number 10

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The Island Boy's contribution to my collection of reading material was The Bad Girl's Guide to Getting What You Want, no idea where he got the idea I was a 'Bad Girl' from...but there you go. If I weren't already a Bad Girl I could follow the three day transformation plan in the book with suggestions such as...

Day one, To-do list: Buy fruits and vegetables
Day two, To-do list: Buy banana and cucumber
Day three, To-do list: Buy vibrator

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Do I really need an excuse....

This was going to be just the picture of Daniel Craig, and then I reasoned that I am not so shallow that I would just a gratuitous picture of Craig, so I decided that I better write at least something to show my train of thought (such as it is!)....

Whilst reading Market Manila's Christmas post about all his 'Bond' loot, I came accross this link (the picture in the article is not for the faint hearted!) which also linked to this article about Daniel Craig in his shorts (the picture in this article is not for the faint hearted either...but for different reasons)....

As one who has spent the past 25 years lifting weights, I suspect, or at least I hope, that Craig's Bond might signal the return of the beefcake over the androgynous metrosexual as the new paragon of manliness.

I am sticking my neck out here, but I suspect that muscles never really went out of fashion. Women have for years been throwing their underwear at the sculpted chests of Chippendales.

And Mills and Boon novels, where the heroine invariably finds herself snuggling up against the broad and hairy chest of her brooding paramour, have been bestsellers for years.

Which reminded me of a post I wrote about the Milk Tray Man a while back...

OK, that's enough...you make the connections...I'm just going to sit enjoy the view for a while..

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So that was Christmas...and this is Boxing Day!

Those of you who have to work over Christmas know that the festive days eventually become just like any other just slightly noiser and busier!

Fortunately I am off tomorrow and Thursday, and the Island Boy is in town having spent Christmas with his family...so I have some company as it seems that this year all my friends are out of town (varying distances!) and I have had no one to go out to play with!!

The plan for tomorrow, some serious sleeping in, the Island Boy arrived in Manila on the evening of the 23rd...and we sat up talking and demolishing a bottle of Absolut Raspberry until about 5am...not good when work starts early in the morning! Am definitely getting a little too old for that lark!

And the rest of the world...predictably at Christmas the world seems to quieten down...

The Daily Telegraph has started their review of 2007, the first is the fashion review of the year..Kate Moss, the older woman and M&S...obviously not a great year for the world of fashion!!!

The Queen's speech available as a podcast, along with her use of Estuary English, HM really is catching up with her 'subjects', by this time next year she should be nicely dropping her 'aitches', should we blaming that on the late Diana, Princess of Wales?

speaking of dropping 'aitches'.. Eliza Doolitle!


Straight from the horse's mouth on the the whole 'cross on the air' BBC saga, not to be confused with the whole 'cross in the air' (well in reality only at check in!) BA saga.

And for those of you who missed it last year, I still have MLQ3's Christmas column from last year pinned to my noticeboard in the office...has anything changed? Has the situation improved at all?...Like Hell it has....

Of course it wouldn't be the festive season in the Philippines if there weren't headlines like this...2 hit by stray bullets, 34 hurt by firecrackers, and it's not even New Year's Eve yet....

My favourite SMS Christmas greeting this year....

'Gloria stops con-ass, delays con-con, reskeds ASEAN summit, so b4 she postpones Christmas 2, let me greet u & ur family'

For someone not directly involved in the Philippines...con-ass is the locally recognised abbreviation for Constituent Assembly, and con-con the abbreviation for Constitutional Convention, Gloria refers to the little one.

I told you it was quiet out there......!!!!

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Christmas gifts Filipino style....

For those of you not in the Philippines...gift giving here at Christmas is huge....I have never seen anything like it. The gifts are usually small, just a token really and invariably useful, nothing overly extravagant or flippant.

This morning I had a pile of gifts to unwrap, all of them lovely, but two in particular stand out as special..and both were CD's.

The first CD was one that a work colleague had made for me...entitled "Songs for someone who's been there, done that and got the t-shirt".

The second was an album of an artist that I had never heard of until last week...(I lead a very sheltered musical life!), when I was trying to find out what this rather special person wanted for Christmas I asked a mutual acquaintance (aka Island Boy!) and he suggested the new Josh Groban album..so that's what I picked up on my next foray to the shops, having no idea what this album was like and never having heard of the artist I decided to go to the website where you can listen to the album...deciding I liked it I thought that I ought to pick up a copy for myself some time. Now, no need...the person I gave the Josh Groban cd to, gave me one for Christmas....serendipity!

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May peace be yours this Christmas.....

At Christmas I no more desire a rose, Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows; But like of each thing that in season grows.
William Shakespeare

Shrine of the Nativity, Bethlehem.
by David Roberts

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Hello again....

A few years ago whilst living in Hong Kong I was attempting something in the culinary arena of my kitchen....whilst undertaking this very rare task I managed to burn myself very badly...given that it was about 2am (don't ask!) and in Disco Bay I knew I couldn't face going to the hospital so thought that the next best thing was to call my mother for advice...

So I called her and got her voice mail and left a very long and rambling message in a rather distressed tone of voice....she never called back....so I went to bed with the burnt hand all wrapped up in germolene and a pillow case...

The next day my mother still hadn't called back so I called her in a rather agitated mode and she swore blind that she hadn't received the message.

About a week later I called my mother again and when the phone was answered I immediately launched into my '"Hello mummy" routine'....where upon this woman (obviously not my mother) said "I'm sorry dear I'm not your mother but are you the same girl who called last week about the burnt hand?", so I said yes, and the lady was kind enough to enquire about my hand and offer a few suggestions for future burns....

Anyway...this evening I called my mother....and the phone was answered...so I launched into my '"Hello mummy" routine'....it was the same woman...and she remembered me!!!!

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Blimey...

This happened at work today....the method was not exactly the same, but the end result was....

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'Tis the season to be....frustrated.....

A friend of mine who I have known for a couple of years (we met in Hong Kong) has just recently moved to Manila to work, up to now she has been based in Cebu. Knowing me as impatient, intolerant person she cannot believe the change that Manila has wrought on me...I now stand patiently in a long, slow queue, I smile sweetly when stressed and take all that Manila can throw at me with a vague smirk...

However, the build up to the festive season has sorely tested my new found serenity, reminding me of all the things that drive me crazy here...and guess what? I'm going to offload on you, dear reader....

Taxis
Already a rarity under normal circumstances, during the month of December taxis become as rare as hen's teeth (particularly those that will take you where you actually want to go). Normally I can wait for about 10-15 minutes for a taxi to go home at night....during December that can stretch to an hour or more....at the end of a 14-15 hour day that is not an appealing wait.

Cashpoint/ATM/ETC machines
After 8pm (or thereabouts) the connection between the different banks' machines doesn't work so well (I'm being polite here!)...so you have to find your own bank's machine. The queues are horrendously long...I counted 50 people in one queue at the Shang Mall the other day - I joke not. The main reason the queues are so long is that it seems you cannot withdraw more than P10,000 (about HK$1600) in one shot..I stood behind someone the other day who had to carry out five seperate transactions to withdraw P50,000...the reason that this much cash is needed leads me neatly to my next point...

Credit Cards / Debit cards
My SuperEase card(debit card) in Hong Kong can be used for any amount of money provided the money is in my account...if I go into a shop and make purchases of HK10,000 I can swipe my SuperEase and the bill is paid...here my debit card is good for only P5,000 per day. If I want to use my credit card for a significant purchase, i have to provide photographic ID as back up and either have to make a phone call to my bank or expect to receive a phone call confirming the purchase...if I'm spending HK$50,000 I could understand that...but this is for the equivalent of about HK$3,000.

Grocery Shopping
None of the supermarkets I frequent (Rustans or SM) have a conveyor belt at the cashier's till and to make the situation worse, the area for the shopping to be placed on is tiny (about the size of the ones at Oliver's in Prince's Building). Now given that the population here shops in bulk for groceries, unlike HKG where groceries are purchased on a 'as required basis', these two factors can make for a very, very slow grocery shopping experience. Even more frustrating when after confirming that even though the supermarket is now under different management they still do delivery, after waiting in line for about 40 minutes and then taking 15 minutes to process my shopping, I am told there is now no delivery as the supermarket is under different management (thanks Rustans)...so I had two options - get a refund on all the shopping or struggle upstairs with bottles of water, a crate of beer, cat food etc etc (all the heavy) stuff and stand in line for a taxi for an hour or so... I went for the refund route...only took about 20 minutes...I was quite impressed!

Other shopping...
So many stores do not use barcode readers...M&S is a major culprit of this....every item has to have its code entered independently and every price label torn off....trust me, on a normal day its irritating...during Christmas when people are buying (and this is no exaggeration) 25 pairs of socks, 10 bottles of shower gel and 15 boxes of handkerchiefs in one purchase; it can take 30 minutes to process the items and pay - and then...they are all wrapped individually in tissue and then the paper bags...

And finally...the sticky labels that the stores use...and I mention particularly M&S and the book stores (Fully Booked and Powerbooks) are almost impossible to remove without damaging the surface of the book or packet, regardless of how long you take over it or how ever much nail polish remover one uses....


So there you have it...the masses of people and the traffic around town are not really the things that bother me....it is the sheer difficulty of actually making the purchase that gets to me. If shops/banks make it easy to spend money then people will...it's that simple...

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You've been a bad previous colony...

A slap on the wrists for this

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This week in reality....

Population control, the Filipino way...and no, I am not trying to be funny, the idea came from Dom in a previous comment....it amazes me that this kind of thing happens here on such a regular basis and the next day it is old news...journalists, politicians...anyone seems to be fair game. I remember a few years back when I was in Jordan, I was talking to one of the journalists reporting on the Iraq war, they were commenting on the fact that in war situations when they said waved off their colleagues/friends they didn't know if they would see them alive again....at the end of the conversation, the throw away comment from the reporter was "It could be worse, I could be a Filipino reporter working in the Philippines, or possibly worse, a politician". At the time I had no idea what they were referring to. Now, unfortunately I do.

The rest of the Asia really doesn't believe the 'Perfect Storm' theory. And now, the general concensus is that the Philippines have caused ASEANto lose face and that the Philippines have lost credibility

A 13 year old's Christmas wish list...that father won't drink on christmas aka a Christmas reality check

Quote of the week...."We have a rapid rate of assimilation. Put a Filipino in Antarctica, and in a month they'll be one with the penguins."

So there is somewhere that has a more bizarre concept of democracy than Hong Kong.

I am known for being a very un-tactile person, particularly around people I don't know or only vaguely know...actually to be honest even around people I know very well. This has been a point of great amusement for my friends and puzzlement for those who don't know me well when I flinch at someone's touch! However, my time in the Philippines has somewhat improved the situation, the flinch now really only comes with people I don't know and even then it's less of a flinch and more of a 'freeze'! Filipinos are incredibly tactile and a touch on the arm or an arm around the shoulder or a kiss on the cheek after the first meeting are all quite normal. Case in point, last week a colleague of mine was going to a conference in Shanghai which would was going to be attended by a friend of mine from the Oman, I packed up some Christmas gifts for my friend and passed them on to my colleague and asked her to pass them on with my love....my colleague said "Should I give her a hug or is she like you?", my response..."Oh believe me she's worse, if you do that she'll belt you!". However, in future if anyone questions my flinching I shall just say that I take my lead from Angelina Jolie!

And finally, Mice on a plane, not nearly as scary as Snakes on a Plane, but just as puzzling!

Reading this week; Roasting in Hell's Kitchen, The Painted Veil, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs: (She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse, Trade Union Behavior in the Philippines, 1946-1990, A young man's passage and A good man in Africa.

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Don't get me started....

exhibit a; a possible light at the end of a tunnel

exhibit b; the blanket to put out the light

exhibit c Percentage of the population that are Catholic - Brazil - 85%, Italy - 96%, Philippines - 81%

exhibit d; Population growth - Philippines - 1.84, Brazil - 1.06, Italy - 0.07

exhibit e ; Birth rate - Philippines #74, Brazil #134, Italy at #219.

exhibit f; Gross National Income (per capita) - Philippines #106, Brazil #67, Italy #20

You join the dots...

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You what...?

Whilst compiling a rough draft of 'goodies' for a Valentine's collection, my colleague and I asked his secretary for her opinion on the items and what she would be willing to pay for the items....the list looked something like this...

Chocolates
Champagne
Furry handcuffs
Chocolate body frosting with a paint brush
Large feather
Blindfold
Heart shaped cookie

The secretary studied the list in silence for a while and then in a quizzical voice said

"The feather? Is there a duck attached?"


Is there something I'm missing out on....??!!!!

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Stick a pin in the globe.....

The British media has hit upon a newsworthy topic...Why are 5.5m Brits living abroad?, that amounts to almost 1 in 10 Brits who have decided to escape the British Isles for pastures new or more exciting.

The BBC has come up with an interactive map so you can see where they are all living (and avoid as necessary!!).

In my little corner of the world I see there are 14,000 Brits living in the Philippines. As I have only met about 10 of them...there are still a fair few to meet - if I so wish! On the other side of the coin I see that 120,000 people from 'Other Far East' (which includes the Philippines) are living in Britain.

The Daily Telegraph is asking What would it take for British expats to return home?. It's an interesting question and one that (so far) 253 people have commented on. Answers vary from changing the government to reducing taxes/giving better value for taxes to improving the weather.

Why do I not go back and settle in the UK or more to the point why do I not want to? It's a very tough question to answer and there are so many facets of the answer which vary from day to day that I could never answer the question completely. One thing I do know is that it's not the weather...I am partial to British weather; particularly the weather in Scotland - I love winter!! I will however, attempt a few vague thoughts as to why I continue to globe trot and see myself settling anywhere but the UK.

I was brought up overseas, at the age of 6 months I was taken to Guyana, and from there was packed up every 18 months or so and moved onto pastures new and definitely exciting...covering territory from Algeria to Dubai to Indonesia with quite a few stop offs in between and after! I was at one point educated at boarding school in the UK, the strange thing is that as a boarder in the UK I didn't see too much of the country...arriving from the holidays overseas one is 'locked in'...until the end of term at which point one is unceremoniously dumped at the airport for the flight home! After boarding school I spent three years in Switzerland studying (well more like perfecting the art of skiing and drinking vast quantities and combining the two!!) and then.....three years living in the UK.

Three years in the UK ended in me returning my engagement ring and heading for Hong Kong leaving nothing but dust....not my proudest moment but definitely one of my better decisions. It suddenly came to me one Sunday afternoon sitting in the garden of my house in England that I couldn't face the rest of my life being cooped up in Hertfordshire and spending Sunday lunches with my in-laws and and discussing the price of groceries with my work colleagues....it was all far to scary to even consider! I was correct in my fears, my ex-fiance is still living in Hertfordshire (now with his wife), Sunday's are spent playing golf and lunch with his parents, holidays are to tame parts of Europe where English is spoken and the food 'not too foreign'..., he was lovely...but the life...yikes!

I find Britain too confining. I feel claustraphobic whenever there and breathe a sigh of relief as I walk airside as I leave the country. I find the whole atmosphere of political correctness ridiculous, I find the curtailment of Britain's own culture and heritage too much to deal with.

There's too much of the world to experience and see to live in Britain for ever, my mother tries to convince me that holidays are just as good (this from a woman who grew up as a 'Shell' baby and trotted the globe with her parents and then her husband and is finding it hard to settle in England at the age of 58!!!), but we all know holidays are just a glimpse into a country or a city, to experience the country properly you need to live there.

In my mind's eye I see the British Isles as a big cattle pen...and the rest of the world as the unfenced prairies....I don't like being penned! The other major thing for me is that although my family are there, I have so few real friends in Britain and so many real friends around the world that it just makes sense to be somewhere a little more central.

On a lighter note, the other day whilst commenting on the looks of a guy in a picture (I wasn't being too complimentary!) a friend commented that the reason I didn't like the look of this guy was that he was too ordinary and my taste was a little more 'exotic'...maybe that's what it all comes down to...sub-consciously I am on the hunt for an exotic man!!! Seriously, I'm not that shallow!!!!

Life in Hong Kong, followed by Jordan and now the Philippines has convinced me that for the rest of my life...globe trotting is in order. At some point, no doubt, I shall settle...but I seriously doubt it will be the UK....I am however, open to suggestions!!

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The things we do for love.....

The 10th of December marked 70 years since Edward VIII abdicated from the British throne in order to be with the woman he loved.



It is an event and romance in history that has long fascinated me and I think I have read most books printed on the subject. I think what really got me interested in the subject of Wallis Simpson was the sight of her jewels when they went to auction....the Cartier panther items particularly.


The fascination with this pair resulted in my first pair of cats being called Edward and Mrs Simpson!

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News Bites....

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...Hell hath no fury, as a woman scorned


And the British media is moving up to the starting line, ready for the off....Wills and Kate's possibleengagement.

Another 'royal' story...Zara follows in the footsteps of her mother..., but this is definitely a royal first!

'Done in' by the dishwasher....

Hong Kong's own version of 'democracy' starts to kick in...

News of the (now) unnecessary 'Imeldific' make over for Cebu city...,and on the subject of the delay of the ASEAN summit, I think GMA was damned if she did and damned if she didn't...speaking of which...anyone who wants a few days in Cebu, I think the hotels are offering good rates...

The things that happen next door, coming home late on Thursday evening only to be greeted by the media and the police....it all happens on Wack Wack road!

Et, en fin, dîner dans le noir!

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Subic Bay rape.....

Being caught up in work issues I didn't get around to writing about the Subic rape case.

This story has been ongoing since last November at certain times in the last year the news has gone into a frenzy on the story. The verdict was given at the beginning of the week.

The overall feeling I got from the case was not that justice was being sought for 'Nicole', but that justice was being sought for years of American colonisation. The following quote sums up my general impression....

“The international community is watching the Philippines and is waiting on whether we would issue a verdict submissive to the whims of the world’s lone superpower or we would finally change course and stand up for the dignity of our many ‘Nicoles’ [the name by which the complainant is publicly known] who were stripped of their right to justice ever since we played the role of an over-friendly host to not so woman-friendly US military troops,” said lawyer Marlon J. Manuel, convenor of the Alternative Law Groups (ALG).

At one stage during the case the accused, Lance Corporal Daniel Smith,
said "I think it's horrible what I've been accused of. This place has taken a year off of my life that I can never get back.". Given that his sentence is somewhere between 20-40 years, he's possibly regretting that comment.

and two links for you...

For a good post on the Subic case, over to Torn and Frayed

Is it how women dress or present themselves that is what causes rape? Apparently not according to the Virgin Pornstar, and I agree with her.

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The plot thickens....

PAGASA were allegedly not consulted when the decision was made to postpone the ASEAN summit..

..and suddenly after postponing ASEAN, the rumours of a coup start.

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Only in the Philippines...

After all this....the ASEAN summit is now postponed.....

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Hospitality differences...

It has come to my attention over the last few days that here in the Philippines when one has house guests one is expected to give up ones bed for the visitors, none of this sleeping on the sofa, day bed, floor etc etc...

However, when the Island boy comes to visit he gets the day bed thingy in the living room...so when I was telling this to one of my colleagues today he made some comment in a rather horrified tone of voice along the lines of "You mean your guest sleeps in the living room?"..

The only thing I have in my defence is that, knowing that the Island boy cannot function without coffee in the morning, I actually bought (for the first time ever!) coffee and made him a cup of coffee! Those that know me in real life would be horrified and surprised...I loathe coffee, the smell, the taste, the slightest whiff has been known to make me throw up in the past, the problem is so bad that past coffee drinking boyfriends ended up having to give up coffee altogether as kissing someone who's recently drunk coffee is really, really not good!!!!!

So, I may not give up my bed, but if you ask me, the coffee in the house is a far, far greater sacrifice and a far greater show of hospitality!

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I say a little prayer for you.....

The ASEAN summit kicks off in Cebu on Sunday....personally I think this event has been challenged in the 'luck' department since the beginning....first all the issues over the new Convention Centre..will it be finished? Yes, it will, no it won't, yes it will, no it won't...ok well maybe parts of it will be finished....plus a liberal dose of criticism for the 'Imeldific' renovations (I've been wanting to use that word for a while!!)

And now...multiple terror threat warnings, and if that's not enough...a possible storm.....

And just to add to my personal concerns, my two favourite men in the Philippines will both be there for the next week....


Friday afternoon:
610 kms east of Southern Leyte
Saturday afternoon:
190 kms southeast of Guian, Eastern Samar
Sunday afternoon:
it will be in the vicinity of Mactan, Cebu

PDI's ASEAN updates
PAGASA

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Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition....

Thanks to an incredibly kind hearted fellow Scot who picked up on my list, last night’s viewing was Sliding Doors….John Hannah…definitely high up on my list of gorgeous men….not sure if it’s the accent or the face…probably a combination of the two!



I do enjoy Sliding Doors…it really is my kind of movie, and has one of my favourite lines of any movie…the only thing is that being the cynical and rather untrusting person that I am, I can never be too sure that their final meeting in the elevator means that they do actually live happily ever after….

I guess I have to work on this rather suspicious streak of mine!!!

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Not sure if I should be flattered or not....

I learnt a new word yesterday....a colleague called me a Succubus...

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Honestly, I was just petting the good looking drunk guy...!!!

Yesterday when reading Indy's post for the love of pussy, I actually laughed out loud...and kept giggling all day just thinking of this one line....

There is a reason why a dog is man’s best friend…would Russell Crowe have been taken half as seriously as Maximus if he’d gone into battle with a Persian Cat…I don’t think so!

I may not agree entirely with Indy's comments, being the owner of two furry felines would explain my incomplete agreement. However, to a certain extent I can see his point...I love hounds...favourite breeds - Scottish Deerhound, Irish Wolfhound and German Shepherds. But the hours that I work, the places that I live and my overall lifestyle is not conducive to looking after a dog. So 8 years ago I made the decision to take home two street cats from Causeway Bay....its a decision I've never regretted. However, I am fortunate, Chairman Mao is as much a dog as any canine you would wish to meet...he sits, stays, stops squeaking, all on command...and he'll fetch as well! Chiang Kai-shek....well being the grouchy, unsociable character that she is...I never have to worry about her 'cat' behaviour, she curls up in bed at night to sleep and that's as good as it gets!

And whilst touching briefly on the subject of pets....in the first edition of the Philippine Maxim magazine (a friend of mine was profiled, hence I was flicking through the magazine!!!), there was a rather amusing quote....

Men are like pets, every woman should have one"

And today's post from Indy, hear, hear!!! I know he only surveyed the 'blokes in the pub', but speaking for myself I can safely say I agree completely!

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Here be dragons....

Under cover of darkness and under further cover of the duvet, everything in life seems so much easier...work problems can be resolved, that 'chat' you need to have with someone becomes much more 'doable', making the decision to change your hair style, giving your resignation, moving countries, telling someone you are in love with them....it all becomes more approachable and all seems possible...

and then the cold light of day dawns and all the easy resolutions and decisions made under cover of darkness disappear.

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Ok...it's just an excuse for another gratuitous Robbie Williams picture...

Some people say the strangest things....Robbie Williams on having sex with a man...

"I wouldn't enjoy it but I could do it under pain of death, or if it meant saving a baby bunny from being burned alive."

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I'm beginning to feel like Dot Cotton....

It seems that my spare bed has become a place that my guests feel comfortable leaving their clothing behind! This morning whilst sorting my laundry I found a shirt that the Island boy had left behind from his last visit...

Is this the way that the single men of the new millenium get their laundry done...one piece at a time, by a different woman each time?....or do I just have very forgetful guests? I can't help feeling there are more efficient ways of getting one's laundry done!!

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Power Dressing....

It's not often that reading the FT makes me snort....but this weekend it did...

In the Style section is a little section dedicated to Power Dressing, and the subject this week is none other than Imelda Romualdez Marcos, garnering more press for her recently launched line of fashion jewellery and accessories. Unfortunately the article has no link on the FT website so you'll need to make do with a photo...(not very high tech, I'm sorry!)



The snorting came after reading the following sections...
Dress: ......"I can't afford to buy expensive clothes and certainly cannot afford couture. (The Philippines government) robbed me of everything"
Scarf: Asprey
Watch: Bulgari

Well, if she has a watch from Bulgari, we at least know she's not completely destitute.

and finally.... "The collection)will succeed becase we are selling beauty and of course, God and love. To be 'Imeldific' is to unleash the beautiful in you. Mao surrendered to beauty. He said, what I love about Imelda is that she is so natural and that is perfection'..."

The article gives a link to the website promoting the former First Lady's collection, with information such as the authenticity of the pieces and what to do with them when they fall apart, an added bonus are the desktop wallpapers that are available for her true fans.....

I'm not sure if that's a trout or not....?


And no, this post was not intentionally written to scare a certain lady in Barnsley!!!!

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Typhoon Alley.....

As Typhoon Durian (Reming) makes its way accross the South China Seas to inflict its damage on Vietnam, there are two thoughts that cross my mind...

The first is that Mount Mayon seemed fairly set on causing some form of catastrophe this year...if a volcanic explosion wasn't on the cards, then the mudslides from a typhoon will cause equal amounts of damage and death.

Secondly, in modern Hong Kong, safe and secure in our concrete infrastructure, even the likes of Typhoon York, inflict 'relatively' minimal damage. Yet, here in the Philippines these typhoons wreak death and destruction on unimaginable levels, the fact that possibly 1,000 people lost their lives during Typhoon Durian is incredible. As we sit here in Manila enjoying the sunny day, blue skies and air cleared of the pollution by the wind from the typhoon, it is hard to imagine the horrors that are being experienced in Bicol at the moment.

Pictures from the BBC
Typhoon Alley from CNN
Aid and donations through the Philippine Red Cross
News updates from the PDI

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My brother gets the good business trips...

My baby brother is on a business trip to South Africa...having the weekend to play he decides to head over to one of my favourite wine makers....and send me the photo just to make sure I'm jealous!!

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And in the news recently.....

The British news is full of all the new locations that are being uncovered in the case of the radiation poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, unfortunately one my closest friends has been caught up in this as he works at one at one of the London locations...

Surely it would have been easier just to make a jam sandwich than to eat a swan.

In home news, it is now officially dangerous, to serve pork.

In Hong Kong news, another gruesome crime makes the BBC headlines, to be really honest, I was expecting the final paragraph of the article to contain some comment referring to Nancy Kissel and her infamous milkshakes.

Brunei's very own Fall Guy is obviously feeling a little sorry for himself...

In Nigeria, Gaddafi proves once more that he really is slightly unhinged!

And in a world gone ever so slightly mad...apparently the lower picture shows a girl with a "sensational" body.



This week's reading has been Spanking the Donkey, Married to a Bedouin and Queen Camilla

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OK...last weather posting....

Looking at the opening page of the PDI this morning, I was rather surprised to see the rather familiar colours and graphics of the HKO being used to show the track of typhoon Reming(Durian)

Surely a country that has as many typhoons as the Philippines and has its own Observatory, could manage to supply the media with suitable graphics? Although, having said that, I noticed that over the last few days that the PAGASA website could not handle the traffic and then set up two alternative sites.

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