Midnight Tuesday my final evening in the Phils......

Well my final evening has arrived, I had my final walk to Glorietta, Packed my bags late afternoon but there are too many, I will never be allowed 1 large suitcase, I smallish bag, a laptop case with lots of other things inside, a backpack, a bag with a souvenir in it and finally a racket sports bag with lots of other things inside too. Lots of dvd's that I bought while I was here, I hope they don't expect me to pay the duty on them..... if they do I will simply throw them away. I also have another cunning plan, if they say .... "too many bags sir"...... the smallish bag has all the shirts that don't fit me very well at the moment..... so I will simply dump that too.

I had a meal with coaches William senior and Junior, Dianne and my favourite player Keeyan, he is 9 years old, he is the son of coach William Juniors sister. It was enjoyable.

Coach William senior brought Keeyan and was supposed to bring Sarah, she is an 8 year old girl that is very talented and I have a real soft spot for her, she is the child that gave me my first "Mano Po", she is staying with the Coaches during this time as school is out and she is taking part in the summer camp training. She won the under 10 division of my tournament, she is much poorer than the rest of the kids, she didn't come tonight because she doesn't have any clothes that could be worn in a decent restaurant... not my opinion but theirs.

She is staying with the coaches for the whole 2 months of the summer training, Coach William told me that she came to his home with all her clothes in an old cardboard box because her family are so poor. People try and help her there, I think that it is really great, someone bought her trainers to play in as she didn't have any, her racket is the type that no kid would want to be seen dead with in the UK and yet she is better than any of them in her age group. I sponsored her by buying her a new racket and case, so she is dead chuffed about that, I really feel for her, she is such a sweet girl but is held back by her position in life. I've noticed that she hangs back when the coaches ask who wants to do this or that, she allows people to go before her as though she is 2nd best, she is very humble as is her father.... this all really affects me big time so much so that tears can come to my eyes when I think of it..... probably something to do with my upbringing in Glasgow.


Sarah with Keeyan in the center


This is the few young players that took part in the summer boot camp. Keeyan normally a quiet boy jumped up and grabbed me round the neck...... luckily he is only 9 and a lightweight or I could have ended up with serious neckache !!

I am now sitting here in my condo for the last time, I intend staying awake tonight, for one I don't think I will be able to sleep, anyway I can get a good sleep on the flight home.

So it is all over now, I limped home (knee is shot) but enjoyed strolling home and taking all the sights in, 11pm and it's still hot as I walk past all the tropical trees to my street. I arranged for a taxi to come for me at 7.45am via the night receptionist, I like the fact that someone does that for me, she can speak in tagalog and agreed a price for me.

I'm sitting here looking at my packed suitcases, everything now looks bare but tidier than it has ever been during my stay. I got my beer by my side ( well no point in leaving it) and I have to finish the last little drop of whisky that I have left in the bottle. I am leaving the things that I can not take........ electric kettle, water dispenser, some wine and some tins of food that I didn't eat for coach William, he will take whatever he wants and give the rest to others that may need it.

well that's it the adventure is over, it has been a great experience and something that I will never forget. I can only hope that things work out and I am back here living full time in the very near future.
I've seen 2 men shot dead, a bombing in the mall. a 5.8 earthquake, an attempted coup of the government, experienced a curfew one night, and many many bribes and corruption. Plus so many other good things too, a people that respect their elders, a place with having grey hair makes you a well respected person with an opinion to listen to rather than just being that grey haired old prat as I would be seen as in the UK. A place where my badminton training is respected rather than no-one really giving a toss whether you are there or not.

A place where I can say to a teenager or someone in their 20's.... "hey don't do that" and he listens without saying something like ... "go forth and multiply you old git!" !!

A place where you can toot your horn at another driver without the risk of being killed or even being given the one finger salute... I don't know how they stay so calm ALL of the time.

A place where so many people say to me " good morning sir..... how are you..... did you enjoy your lunch.

A place where people text me and say " lets eat" even though they may be 100's of miles away.... strange but nice too... I used to read that as.... "we are going to eat together" but was confused because they were so far away.... all it really means is hey it's lunchtime.... lets eat..... you where you are and me where I am..... hey it's the Phils.... sometimes there is no rational explanation !!

A place where you have to be careful of the words that you use as they will take them literally. My favourite being when I say to someone " hey I'm not going to be charged extra for that am I", they reply " yes sir" meaning .... yes you won't be charged extra... when I'm expecting a " no sir you won't". There are lots of instances like that.... it makes life interesting.

I could go on and on but will stop here so that you can finish reading and go to bed.

It's now 1am Wednesday, just over 9 hours and I will be on the plane. I am so not tired... I will end here, drink my last whisky, look over the makati skyline and think of all the good people that I have met and the good experiences that I have had.

So it's goodnight from me in this tropical heat awaiting my arrival at heathrow, when that plane door opens and that icy draft comes in I know where I wish I was. I will have a jumper with me, something that I have never even thought of for 7 months.

I hope you had a wonderful Tuesday............... Goodbye