Thursday 10am 31st July

well I arrived in Mindanao yesterday at 12 noon. I am in Ozamiz which is one of the poorest cities in Mindanao. It's quite quaint in a way, I have seen it before but it still tickles me, when the plane lands at the airport you are literally no more than 50 yds from their back doors!!! Can you imagine opening your back door in the morning to see a jet plane go screaming past in reverse thrust trying to brake... only in the Philippines.

From the "airport".... more like just a landing strip, I had to get to my hotel.... there are no cabs just motorcabs as they call them, basically a motorbike with a sidecar. I stay in the best hotel in the city... well there are only 2 and this is the better one but it leaves a lot to be desired. It wouldn't get a 1 star in the UK but this is a poor city so I understand. I was really surprised and pleased to see that they have had wi fi installed... I thought... my goodness they are moving with the times.... I can now use my laptop when I get bored. The whole city closes at 9pm.... no kidding.... after 9pm even the street lights go out !!! so wonderful at 9pm I can go online and keep myself entertained... then I find out that I can only be online in the lobby area not my room... that's not so bad.... then I find out that the wifi is off from 10pm .....!!!!! I can't win. Also in the hotel you can only have hot water for 2 hours per day.... can you believe that !!

Basically there is nothing to do in Ozamiz, the city ( really only a small town) is only for people to come into work and sell their wares. It has a few big shops that supply the city with most of it's needs. so at 9pm everyone goes to bed.... that is why at 6am everything comes alive... except me of course, I am just recovering from bad sleeping so was still asleep at 8.30am until I got my first text !!!! Texting is such a way of life here, just like the UK I suppose or anywhere else for that matter, but NO ONE phones you here... it's always just a text, texting is so important that the President of the Phils has just got the major phone companies to reduce the cost of a text from 1 peso to 50 centavos.... that's about 1 penny to a half penny per text.

I hope you all have a great Thursday......

Monday 27th July 2008 10pm

Today is Monday, I arrived in Manila at 9am after an uneventful journey, was through customs and into my hotel within the hour.

My hotel is in the red light district of Makati but it is a really nice high end hotel, the good thing is that its cheap because of the area.

It's really ok here especially as I am here for only 3 nights. The only hassle is being constantly approached by sellers of viagra and everything else that they think that you will buy from them.

The girls dont come out til late and they are not aggressive at all, mostly I dont see them as I am in my room early evening.

I leave to go to Mindanao on Wednesday morning, I have 62 shirts for the family that I know there. I am also going to Davao to meet Mindanao Bob, he has asked me before to call him for a meet, he is doing a seminar on Saturday 9th so I thought I can kill 2 birds with one stone.

I hope the weather in the UK is still as good as it was before I left, surprisingly over here it has been raining with winds as we had a typhoon but it was no big deal at all.

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Me in the Phils.... was I ??

I have been home now for over 2 weeks. Things seem strange, in some ways it feels that I never left the Uk and the Phils is a distant memory.......... but when I sit alone at night, all the good things and some of the bad come back to remind me of how much I loved living there.

I've been out and about in Uxbridge town at different times, when I'm walking and people watching I can't help but see so many people that when I look into their eyes, I can see that the lights are on but there is no-one at home.... so many people just drifting through their lives.... probably as we all do.
I really notice the young people, walking with their mobile phones pressed to their ears and I hear a constant barrage of 4 letter words, they don't seem to care who can hear them... sadly lots are teenage girls. I can see the aggression in so many people, everyone rushing to get wherever they are going and nobody better get in their way, so many young men that I wouldn't trust to even talk to......... to me anyway they stand out as of low intelligence and with a criminal mind... yes I am being judgemental.

The weather since I returned has been quite good save today as it is raining.........

I really wish I was back in the Phils where people.... although they may have less but smile so much more and seem relatively happy with what they have.

Gerry in Uxbridge

Well I have been home for just over a week now, everything has mostly gone well since my return.

It started with me going through customs with 6 bags and I didn't get stopped !!!.... I was home within 45 mins of landing at Heathrow.

I have managed to get most utilities connected except my internet.... I am piggybacking to write this.

I drove to Sandbach in Cheshire to visit my sister Anne for the evening then I drove to Glasgow to visit Helen & Jimmy, Patsy & Joe and finally Paul & Karen where I delivered to them the karaoke mike that I bought on their behalf in the Phils.......... I never sing Karaoke but Karen FORCED me... honest !!!! ...... for the record it was the Stones...... satisfaction.

I then drove 6 and a half hours to visit Maurice in Janice in Skegness, this journey isn't the best but with my CD's on and the sun shining it wasn't too bad.

So I have driven nearly 1000 miles since my return which was very enjoyable, I forgot how nice it is driving on the freeway doing a 100mph +..... it was just for a min or two !!!!

I have had a really good week with my family it was really great to see them all... and I ate extremely well at all of their homes.......... thanks all !!

I have had to do shopping again but luckily here we have Marks and Sparks.... their food is deeelliiicious..!!!

Hope you enjoyed reading my blog in the Phils and I will continue with this for a while....but only about once per week.
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Enjoy your weekend................................

This reallyis my last post on Philippine soil !!

I didn't go to bed last night but I probably fell asleep for about an hour. I was in the shower at 6.15am, I then packed my laptop and the rest of my stuff, it took me longer than I thought. I finished packing at 7.20am just in time for the rental agent's arrival, I then noticed that I hadn't packed my dvds and CD's so I had to make room for them. I packed my kettle and other stuff for coach William and left it all in the lobby for him to collect... time was then becoming an issue as it was 7.40am and the taxi was due at 7.45.. rushed back upstairs for my last check... sorted out Teddy the agent ( really helpful guy) then got mu luggage downstairs for the taxi. Getting stressed...... I have 6 bags to take to the airport... How can I reduce them !! don't know so just get there and worry then.

The building assistants put my bags in the cab as I was saying goodbye to people ... trying to keep one eye on my luggage in case the cabbie legs it with my gear. Now in the cab and on my way to the airport... a bit more relaxed now.... get to the airport at 8.30am... trying to find a cart for these 6 bags... this knee problem is getting on my nerves... luggage on cart... reach the first security checkpoint.. pass through there no problem, onto the conveyor belt checkpoint, I'm hobbling and trying to get 6 bags on this blooming belt... goes through and then have to get another cart for these 6 bags... the airport is like an ants nest with so many people crammed in there.. I'm walking (hobbling) with this cart trying to get through the throng to reach my check in desk..... luckily I'm flying business class so need to queue there.... is she going to allow me 3 bags checked in and to take 3 aboard ???? She is a pretty and friendly young girl, we chat... 7 months sir you must like it here.... yes yes love it .. what else can I say so she lets me get these bags on.....I say lots of nice things and she lets me take 3 bags !!! THANK YOU !!

First hurdle over.... now to queue up to pay the 750p terminal tax... keeps myself busy in this queue filling in my immigration form..... now I am in the queue for immigration.... through there too... this has all taken over 1 hour, I'm hot, stressed.... watching your luggage all the time, don't lose your passport or boarding pass etc etc. Now in queue for last security check... sail through there... now on my way to the business lounge... get inside.. sit down in a comfy chair and let all the stress and anxiety leave the body. I can sit in here relaxing until 15 mins before the flight takes off..... which is where I am at this moment... it's now 10.20 am, 10 mins and I will be aboard back to dear old Blighty !!

Time for me to go.... Thanks to all for taking the time to visit my my blog and leave comments.

This is me signing out for the last time .... Gerry in the Phils..... soon to be sad of Uxbridge..... :-(

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

My last Monday......... ;-(

well badminton was enjoyable today, I coached a group all afternoon until 6.30pm. I then played one game with Arnell which we won.... so I won the last game that I played in the Phils.

I have serious problems with my knees so much so that I bought a knee support for my left knee which did help. Of course then my right knee gave me real pain all night and I simply struggled badly to move. The first thought of course and this is what doctors will probably say... you are getting old so what do you expect... well normally I would say yes to that, but my regular readers may remember that it was only last year here in the Phils that I played 18 games in one night with no knee problems at all and I won 14 of them. So what happened to that guy !!... my knees can't just lose it that quickly, old age problems would be more gradual.

It was a nice night and it ended with some pressies and 2 big banners with good wishes on them.... see below.





I got home at 12.30am, Arnell gave me a lift home again and his daughter came as well as she wanted to see where I lived. See below




It's now 2.30 am Tuesday, I am sitting here feeling a little sad and drinking a little dram, but more than anything I feel sort of strange... weird even... it doesn't feel real in some way.

I will pack early tomorrow, also I will try and get everything done that needs to be done so I can maybe have a meal in the evening with my coaching friends. I will also have my last walk into glorietta.

Hope you all had a great Monday