Just done a few chores today, I had a package from London delivered, it took over 3 weeks to arrive. I had to go to the main post office inMakati to pick it up and as always there was a charge, only 40p but there always seems to be a charge for everything here.
It was very very hot today, so much so that I had to keep indoors most of the day, this is when aircon comes into its own. If I spend more than 10 mins in that sun like today, I can actually feel my skin burn immediately. So when you have to go out, you walk for 10 mins then dive into somewhere that has aircon, cool down then do another 10 mins til you get to your destination, of course you can always get a cab which all have aircon,
I spent Wednesday evening coaching 2 adult players that have a tourney this Saturday, good players that can definetly improve very quickly. We had a couple of beers afterwards which made a nice change.
Got to go as I am late for a lunch appointment. ( its now 12 midday hurs)
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
lazy day
I felt tired after yesterday so I had a very lazy and sleepy day, the joys of not having to work !!
I have edited and uploaded 2 videos, one is of the Glorietta bomb, if you watch it you will see a large white sheet attached to the pedestrian bridge that I use to walk from mall to mall, the bomb exploded underneath it. The last scene is of remembrance flowers and ribbons with all the names of those that died that day.
I have also put on my birthday party in Greenbelt, I cut it down to 5 mins, the speeches alone took 45 mins, they were just saying a lot of nice things about... I should have left it all in !!!!
I uploaded them at 5pm UK time so they may not be available to view yet, there is no set time with google, you just have to take your chance when you click on the link.
Hope you enjoy the videos if you get to see them. Unfortunately you do need to have a broadband connection to see them.
Patsy I received your card today..... thank you. I also received a package from london which was sent over 3 weeks ago, so Anne it's still possible that yours could still reach me even yet.
Have a nice day
I have edited and uploaded 2 videos, one is of the Glorietta bomb, if you watch it you will see a large white sheet attached to the pedestrian bridge that I use to walk from mall to mall, the bomb exploded underneath it. The last scene is of remembrance flowers and ribbons with all the names of those that died that day.
I have also put on my birthday party in Greenbelt, I cut it down to 5 mins, the speeches alone took 45 mins, they were just saying a lot of nice things about... I should have left it all in !!!!
I uploaded them at 5pm UK time so they may not be available to view yet, there is no set time with google, you just have to take your chance when you click on the link.
Hope you enjoy the videos if you get to see them. Unfortunately you do need to have a broadband connection to see them.
Patsy I received your card today..... thank you. I also received a package from london which was sent over 3 weeks ago, so Anne it's still possible that yours could still reach me even yet.
Have a nice day
Monday, 5 November 2007
bribery and corruption
This morning I had to go to the Bureau of Immigration to get my visa extended for another 2 months. I walked into the reception area and mentioned the magic words... visa extension please... I was immediately asked to stand at the side... a red flag straight away as everyone else is passing through. As I'm standing there waiting I see another guy ( wearing the same uniform) coming towards the desk, I can see eyes and fingers pointing him in my direction... hello sir he says then goes on to explain that the cost of the visa is 3500 pesos but I will have to wait all day for it and I may even have to return tomorrow....... so whats the alternative I ask, knowing exactly what is coming next.............. well sir for an extra 1200 pesos you can get your passport validated in under an hour... .....oh I am surprised.......not. I say that's too expensive so he offers me a discount of 200p. My thoughts at this time are that I don't really want to be involved in bribery but at the same time I don't want to spend my whole day sitting in this office. So anyway I agree to 4500 pesos, after 20 mins he returns... there is an extra charge of 300 pesos (which in fact was true) so it ended up costing me 4800pesos ( about £50). I paid him the genuine fee of 3800p in cash right there in front of everyone, no-one blinked an eye. When he returned with my passport he handed it over in the toilets where I gave him his bribe of 1000p(£11), my new date is now Jan 8th and because of this he wished me a happy new year.. yea right.. so the 1000 will be shared with any other bribes amongst him and his colleagues.
To add insult to injury, included in the genuine 3800 fee was a 500 pesos charge for.....wait for it..... an express fee !!!
To even further add to injury I left my expensive sunglasses in the cab on the way home.... you gotta laugh or I would cry !!!! :-)
Amazingly after playing badminton tonight a friend gave me a lift home... actually just an hour ago at 11pm, the police stopped us apparently for turning right on a red light, he had 3 other cars stopped for the same charge... it was just a shakedown ( thats my gangster talk !) anyway my friend offers him the normal bribe, but alas as it is in Makati the fine is not the usual 500p but is 1000p so the police office said that he wanted 500p to not issue the ticket which my friend didn't have. Although I saw the money changing hands and the officer returning it I didn't understand what they were saying as they were talking in Tagalog. If I did I would have paid him the 500 as now my friend has a ticket which he will have to pay later of 1000p, this is half his weekly salary !!
This is all because police officers can make a good living just stopping drivers and taking money, if you don't give them what they want then you simply end up paying more in the long run.
Corruption breeds corruption.. it simply becomes acceptable in society and then good people start to do it as well.
Hope your day isn't filled with the uglier side of life.
To add insult to injury, included in the genuine 3800 fee was a 500 pesos charge for.....wait for it..... an express fee !!!
To even further add to injury I left my expensive sunglasses in the cab on the way home.... you gotta laugh or I would cry !!!! :-)
Amazingly after playing badminton tonight a friend gave me a lift home... actually just an hour ago at 11pm, the police stopped us apparently for turning right on a red light, he had 3 other cars stopped for the same charge... it was just a shakedown ( thats my gangster talk !) anyway my friend offers him the normal bribe, but alas as it is in Makati the fine is not the usual 500p but is 1000p so the police office said that he wanted 500p to not issue the ticket which my friend didn't have. Although I saw the money changing hands and the officer returning it I didn't understand what they were saying as they were talking in Tagalog. If I did I would have paid him the 500 as now my friend has a ticket which he will have to pay later of 1000p, this is half his weekly salary !!
This is all because police officers can make a good living just stopping drivers and taking money, if you don't give them what they want then you simply end up paying more in the long run.
Corruption breeds corruption.. it simply becomes acceptable in society and then good people start to do it as well.
Hope your day isn't filled with the uglier side of life.
Sunday, 4 November 2007
semis over
We done quite well today, we had 5 from the 10 go through to the finals next weekend, it could have even been better as 2 of the pairs were drawn against each other therefore only 1 pair could go through. Also the strongest girl was taking heavy medication and lost in 3 when she was expected to win a gold but that's life.
I of our youngest girls got put out by a girl nearly double her size, this girl is as tall as her parents as supposed to be only 8 !! It is always possible that sometimes children can grow out of sync with their peers but this does look dodgy, it has happened many times here that parents lie about their children's age to play them in an age group below their real age to obtain some glory. Records in the provinces aren't as stringently kept like we are used to. A request to see the copy of her birth certificate has been lodged although these are commonly faked as well.... yes I'm afraid the Phils is a very corrupt society.
Even in senior tourneys that are graded, there are what is called "leveling" meaning that someone watches you play and then grades you accordingly. Some players will intentionally play badly hoping to get put into a lower grade or they will get friends involved to get them catorigised as a lower grade. You can clearly see it when you watch or play in some of these tourneys, some matches are so one sided because of the huge gulf in standard.. some people will do anything for a trophy.... how they get away with it is beyond me as is stands out like a sore thumb.
Tomorrow is my visa day, I have to devote my day to simply obtain my next 59 day visa. I'm hoping to find a travel agent that will do it for me... for a price of course, failing that I will have to visit the Bureau of Immigration myself, this could involve me being there for a whole day waiting for it, maybe even having to return the next day also. Lets hope it works out for me.
Yes the sun shone again today... surprise surprise.. though it wasn't too hot.
Hope you have a nice day wherever you are... I'm probably talking to you alone Mary as you are probably the only visitor thatI have today :-)
I of our youngest girls got put out by a girl nearly double her size, this girl is as tall as her parents as supposed to be only 8 !! It is always possible that sometimes children can grow out of sync with their peers but this does look dodgy, it has happened many times here that parents lie about their children's age to play them in an age group below their real age to obtain some glory. Records in the provinces aren't as stringently kept like we are used to. A request to see the copy of her birth certificate has been lodged although these are commonly faked as well.... yes I'm afraid the Phils is a very corrupt society.
Even in senior tourneys that are graded, there are what is called "leveling" meaning that someone watches you play and then grades you accordingly. Some players will intentionally play badly hoping to get put into a lower grade or they will get friends involved to get them catorigised as a lower grade. You can clearly see it when you watch or play in some of these tourneys, some matches are so one sided because of the huge gulf in standard.. some people will do anything for a trophy.... how they get away with it is beyond me as is stands out like a sore thumb.
Tomorrow is my visa day, I have to devote my day to simply obtain my next 59 day visa. I'm hoping to find a travel agent that will do it for me... for a price of course, failing that I will have to visit the Bureau of Immigration myself, this could involve me being there for a whole day waiting for it, maybe even having to return the next day also. Lets hope it works out for me.
Yes the sun shone again today... surprise surprise.. though it wasn't too hot.
Hope you have a nice day wherever you are... I'm probably talking to you alone Mary as you are probably the only visitor thatI have today :-)
Saturday, 3 November 2007
weekend is here
I made a mistake yesterday, today there were more quarter finals played, we now have 10 through to the semis which is played tomorrow (Sunday). The finals are next weekend and are played in one of the mega malls... yes a shopping mall..... they put courts up in the centre of the mall, they do this a lot to keep shoppers amused I guess.
I had a 2 hour walk home from this new venue that we are playing in, I found an area that was very interesting, I walked down a side street and found a busy shopping area where there was even more small "shops" in a basement.. probably over 100, the metal joists were about my head height, I had to duck every 5 yds. These places are were to buy some things as they are so much cheaper than elsewhere.
I went to the cinema this evening just to get out and do something different, I have been before and both times the movie has been spoiled by women talking, I read about this before I came but even still I find it very annoying and inconsiderate but it seems to be acceptable here. I even told them to shut up twice but they looked at me as though I was weird. Some people say that the conversations that you can listen in to can be more interesting than the film.... that maybe so but I still hate it with a vengeance.
I had a 2 hour walk home from this new venue that we are playing in, I found an area that was very interesting, I walked down a side street and found a busy shopping area where there was even more small "shops" in a basement.. probably over 100, the metal joists were about my head height, I had to duck every 5 yds. These places are were to buy some things as they are so much cheaper than elsewhere.
I went to the cinema this evening just to get out and do something different, I have been before and both times the movie has been spoiled by women talking, I read about this before I came but even still I find it very annoying and inconsiderate but it seems to be acceptable here. I even told them to shut up twice but they looked at me as though I was weird. Some people say that the conversations that you can listen in to can be more interesting than the film.... that maybe so but I still hate it with a vengeance.
Friday, 2 November 2007
Friday 7pm..... UK 11am
Well we had a good day today as we have 8 players through to the semis in different age groups, hopefully 4 will go through to the finals and then... well we hope for 1 or 2 gold medals.
I wanted to post another letter today, in this country there are no postboxes I have to make a 20min walk to the main post office to post anything, so count yourself lucky in the UK, US and Canada. It's things like that we take for granted, I haven't even received 2 packages that were sent to me, 1 over 3 weeks ago. If the postal sevice think that there is anything of value inside then it probably won't reach me. Corruption is big here in many ways, alledgely as far up as the president, most deposed presidents have been found to have large amounts of cash stashed away.
If police stop you to give you a ticket then the fine will be something like 500 pesos (£5) but if you give him 200/300 pesos then you can go on your way. Police don't get a decent salary so this is one way to supplement it and they do, anyone that is power of any kind seems to use it mainly as a way of making money. I am sure that there are some good too though.
On Monday I have to go to the Bureau of immigration to get my visa extended for another 59 days, costs about £40 and a long wait in their offices, I am not looking forward to that as it could be a whole day wasted.
Hope you all have a great weekend wherever you are in this beautiful world.
I wanted to post another letter today, in this country there are no postboxes I have to make a 20min walk to the main post office to post anything, so count yourself lucky in the UK, US and Canada. It's things like that we take for granted, I haven't even received 2 packages that were sent to me, 1 over 3 weeks ago. If the postal sevice think that there is anything of value inside then it probably won't reach me. Corruption is big here in many ways, alledgely as far up as the president, most deposed presidents have been found to have large amounts of cash stashed away.
If police stop you to give you a ticket then the fine will be something like 500 pesos (£5) but if you give him 200/300 pesos then you can go on your way. Police don't get a decent salary so this is one way to supplement it and they do, anyone that is power of any kind seems to use it mainly as a way of making money. I am sure that there are some good too though.
On Monday I have to go to the Bureau of immigration to get my visa extended for another 59 days, costs about £40 and a long wait in their offices, I am not looking forward to that as it could be a whole day wasted.
Hope you all have a great weekend wherever you are in this beautiful world.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Thursday 11pm
Today was a very quiet day, Makati streets were empty more than I have ever seen before. I had a very lazy day trying to recover from this tourney, Thursday was a day off, semi finals are tomorrow and Finals on Saturday. Keeyan is through to the semis, he's only turned 9 in September but you should see him play......... incredible.
There is 2/3 players that I would love to take home with me, Keeyan and Carla both 9 years old but awesome players and I have a soft spot for both of them. These asian players are away ahead of their counterparts in the UK, they are put under match pressure as soon as they play, in the Uk we protect that age group from any pressure and the parents even complain that they are still under too much pressure. This may be one of the reasons that the Asians are so far ahead of us in this sport. Over here the players have to deal with all the spectators standing courtside and your opponants supporters cheer and scream at every mistake you make, at home we protect then from that, no-one is allowed courtside other than coaches and we only applaud when our players play a good shot but not when the opponent makes an error. These tourneys are played over a full week and players have to take days off from school for each round that go through on, that would never happen in the UK, education always come first, I can't even get some players to compete on a Saturday as they attend school even then, oddly enough it is the Asian british players that refuse to play as their parents push them in their education.
I will put some video on this weekend, it just takes so long to edit it. But hopefully will be worth the wait.
Would you adam and eve it, the UK is just as bad as the Phils, I tried to do a simple transfer of cash from the Alliance & Leicester to another bank account that I have, I put in my 9 digit account no, then my 12 digit ID number and finally my 5 digit pin number.... is that enough... no.... during the transfer it asks for 2 digits from my password..... which one is that ???.... so it doesn't work and locks me out of my accounts but says that I have to ring them to renew my password.
I ring them in the UK and get put on hold while listening to some crap music which is costing me lots to listen to...... I get through to an advisor........ asks me lots of questions regarding 3 accounts that I have with them... I know the exact figures as I had access to them at the time (problem was only during transfer)... is that enough.... no she said I haven't given her enough security answers even though I have answered all her questions correctly... apparently the automatic answer machine should have asked me questions before I spoke to her.... ok I say just ask me the questions yourself and I will answer them......... sorry she says I can't do that... what are the questions I ask..... sorry she says I can't tell you........................what can I do then to solve this problem............ she says ring the auto phone .... but I have been told online that I must speak to an advisor to change my password.............. sorry she can't help and suggests that I ring back....... I'm getting a little bit peeved by this time.
I rings back.... go through the auto security questions..... no problems so far and speak to a security advisor... I answer all her questions and she is satisfied and tells me she is going to transfer me to another advisor that can give me a new password.............. Nooooooooooooooooo please wait as I can't go into another queue my phone is running out of credit........... I'm transferred.... the voice says you are in a queue and will be answered in approx 5 mins............. 3 mins later my phone is cut off as the credit has run out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I search the site for an email address to complain to........... sorry you can only contact the Alliance and Leicester by telephone..................arrggggggghhhhhhh !!! Where's that rope !!
There is 2/3 players that I would love to take home with me, Keeyan and Carla both 9 years old but awesome players and I have a soft spot for both of them. These asian players are away ahead of their counterparts in the UK, they are put under match pressure as soon as they play, in the Uk we protect that age group from any pressure and the parents even complain that they are still under too much pressure. This may be one of the reasons that the Asians are so far ahead of us in this sport. Over here the players have to deal with all the spectators standing courtside and your opponants supporters cheer and scream at every mistake you make, at home we protect then from that, no-one is allowed courtside other than coaches and we only applaud when our players play a good shot but not when the opponent makes an error. These tourneys are played over a full week and players have to take days off from school for each round that go through on, that would never happen in the UK, education always come first, I can't even get some players to compete on a Saturday as they attend school even then, oddly enough it is the Asian british players that refuse to play as their parents push them in their education.
I will put some video on this weekend, it just takes so long to edit it. But hopefully will be worth the wait.
Would you adam and eve it, the UK is just as bad as the Phils, I tried to do a simple transfer of cash from the Alliance & Leicester to another bank account that I have, I put in my 9 digit account no, then my 12 digit ID number and finally my 5 digit pin number.... is that enough... no.... during the transfer it asks for 2 digits from my password..... which one is that ???.... so it doesn't work and locks me out of my accounts but says that I have to ring them to renew my password.
I ring them in the UK and get put on hold while listening to some crap music which is costing me lots to listen to...... I get through to an advisor........ asks me lots of questions regarding 3 accounts that I have with them... I know the exact figures as I had access to them at the time (problem was only during transfer)... is that enough.... no she said I haven't given her enough security answers even though I have answered all her questions correctly... apparently the automatic answer machine should have asked me questions before I spoke to her.... ok I say just ask me the questions yourself and I will answer them......... sorry she says I can't do that... what are the questions I ask..... sorry she says I can't tell you........................what can I do then to solve this problem............ she says ring the auto phone .... but I have been told online that I must speak to an advisor to change my password.............. sorry she can't help and suggests that I ring back....... I'm getting a little bit peeved by this time.
I rings back.... go through the auto security questions..... no problems so far and speak to a security advisor... I answer all her questions and she is satisfied and tells me she is going to transfer me to another advisor that can give me a new password.............. Nooooooooooooooooo please wait as I can't go into another queue my phone is running out of credit........... I'm transferred.... the voice says you are in a queue and will be answered in approx 5 mins............. 3 mins later my phone is cut off as the credit has run out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I search the site for an email address to complain to........... sorry you can only contact the Alliance and Leicester by telephone..................arrggggggghhhhhhh !!! Where's that rope !!
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