The day after I uploaded this in the "connections" thread, my ex died. Inoperable brain tumour and they sent her home, ironically, to be looked after by Macmillan Nurses. Fortunately (?) the whole thing was a matter of a few weeks and she suffered little.
She was a good kid, special needs teacher (and a bloody good one), fund raiser extraordinaire, mother superior, touched and changed many lives. I was the bad boy.
So the first? I get to attend the funeral via a webcast at 13:40 UK time today.
It was pretty strange sitting here at 21:40 watching a funeral of someone 7,000 miles away. At least I could raise a glass to her during the service, rather than having to wait until the end!
Anyway, one thing it did highlight was the fact that in our new abode I need to get some internet sorted. In the old house, the signal was generally good enough to use the mobile as a hotspot. It managed big documents, ran Youtube and stuff generally wasn't a problem.
Here, my phone is perched on a toilet windowsill as the best place to get signal. It'll run email and forums like this, but that's about it's limit. I was lucky last night, in that whilst it was a bit clunky, I managed to see pretty much all of it. Generally it's not interested in streaming at all.
So what? I hear you ask. Just get on with it.
Well, if only it was so easy. Y'see, the Philippines has some of the slowest and most expensive internet in the world. There are only four or five ISP's, one of which I've had previous, and dire, experience with. Looking at reviews of the others and speaking to mates isn't giving me warm and cuddly feelings about the others either. Their attitude seems to be invest in the minimum of infrastructure and bill the max they can. Normally actual speeds fall woefully short of those advertised and don't even bother trying to contact anyone from "Customer Service," that's a real oxymoron here!
Still, I need to do something, but that doesn't mean I have to look forward to it!
Yes, I was actually surprised at the low average internet speeds in the UK. It performs pretty badly, but is at least above the global median. The Philippines sits happily halfway down the bottom half. Still, it's quicker than Yemen!
I wouldn't mind but just a short flight away, they enjoy the fastest in the world. Why can't we have some of that then?
Ironically, I'm trying to see what SKY are offering, but my connection's too slow to get on their site!
Anyway, I cracked on yesterday and cleared my work, so today will be purchasing and installing some mesh to dog-proof the garden. Barney, the big 'n' daft one, can just squeeze through the bars, whereupon he is immediately lost, even though he's within sight of the house! Need to put a stop to that, and in addition, the rest of the fleet are due today/tomorrow (van problems!) and they are all small enough to walk through the bars without touching the sides!
So yeah, fencing. "En garde! PrĂȘts? Allez!", as they say.
Weâve got over a hundred Chinese ships threateningly camped on our doorstep, weâve gone back to Enhanced Community Quarantine and the curfew is now 6pm-5am. But never mind all that, letâs have the real news!
So, weâre in.
The last of the stuff is here, Madam has arrived and, after two weeks, weâre done!
Let's collate the most popular questions and well, answer them!
âTwo weeks to shift a few sticks of furniture?â Well yes, basically. Because nothing is ever simple here and nothing ever goes to plan. Neither of us has long enough to live for me to write it all out, or for you read it, so letâs leave it at that.
âSo what do you think of the new abode and its environs?â To start with, the quality of the air is night and day compared to Manila. Itâs fresh and clean with no underlying Eau de Jeepney, basically because they're not allowed in the subdivision which is served, in public transport terms, with thousands of motorcycle sidecars. One thing I did notice is that after a week, thereâs a light covering of dust on the â38. In Manila, that would have been a heavy coat, requiring a wash of the windows at least. Your nose-gold ainât black either.
Itâs also beautifully quiet. No revving 125âs trying to do burnouts (with someone lifting the rear up), nowt. Just amiable silence.
And hereâs a sight you wonât see very often in the PhilippinesâŠ
Followed a mint red one yesterday as well.
âShops, bars and stuff?â Around us thereâs pretty much everything we could need, including, vitally, bars and restaurants. Obviously, the latter are mainly closed due to Parañaque City mayor imposing his pointless drink ban, but they should be opening again after Easter.
Weâve a little Sari-sari shop around the corner who pretty much sells everything, including bottled gas and 5 gallon purified water. I asked the owner the other day if he knew anyone whoâd come and put mesh up on the garden fence so the smaller dogs canât get out. The following day, he arrived, mate in tow, measured up, bought the stuff and returned the following morning and did all 35m. I was impressed.
So yeah, we donât want for much.
âWhat about the house?â The house is great. Itâs on a corner plot, big, airy and seems to pick up breeze at any time of day. The gardenâs well shaded so itâs possible to sit out whenever you please. Just watch for the falling mangos! The dogs love it and are guaranteed to sleep the night through after a tough dayâs playing.
We still have a huge room that we donât know what to do with though. Tania suggested indoor swimming pool, stupid child. Maybe engine rebuilds?
Even got my office sorted. The work endâŠ
Nope, not a super executive desk, but it was left behind by the owner. Re-purposed into a powerhouse of railway knowledge!
And, the lockdown endâŠ
âAny downside so far?â Of course there is. What would you expect? This is the Philippines, where, apparently, itâs more fun.
Let me try to explain. BF Homes is a huge area of Parañaque City, and private. So it has security to get in and out. Classic Homes Village, where we are, is a small enclave within BF Homes, with its own security gates and guards. So I need windscreen stickers. Now youâd think that having a CHV residentâs sticker would be enough to get you into BF. You live in a house in a section within BF Homes, so by definition, you should be able to get through. But no, you need a separate one for the main entry to BF and that, so far has eluded me.
BF Homes and CHV within it...
When we moved in the other Saturday, I went down to the CHV office and duly accomplished (Philippine lawyer-speak for âfilled inâ) the required forms. On Monday, I returned to avail myself of (Philippine lawyer-speak for âgetâ) the stickers. At this point, nobody had said a word about needing two, so I happily set forth. CHV security opened the gates and saluted. BF Homes security turned me away, but another gate let me through. On my return, the gate that turned me away let me in. The following day, I exited with no problem, but the gate that let me in previously, turned me away and the one whoâd refused me entry, let me in. Obviously, there was something Iâd missed.
On making enquiries, I find, âYou need two.â Great. So the other day, I went to CHV office, duly accomplished another form and the nice lady there put together everything I would need. âJust go to the BF office, and theyâll give you sticker.â She even sent a little chappie with me to help me through this next layer of Philippine bureaucracy.
âYou got appointment?â
âErm, no, do I need one?â
Guard points at notice in the window saying no walk-in allowed, appointment only.
This one...
I show him the paperwork Iâve literally, ten minutes ago, been given and told him the story.
âNot correct form. We have new one.â
Now this is March 2021 and my form calls itself âY2021 Resident Vehicle Sticker.â See?
And itâs out of date already?
My little chappie tries something else (itâs all in Tagalog, so God knows what), the guard shakes his head, chappie shrugs his shoulders, we walk away. Me none the wiser.
Returning to CHV office, the same girl happily tells me that I need to make an appointment and fill in an online form. Why she didnât say all that some half an hour ago, I have no idea. Must be a new game, âKeep the White Guy Guessing.â
So, Iâve duly accomplished the online form and now await an appointment date. I donât think itâll be this side of Holy Week (Easter) so in the meantime if I want to go anywhere, Iâll have to join the massive queue of visitors and delivery trucks, hand over my driving licence, get a scabby bit of paper in return just to get to the bit of BF Homes where I live and they salute me and say, âHello, Sir George.â
Post by grumpynorthener on Mar 29, 2021 6:56:26 GMT
George - At least you are in & sorted - beer fridge stocked - dogs happy - family sorted - Just the usual jump through these hoops whilst we change our minds scenario's - I can only sympathise its probably quite close the stupid & frustrating games that my immediate neighbour keeps throwing into the mix - At least it keeps us on our toes
So, got a little man in this morning to remove a rather large and sturdy old Yale padlock for which there are no keys. My plan was to send him off to avail (also Philippine-lawyer speak for 'buy') a decent set of bolt croppers. He had other ideas. He'd come equipped with a small hammer and a screwdriver and proceeded to hit the lock. After ten minutes, it looked untouched, as you'd imagine.
I told him again to go buy a large set of bolt croppers. He disappeared to return with a hacksaw, complete with Chinesium blade. No prizes for guessing the outcome.
Again, go get some effing decent bolt croppers (I'd already given him the money). So off he went again, returning with a set he'd borrowed. These should never have left their mother. I can't think of anything small enough to use them on that a pair of sidecut pliers couldn't manage. Anyway, he attacked again until, with veins like ropes standing out on his forehead, he admitted defeat and has gone to get what I asked him to in the first place!
We'll get there in the end.
Edit to add; he came back with large croppers and a mate. between them, they wrestled it apart.
HIs other task is to purchase 2m of 30mm dowel which I'll be cutting up and using to reset the '38's air suspension over the weekend. Let's see what he comes back with.