Despedida day - celebrations, parties, visitors galore.

well guys and girls, the great nostalgic and triumphant return is once coming to its proverbial end, its been 3.5 weeks now, and I am on what I can only term the wind down period.

How can you possibly want to wind down to come back to UK, I know its depressing, but I have often experienced this in the past, its rather a sad fact, that the last few days seem to be hard, in that a part of you, has already landed back at Heathrow, the other is still entrenched in this beautiful country.

Yesterday was pretty much a quiet day all round for me, apart from the fact that our funds are now depleted, well we are still ok, but we are not spending anywhere what we did in first 2 weeks, that kind of tells a story, but yesterday, we had visitors, people turned up for my sake my Gina tells me, she put the word around that Pete is off to Manila tomorrow, so freinds of the family are showing up to have snacks and coffee.

My Gina has organized my very own despedida tonight, we are meeting at Pendy's a fashionable restaraunt in the city and there will be 17-20 people there, I am told, Filipino's love to celebrate, they will go out to dinner for almost any reason, but Gina tells me, she is splitting the bill with a high school freind of hers who is a Nurse in the U.S.A.

Aparrently this has all been arranged last week, so i am looking forward to going out to dinner tonight, and share a few jokes with the crowd, the problem for me is, its hard to say goodbye.

I have also come to make friends with our driver JOJO, he had me sad abit yesterday, in his best english, he told me he will miss me when I fly home, I said the same about him, we have been together quite a lot, this is what happens when you make freinds with a Filipino, he has been my trusted guardian, companion and driver for over 3 weeks, he takes me everywhere, points out fruits I might want to eat, or stops by the road, to buy me something to try.

Its going to be really hard to say goodbye, but say It I must, I promised JoJo, next year we will be back, but with the economy the way it is, its really hard to say what will happen.

JoJo, really needs alot of help, if he could just get a decent job, but secretly guys between you and I, for those reading this, I have decided to buy him a tri-cycle and side car, not a brand new one, but a used one, there is a franchisee in town, wanting to sell one and I have seen it, what JoJo does not know is that I left instructions with Gina to buy it for him when I go, and give it to him as a gift from me, he does not know yet, but I wanted to leave him a letter when I go, to tell him, that its to make his life better, he said, he dreams of owning his own tri-cycle, what he does not know is that dream is already a reality.

Gina told me, his life will be so much better, because he can earn easily P500.00 a day doing this kind of work, he just needs a helping hand, I know what some of you might think, that you cannot keep giving out money to help this one and that one, but honestly guys if only you met JoJo, youd want to do it too.

He is the nicest Filipino you can ever meet, never complains, does anything for you, asks for nothing, and is honest as you can ever meet, I dropped 50 pesos in my towel, and he noticed it, and gave it to me on the way back from swimming, P50.00 to me is not much, but to him its all about honesty.

He is a great guy, and he is worth it, I know now at Christmas, he will be able to feed his children, and to me thats what it is all about.

Call me sentimental if you want, I know, it is really, but here I can help someone, in UK I can do little to help anyone, the state of the economy as it is, and everyone is out for themselves.

Gina is ecstatic, she says it will change the lives of so many, its hard to imagine it, its nice to be generous when you can be, its gives you a great feeling, well i think it does.

Yesterday, was all about trying to do something good for another, its party night to night, and then tomorrow we are all flying up to Manila, that is me Gina, our house manager, and a cousin who never has been to the capital city.

She is also ecstatic to go, as Shoemart her boss, gave her the leave as she had to produce a copy of her ticket, we are hoping to visit Malacanang Palace, Intramuros, and obviously they all want to go to the Mall of Asia, its a big thing for them, its like my sister who has never been to London, coming down from Yorkshire for first time, I guess its the same as that.

So guys, the holiday is coming to an end, not much to tell you other than its that time, so see you all in Manila tomorrow, and I will update on how the 2 days there goes.

Best wishes


Pete