Thanks for the replies . I have been going through hell this past four weeks , you wouldnt believe how just a few responses like this have given me a lift . Before the breakup I was not one for feeling sorry for myself or getting depressed but its like being hit by a sledgehammer . It does help to hear from people who have been through the same and seeing real people responding like this , thanks . I have it in mind to go back to the Philippines , harvesting Tilapia at Taal lake was one experience I will never forget . Approximately thirty of us spent three days landing and packing about 10 tons of fish , it was a surreal experience sleeping on a reed matt on the verandah of a bamboo house on stilts at the side of the lake with parafin lamps and giant beetles flying into them during the night . My friend who owned the fish farm hired three jeepneys for the journey from Manila to transport his staff and extended family who normally worked in his machine shop so we were effectively all complete amateurs and probably lucky none of us got drowned . What has stayed with me about this experience was after three days of working together any idea that I was just an English visitor had gone completely , I was accepted by everyone as an equal . The friendship of those people was something I have never seen anywhere else and its probably something that at this time is making me want to return .
