Hey thanks for the very warm welcome, much appreciated.

I must admit this seems a friendlier place than another expat forum, which is mainly frequented by 'canos! Although in fairness, maybe that's because of the cultural differences between us and ahem, the colonies, LOL.

Oh, I don't know about you folks learning from me, I've an awful lot to learn.

Mind you I'm probably at stage 3 of the assimilation process. Stage 1 is falling in love with the place. That happened instantly.

Stage 2 is frustration when you see how things are done over here (or more accurately, how they don't happen), that comes maybe after a year when you see the cracks in the veneer and you ask "who don't they just do it THIS way"? You spend a bit of time at stage 2 and after a while you acquire a massive headache from banging your head against the wall.

Eventually commonsense or is it coma-tosis (if there's such a word) sets in. It's called acceptance (Stage 3), that's the way things are and you ain't gonna change them. You have a choice - stress/ulcer/heart attack/God-knows-what-else or lie down and acquiesce! You have to remind yourself what attracted you to the country (apart from your lady), the kinder weather, the relaxed lifestyle, the family spirit, etc etc and accept that the price of it all is that we're no longer in the fast-moving West with all its problems and perhaps it's a small price to pay for those benefits. So you keep reminding yourself "it's more fun in the Philippines". Alleluyah! :-)