News from the Philippines 2010 - 1

We arrived in Cebu in 15.5 hours after a good if sometimes turbulent flight - 12 hours to Hong Kong, a 1.5 hr stop, then two more hours to Cebu - all in daylight, so no sleep. Watched the BBC Churchill film "Into the Storm" - very moving I thought - , and Michael Jackson's "This is it". Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde character, strange off stage, but still brilliant on. After the overnight ferry trip to Ozamis, we arrived at 6am and were met by Lorie and Sarah, and after breakfast with them came home.
The house was not as dirty after being vacant for 5 months as it is after 9m, but still home to lots of dust and cobwebs. Within two days, with lots of help it was back to normal. Two of our main helpers - Analuz and Doding - are pregnant and due next month, but still seem to perform to the required level! The Crosswind started first time as usual, and it only took an hour to wash the mildew from the leather seat covers. The garden and allotment are both in good shape, and won't need much work to get them completely straight. Although some of our big fish died, there's loads still there, with probably 100 small ones. We'd been given a big janitor fish, which slurps around and keeps the pond clean. What a difference it makes.

So it's good to be on top of things so quickly. Elections are coming up in May. There's a serious candidate to the sitting Mayor, whose term follows two of his mother and two of his father. They've been running the show for 20 years, so it'll be good for a change. In the run up to elections, various civic projects suddenly re-emerge and get completed, which is good news as the cement road which stops 30m past our house is being continued up in to the mountain road for another quarter of a mile.

It's gloriously sunny here of course, and hasn't rained for two weeks, so at least the lawn is dry enough to mow.

We met Adella in church today. We went on holiday with her and Peter to Switzerland and Hungay in the last two years. She came for her brothers funeral. He was only 62, but a big drinker. I'm off the alcohol since I've been here, and aiming to get fit again after 9 months of sedentary habits. My Friday 3m run to Sinonoc was the slowest ever, but will be back to my normal times in a week or so. I'm planning to run each day during the week. Just bought a pair of Nike MaxAir running shoes, as my old ones are held together with glue. Did a little workout in the gym and christened my new bag gloves, which the boys gave me for my birthday (Salamat po)