Makati Skyline

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This imposing facade takes up one side of the Malolos city square
It is also featured on the almost defunct 10 peso note, which has been replaced by a coin. The ravages of time are starting to deface its grandure as to does the pressures of a modern life style make inroads on the faith that built it.

David Wins Again?

The court marshal of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada has been declared a mistrial. This man of honour and courage took on the US Military and consequently their masters the American Government when he refused to be apart of their illegal Iraq war.

By the use of some legal side stepping the military judge, Lt. Col. John Head, just prior to the lieutenant taking the stand in his own defense, swept the issue of the legality of the lieutenant’s orders under the carpet. Throughout this whole sorry mess the military court did its best to keep the legality of the war as far away from the issue as possible. But it couldn’t deny Watada his day in court and their it knew the illegality of the Iraq war would be writ large.

That I suspect will be the end of this saga, especially now that talk of double jeopardy is in the air. If that is the case and the court marshal of the brave lieutenant is left to languish by his military masters it would surely be an admission that the Iraq war is indeed an illegal war.

One wonders if the newly elected US Congress will pick up the cudgels? I suspect not as they, unlike the good lieutenant, are not people of honour and courage they are of a similar ilk to their president, they be politicians.

Greenbelt Neon

Virtue v Necessity

Yesterday was Australia Day – a time when expat Aussies stop and consider koalas, kangaroos and other marsupials with “made in china” stamped on their bum as cuddly toy reminders of "home". Invariable they also draw comparisons with their new life in their new country.

Having had my house seriously renovated, the upstairs demolished and re-built, the differences in work practices are foremost in my mind. In the dry brown land labor is expensive and in comparison materials are cheap, the opposite to here in the Philippines.

In Australia power tools, from circular saws to nail guns are all the go, whilst in the Philippines the hand saw and the hammer rule. In Oz a brickies team is expected to lay a thousand bricks a day to be considered for the job whilst here in the Pearl 300 a day is a good average. And when one considers the Philippine brickie has to stop from time to time to build from scratch the scaffolding to get up to the job it isn't that bad an average.

In my case a 6 meter long by 5 meter high brick wall had the scaffolding built twice using recycled timber from other parts of the job. In Oz the steel scaffolding arrives on the back of a truck, enough for the entire job which when finished is taken to its next job. Although some timber is recycled in Australia it is only the best bits and is usually done off site unlike in the Phils where it is refurbished and used in the job at hand.

The quality of the workmanship is on a par between countries and the builders in both countries share the common traits of cutting whatever corners they think they can get away with and most frustratingly of all just not turning up on some days. In the PR there seems to be more of these days that one has to live with the noise, the dirt, the dust and the inconvenience, but then the price tag at the end of the day is considerably easier on the hip pocket nerve.

It strikes me, after some consideration, that it isn't cuddly toys that define the difference between cultures but patience. In Australia it is considered a virtue, whilst here in the Philippines it is a necessity.

Historic Penal Colony at www.pissedpoetpics.com

A new guest gallery has been added at www.pissedpoetpics.com. A series of photographs by budding photojournalist Darren Stones that is a virtual tour of Tasmania's historic penal settlement Port Arthur.



In this series of photographs Stones not only captures what this premier tourist attract looks like today but imbues it with a sense of what it must have been like for its original inhabitants. To see this gallery click on the www.pissedpoetpics.com link and then follow the links to this guest gallery.

Please note www.pissedpoet.com died some time ago.

Looking for a Nail

As I look back on 2006 this image seems to be sublimely appropriate. From the personal perspective of home renovations, "will these bastards ever leave?", to the broader world context which includes Iraq and Palestine "will these bastards ever leave?". For me 2006 was the year of the nail and when you go out with that perspective the hammer rules just a shame that a screw looks a lot like a nail. I guess we need to take our world leaders back to grade school and teach them the difference. I mean with a nail outlook you rape, with a screw it is more like making love. And the beauty of making love is that it takes two, double your pleasure. If you accept this premises then George, John and Tony are just a bunch of wankers. Oh well, I guess that makes for a happy hammer.

What's in a Name

I very rarely play these games but My Japanese Name intrigued me, very inscutable. What it all means is well beyond me . Thanks to Slither Dude [Komatsu (little pine tree) Takumi (open sea)] from a very pinay blog for pointing in this direction on a wet Monday morning.

For "The Expat"
My japanese name is 坂本 Sakamoto (book of the hill) 一真 Kazuma (one reality).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

For "Pissedpoet"
My japanese name is 井上 Inoue (upon a well) 聖人 Masato (sacred person).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

For " Henry Bateman"
My japanese name is 吉国 Yoshikuni (good fortune country) 海斗 Kaito (big dipper of the ocean).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Beer na Beer

In the great Aussie tradition of a coldie when the day’s labour is done I have been buying these stout hearted fellows a beer to celebrate the damage done to my humble abode. And of course being the true egalitarian that I am, I join them.

Now not being a beer drinker, I mean anything that you have to freeze to make palatable is a worry, this could be considered the ultimate sacrifice. A full bodied red preferably from shiraz grapes, although a cab sav will suffice if pushed, is my poison of pleasure. But in this departure from the usual with this small bribe to get them to return the next day, OMG they can’t leave the house like this, I have discovered Red Horse Beer and it aint too bad. Although it does have a kick more like that of a mule, but who would buy Red Mule Beer? As Eddy, who drinks San Mig Light, says, 3 of those and its sleepy bye byes time.

For your information, which is more than you probably need, I am typing this to the tune of the dull thuds of falling masonry and the rattle of falling mortar. Its going to be another evening of cleaning the house with a shovel.

You Want Sawdust with That

Our 60 year old house is finally getting a well deserved make over. What Typhoon Milenyo couldn’t do a few weeks back when it tempted our roof to visit foreign climes the builders have succeeded to do in a couple of days.

From morning to night there is banging and crashing, sawing and nailing with quite pauses at merienda and lunch and sawdust, sawdust every where, yep even there. Below are some pics of the devastation and the happy crew who brought us this








And so for the next 3 weeks, ye gods!

Where’s the Number – Part 2

Being a Globe subscriber I was able to procure a free copy of their telephone directory and as hinted at in the first Where’s the Number it lists only Globe subscribers. To the best of my knowledge there are a least 5 companies supplying telephone services to Metro Manila and with PLDT having 4 directories that means for a comprehensive listing of the telephone network 9 directories are required.

The service you are connected with will give you a directory free of charge and according to a bloke at the Philippines Directories Corp, the mob who print the directories, the others can be purchased at 1000 pesos a pop. Can’t see too many people shelling out the odd 8000 required.

Then there is the wonderful confusion of actually looking up a number. If the number is unknown it is a good bet that their service provider will be even less known. Perhaps one should ring them to find out which book they are in, mmmm not sure that is going to work.

Globe’s Yellow Pages are a joke, according to them there are only 2 photographers and 1 doctor in Metro Manila whilst according to PLDT there are 30 photographers and 72 doctors just in Makati. But being a Globe customer I would never know about the PLDT businesses and consequently never contact them by phone. Hello, who is shooting themselves in the foot?

One white pages directory for Metro Manila and one or two (depending on physical size) Yellow Pages is the way to go. Will cost the telephone companies less, will increase their revenue and make life a lot easier for the rest of us. As the old saying goes, less is more.