On Thursday Grace and I went tree planting, in conjunction with Isuzu Philippines. There were about 60 people and between us we planted 1500 saplings on the Caliraya-Lumot watershed.
This is part of a concerted effort to reverse global warming and reforest the Philipines where illegal logging is still a big problem.
The people here just cut down trees to turn them into charcoal which they can then sell, possibly the only way they can earn some money. The government is too weak to enforce the legislation it has passed and so the problem continues bringing in its wake, land slides and disasters.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Fighting Entropy
I seem to spend an awful lot of time holding back entropy, far more than I ever did in the UK.
For example, we have recently had the following electrical goods, all from the UK, fail on us:- toaster, microwave, DVD player, Hard Disk recorder.
The toaster fell foul of a cockroach. It took up residence inside the machine and wouldn't come out, despite shaking turning it this way and that and finally poking it with a stick. Partial disassembly followed and finally it made a bid for freedom, only to meet the business end of a shoe! However afterwards the toaster would only toast on one side. No I haven't actually put any bread in it, just tried it to see!
The microwave, who knows, it just gave up the ghost but has been repaired now.
The DVD player exhibited fascinating behaviour, it suddenly wouldn't switch from standby to on. Jiggling a few buttons got it to turn on, then it was fine. But eventually button jiggling just didn't cut it any more. So it went off to a repair shop who got it going again within 24 hours. Good going I think.
The hard disk recorder made clickking noises then showed an error code of 7061 and won't load its software. Extensive reseach on the web reveals that no-one knows what a 7061 error actually is, thouigh many have had it. Maybe a new disk will cure it, but maybe not. I have to get a new disk, IDE, so not so easy these days and try it. I'll keep you informed!!!
For example, we have recently had the following electrical goods, all from the UK, fail on us:- toaster, microwave, DVD player, Hard Disk recorder.
The toaster fell foul of a cockroach. It took up residence inside the machine and wouldn't come out, despite shaking turning it this way and that and finally poking it with a stick. Partial disassembly followed and finally it made a bid for freedom, only to meet the business end of a shoe! However afterwards the toaster would only toast on one side. No I haven't actually put any bread in it, just tried it to see!
The microwave, who knows, it just gave up the ghost but has been repaired now.
The DVD player exhibited fascinating behaviour, it suddenly wouldn't switch from standby to on. Jiggling a few buttons got it to turn on, then it was fine. But eventually button jiggling just didn't cut it any more. So it went off to a repair shop who got it going again within 24 hours. Good going I think.
The hard disk recorder made clickking noises then showed an error code of 7061 and won't load its software. Extensive reseach on the web reveals that no-one knows what a 7061 error actually is, thouigh many have had it. Maybe a new disk will cure it, but maybe not. I have to get a new disk, IDE, so not so easy these days and try it. I'll keep you informed!!!
The NHS - not so bad!
Those of you living in the UK will sometimes take part in the age old pastime of NHS bashing, I am sure!
However, two weeks ago, the wife of one of our workers was having difficulties breathing, he took her to hospital, where they put her on Oxygen, kept her in for 2 nights, diagnosed a highly irregular heartbeat, told her she couldn't do any strenuous work (including washing clothes) and let her go.
The bill for all this was came to more than 4 months wages for the guy.
How can people here afford health care?
The answer is they can't. They often wait and hope and get worse.
So be grateful for Nye Bevin and the NHS!!
However, two weeks ago, the wife of one of our workers was having difficulties breathing, he took her to hospital, where they put her on Oxygen, kept her in for 2 nights, diagnosed a highly irregular heartbeat, told her she couldn't do any strenuous work (including washing clothes) and let her go.
The bill for all this was came to more than 4 months wages for the guy.
How can people here afford health care?
The answer is they can't. They often wait and hope and get worse.
So be grateful for Nye Bevin and the NHS!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
JC's First birthday
If you look back to a post I made a year ago, you will see the story of JC being born in our garage.
Well last Thursday was his First Birthday. So a big party was held. As there was a severe tropical storm heading across the Philippines at the time, it was raining heavily, so the party was held, you guessed it, in the garage.
Some pictures follow, but more can be found at:-
http://picasaweb.google.com/JPD.Britt/JCSFirstBirthday#
Well last Thursday was his First Birthday. So a big party was held. As there was a severe tropical storm heading across the Philippines at the time, it was raining heavily, so the party was held, you guessed it, in the garage.
Some pictures follow, but more can be found at:-
http://picasaweb.google.com/JPD.Britt/JCSFirstBirthday#
Harry Potter and the 0.5 Blood prince
Okay, if you are an avid JK Rowling fan, skip this entry now.
I make a practive of reading the HP book about 1 week before I go to see the film. So a week ago I settled down and read the book.
I felt her writing style had deteriorated and the book itself seemed to go nowhere. The only interesting part was the big battle scene at the end encompassing Dumbledore's death.
I thought there is no way you can make a film of this, so awaited seeing the film with interest.
Firstly, the film is very good. As with the last film, the writers have stripped away the (incredibly large) amount of unnecessary detail in the book and managed to actually produce a coherent story from it. I was surprised that the battle scene was removed, but on reflection, I can see that it would have been out of charcter with the rest of the film. No Dudley and his parents, no silly ghosts or talking pictures and all those tedious vists to the Pensieve reduced to the only 3 important ones. Good story writing. The only bit left, which needs removing, but I can't see how to do it, is all reference to the half blood prince. At least we were spared all the various theories as to who he might be, touted in the book. But actually, it doesn't seem to me to matter. Still then you would need a new title!
Actually, someone should write a book of the film, that would be so much better than JKR's sloppy version!
I make a practive of reading the HP book about 1 week before I go to see the film. So a week ago I settled down and read the book.
I felt her writing style had deteriorated and the book itself seemed to go nowhere. The only interesting part was the big battle scene at the end encompassing Dumbledore's death.
I thought there is no way you can make a film of this, so awaited seeing the film with interest.
Firstly, the film is very good. As with the last film, the writers have stripped away the (incredibly large) amount of unnecessary detail in the book and managed to actually produce a coherent story from it. I was surprised that the battle scene was removed, but on reflection, I can see that it would have been out of charcter with the rest of the film. No Dudley and his parents, no silly ghosts or talking pictures and all those tedious vists to the Pensieve reduced to the only 3 important ones. Good story writing. The only bit left, which needs removing, but I can't see how to do it, is all reference to the half blood prince. At least we were spared all the various theories as to who he might be, touted in the book. But actually, it doesn't seem to me to matter. Still then you would need a new title!
Actually, someone should write a book of the film, that would be so much better than JKR's sloppy version!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Holidays - always fun
Having had 3 chilly weeks in the UK in April and May, (my first visit back for over 2 years and it was cold!), we decided to use some of our air miles and have a 10 day break in Phuket and Singapore.
Phuket was for relaxation and Singapore was for some serious shopping!
I hadn't realised how diffciult it is to use air miles to book a "free" flight. Firstly, the flight maybe free but you have to pay taxes and fuel surcharges,so the flights ended up costing about $100 each (US$). Then you have to scour the flight database to find which flight will take your type of free ticket. This meant that we had to fly to Singapore one day, stay overnight then fly onto Phuket the next day, thus further increasing the cost. By now it is only a tiny bit cheaper than using the low cost carriers!
However, all would have been well but when we arrived at our hotel in Phuket, we were told that our reservations had been cancelled the previous day. Not only that they had already rebooked our rooms.
After a lot of protests from us, we found out that the firm we had used, Asiativ aka asia Online aka Asia Trails Thailand, claimed it had gone into liquidation. They sent me an e-mail timed one minute before my check in time to tell me this , hence our voucher was worthless. So we had to spend 2 nights at anew hotel acrosss the road from the one we had booked and then moved to that one. And of course paid again.
I am currently giving information to Barclaycard about this, and from the website it looks as if the firm is still trading, though they are not answering any e-mails!!
After that, it got better. We went to Phang Nga (James Bond island - from man with the Golden Gun), and did generally relax.
Then Singapore, we saw some friends, ex-Informatics people in my case, and Filipinas in grace's and did a lot of shopping.
I mostly bought stuff for the camera, actually for the flash system and today I actually spent 45 minutes playing with it all and taking some pictures to see how the various toys work!!
Now I must get on with getting my photos onto the web.
Next project!!
And I shall try very hard to blog more frequently!!
Bye for now.
Phuket was for relaxation and Singapore was for some serious shopping!
I hadn't realised how diffciult it is to use air miles to book a "free" flight. Firstly, the flight maybe free but you have to pay taxes and fuel surcharges,so the flights ended up costing about $100 each (US$). Then you have to scour the flight database to find which flight will take your type of free ticket. This meant that we had to fly to Singapore one day, stay overnight then fly onto Phuket the next day, thus further increasing the cost. By now it is only a tiny bit cheaper than using the low cost carriers!
However, all would have been well but when we arrived at our hotel in Phuket, we were told that our reservations had been cancelled the previous day. Not only that they had already rebooked our rooms.
After a lot of protests from us, we found out that the firm we had used, Asiativ aka asia Online aka Asia Trails Thailand, claimed it had gone into liquidation. They sent me an e-mail timed one minute before my check in time to tell me this , hence our voucher was worthless. So we had to spend 2 nights at anew hotel acrosss the road from the one we had booked and then moved to that one. And of course paid again.
I am currently giving information to Barclaycard about this, and from the website it looks as if the firm is still trading, though they are not answering any e-mails!!
After that, it got better. We went to Phang Nga (James Bond island - from man with the Golden Gun), and did generally relax.
Then Singapore, we saw some friends, ex-Informatics people in my case, and Filipinas in grace's and did a lot of shopping.
I mostly bought stuff for the camera, actually for the flash system and today I actually spent 45 minutes playing with it all and taking some pictures to see how the various toys work!!
Now I must get on with getting my photos onto the web.
Next project!!
And I shall try very hard to blog more frequently!!
Bye for now.
Another Birthday, another year
Well folks, here I am again. I have no proper excuse for the long gap in blogging except that, being retired, I seem to have less time than I did when I was working!!
Last Sunday was my 61st birthday. Catherine and Alex and Louisa, who were here last year for my 60th, sent me a flag (England = St. George) and here it is flying above my Byzantine Empire flag.
It was just a quiet celebration, a few friends from the village, including the Parish Priest, and a few of Grace's family. A nice Bar-B-Q with Australian sparkling wine.
A pleasant day, and it stayed (mostly) dry!!
Last Sunday was my 61st birthday. Catherine and Alex and Louisa, who were here last year for my 60th, sent me a flag (England = St. George) and here it is flying above my Byzantine Empire flag.
It was just a quiet celebration, a few friends from the village, including the Parish Priest, and a few of Grace's family. A nice Bar-B-Q with Australian sparkling wine.
A pleasant day, and it stayed (mostly) dry!!
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