My perfect meal

Nothing beats a hot meal of rice and my wife's pork adobo, finishing off with ice cold San Miguel beer.

Wow lami-a jud kaajo uy! (Wow it's really delicious!)

Feels like I never left the Philippines at all.

Ice cold San Miguel Beer

"Kahit kailan kaibigan, San Miguel beer!" (For always friend, San Miguel beer!)

Picture me taking this ice cold San Miguel straight out from the fridge.

Then hear and feel the hiss coming out of the bottle as I open it.

Hear the sound as I gulped the beer down my throat.

"Ahhh, home at last!" (Oh, how much I miss the Philippines.)

Green Wednesday

Peterborough Green Day was held on Wednesday 18th of November.

The event celebrated the city's growing reputation as the Environment Capital of the United Kingdom.

It also marked the day when Peterborough's local leaders launched the green aspiration in November 2008.

As a show of support, people were asked to wear an item of green clothing on the day.

Thus, I wore a green jumper in support of Peterborough Green Day.

Cean took the picture from my 3.2mp Sony Ericsson W890i.

Filipino is CNN's Hero of the Year 2009

Filipino "pushcart educator" Efren Penaflorida is named CNN Hero of 2009.

Efren Penaflorida started a "pushcart classroom" in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership.

Efren's acceptance speech tells a lot about the man's big heart and big dream to help educate the poor children in their place.

Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry. Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.

So to each and every person inside in this theater and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed. Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers ... you are the change that you dream as I am the change that I dream and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be.

Watch the video below to hear the moment Efren was chosen to be this year's CNN Hero of the Year.

Mabuhi ka Efren Penaflorida! Today, you made me even prouder to be called a Filipino. May you be the inspiration for hope and change the Philippines need!

http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/11/22/cnnheroes.hero.of.the.year.cnn

Source: CNN

Baclayon (Bohol) Blog

Recently, I created a new blog about my Philippine hometown of Baclayon, Bohol.

Why did I create a new blog? And why now? I will cite part of my Welcome blogpost from the new blog as a way of an explanation.

I created this blog due in part to the first ever clan reunion of my father's paternal family scheduled next year. I hope to fill in this blog with information on Baclayon for the benefit of my relatives especially the younger generation.

A lot of my relatives now live in different parts of the Philippines and abroad. Many also have not yet set foot on this town and know little about it.

I will post on a lot of things about my hometown. Its history, culture, tourism and my personal reminiscences are only some of the topics I will be writing about.

The new blog is entitled Baclayon (Bohol) Blog and the URL is http://taga-baclayon.blogspot.com/.

I hope you will support me on this new endeavour as you have done to Pinoyborian and Bohol On My Mind blogs. Thanks in advance.

No pun intended

Who has not heard nor read the phrase ‘no pun intended’?

Reyna Elena recently dropped a comment on my blogpost, Pardon my French.

And I remembered that I was supposed to blog about the word ‘pun’, which is something very familiar to us if we read newspapers.

I came across some background information on the word ‘pun’ in Wikipedia while researching on the phrase ‘pardon my French’ for my blogpost.

According to Wikipedia:

A pun, ... is a form of word play that deliberately exploits ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect.

In particular, I will blog on bilingual pun.

According to Wikipedia:

A bilingual pun is a pun in which a word in one language is similar to a word in another language. Typically, use of bilingual puns results in in-jokes, since there is often a very small overlap between speakers of the two languages.

Consider these following examples from Wikipedia.

Cebuano

As a Cebuano-speaking Bol-anon I am familiar with some of the examples used.

A donut vendor shouts, “Do not buy”

(He is actually saying, “Donut bai!”, where the word bai means friend.)

I first heard of that pun years ago (early 2000s) in a TV advert for the Philippine Ad Congress held in Cebu City at that time. It features a smiling man saying “Donut bay!”

Cebuano language share some words with the Tagalog language but with different meanings.

Consider the examples below:

“Ang langgam sa Tagalog nagkamang pa samtang ang sa Cebuano, milupad na!”

(Langgam in Tagalog means “ant”, nga nagkamang pa “is still walking”, while langgam in Cebuano means “bird”, nga milupad na “has flown away”)

“Samtang ang Cebuano nahinanok na ug tulog nga naghabol, ang Tagalog gihangak sa kakahabol.”

(Habol in Cebuano means “blanket” that is why he was nahinanok na ug tulog “in deep sleep”, while habol in Tagalog means “to run after somebody” that is why he was gihangak “panting” after all those running!)

Dutch

The Dutch prime minister is visiting the American president. At some point after dinner the president asks, “Do you have any hobbies?” The prime minister things for a moment and says, “Yes, I fok horses.” “Pardon?” “Yes, paarden.”

(Breeding in Dutch is fokken (singular fok), which sounds like "fuck"; horses in Dutch is paarden, which sounds like "pardon").

Marathi

A Marathi woman and her daughter are shopping in a grocery store. The girl asks her mother, “Aai aapan chicken aani fish donihi wikat ghenaar aahe kaa? (Mother are we going to buy both chicken and fish?) to which the mother replies, “Fakta chicken.” The store clerk, who’s not a Marathi speaker, overhears this conversation and say, “Ma’am, we don’t allow that kind of language in this store.”

(Fakta in Marathi means “only,” but sounds like “fuck the” to an English speaker.)

Norwegian

“It’s not the fart that kills you, it’s the smell.”

(Fart means “speed” while smell means “bang” or “impact.”)

Swedish

An English couple are travelling by train in Skane (southern Sweden). At one stop, two local farm boys board the train and take their seats in the same compartment. One is tall, blond and striking, while the other one is short and plain. The Englishwoman admires the tall youth for a moment, then remarks to her husband:
“What a handsome face!”
The short boy blushes and answers:
“Nay, frun, det var jag.”

(“What a handsome face” sounds like the Swedish phrase “Var det han some fes? i.e. “Was it he who farted?” – especially if pronounced with the Scanian dialect of Swedish. The boy’s answer means “No, ma’am, it was I.”)

If you want to have some more laughs, visit the Wikipedia article on bilingual pun.

"Dad, how was I born?"

I have two boys who are of an age where they are curious and inquisitive. I am now half-expecting them to ask THE big question anytime soon.

How will I answer it? Should I be straight to the point and bore them with biological terms they can hardly understand? Or should I be creative and indirect by talking about the birds and the bees?

I suspect I will use the latter option above. But, how do I say it in a way my kids can relate to? I have to use words to which my sons can understand.

I did not have to wait long. I got a timely advise from my former university professor in the form of an e-mail. The language it uses is definitely something my kids can understand.

How was I born?

A little boy goes to his father and asks, 'Daddy, how was I born?'

The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!

Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo.

Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe.

We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.

As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall!

And since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:


Scroll down...You'll love this ..



































'You got Male!'

Vote for Efren Penaflorida as CNN Hero 2009

I have cast my vote for Efren Penaflorida, which I am proud to call my fellow Filipino, as my CNN Hero 2009. Please support Efren with your vote!

Click on the widget above and you will be led on to a CNN webpage showing all nominated heroes. Click on Efren's picture and you will be able to read on his heroic story that is very much worth reflecting on and emulating especially by our youth.

The Philippines national hero Jose Rizal described the youth as the hope of the fatherland. Efren's story makes you still believe in Rizal's words.

Turn back the clock

British Summer Time ended yesterday, which means we have turned back the clock by an hour and goes back to GMT time.

I am now used to the concept of daylight saving time (DST), popularly known in the UK as British Summer Time (BST). I now consciously turn back or move forward (in March when BST starts) all our clocks (including watches and computers) at home a few hours before it effects.

It was not always the case in the past. As a result, we have had embarrassing moments because of BST. Thankfully, as it happens on a Sunday there were only two that I can think of.

One that is still fresh in my mind happened a few years ago when our eldest son was still a baby. As it was a Sunday, we went to church. As usual, we have to rush as we are getting late. But to our amazement, we arrived at a church that was still almost empty save for some elderly parishioners. I thought to myself, this is good at least we have enough time to find a good seat.

As we are about to enter, we were greeted by the elderly parishioners. They were closing the church, they told us. Sensing our confusion, they explained that the Mass was finished a few minutes ago. And in a nice way reminded us that we should have moved our clocks forward by an hour. It was the start of BST!

How my wife and I laughed at our embarrassment as we headed to our local supermarket to buy food instead.

The other experience involved my wife. As a staff nurse, she normally works long shifts on weekends. Once, having forgotten about the time change, she went to work an hour early! As a result, it is now a joke in her ward to remind her of BST as it nears.

My first experience with DST was in 1991 in the Philippines. It was the height of a national power crisis and DST was implemented to save on power. That year, I took summer classes in UP Diliman. It was a very hot summer in Metro Manila (it usually is) and power cuts are regular. Once, I was having a shower and was about to rinse the shampoo off my hair when the scheduled power outage happened! Grrrrrrrr!

On a positive note, Philippine time is now back to 8 hours ahead of UK time. At least, I do not have to stay quite late in the night if I want to call my parents in Bohol first thing in the morning.

Time to change

Photo: BBC

The European Union as a whole uses summer (or daylight saving) time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. The change between the two takes place at 01.00 GMT.

In October, just when you get used to it getting dark at around 5.30-6.00pm we change our clocks from following British Summer Time (BST) back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This means it will be dark an hour earlier, and don't we all notice it! It seems as though suddenly the nights are substantially longer.

Subconsciously, many of us will feel winter has dawned. Most of us will be travelling to and from work in darkness, so perhaps it's not surprising that so many people, up to one in every 20 people, suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) during the UK's long winter days. This is a specific type of depression that experts believe is related to a lack of exposure to daylight. It affects people at the same time each year - during autumn and winter.

Read more at BBC Weather.

Peterborough's Filipino Catholics joined One Mass celebration

The small Filipino Catholic community in Peterborough contributed to the One Mass celebration held in Peterborough last July.

Graphic Tees thanked me recently for sharing the story of Filipino Catholics from the eyes of a foreigner. Then, I remembered the SMS or "text" my kumpare sent relaying to us our local parish priest's message of thanks to all Filipinos who joined the One Mass celebration held in Peterborough Cathedral.

The One Mass was held to mark the rich cultural mix of the Catholic religious community in the city. More than a thousand people of 50 different nationalities attended the celebration. In particular, the small Filipino community was asked to provide the choir. Apparently, the parish priest was impressed with our singing during a mass he celebrated for the local Filipino Catholic community a while back. Unfortunately, our family was unable to attend One Mass. Still, I was proud of the others who attended and provided some of the angelic singing during the mass.

There is a news article from the local Evening Telegraph that reported about this event, which you can read here. In the main picture, the Filipino girl holding a red and white flag is my son's classmate at his primary school.

Pardon my French

The phrase "pardon my French" is uttered or written when somebody is about to use profanity to a crowd.

I have just read the above phrase again today while reading a newspaper article. It is not the first time and I have always presumed to understand it well. I did observe the use of obscene words before or after the phrase is said.

Although correct with my observation, I don't know the reason involving the French. I did a Google search as to the origin of the phrase and found several interesting answers, all related.

Filipino Catholics from the eyes of a foreigner

(I got this story through my college Yahoo group. This is a positive story about us Filipinos that I would like to share in this blog.)

Here's something very positive written by a foreigner named Steve Ray, about Filipinos. Steve Ray authored many best-selling books, among which are, Crossing The Tiber (his conversion story), Upon This Rock (on the papacy), and just recently John's Gospel (a comprehensive bible study guide and commentary).

STEVE RAY'S OPEN LETTER TO THE FILIPINO CATHOLICS:

We stepped into the church and it was old and a bit dark. Mass had just begun and we sat toward the front. We didn't know what to expect here in Istanbul , Turkey. I guess we expected it to be a somber Mass but quiet and somber it was not - I thought I heard angels joyously singing behind me..

The voices were rich, melodic and beautiful. What I discovered as I spun around to look did not surprise me because I had seen and heard the same thing in other churches around the world. It was not a choir of angels with feathered wings and halos but a group of delightful Filipino Catholics with smiles of delight and joy on their faces as they worshiped God and sang His praises. I had seen this many times before in Rome, in Israel, in the United States and other countries.

Filipinos have special traits and they are beautifully expressed as I gazed at the happy throng giving thanks to God. What are the special traits which characterize these happy people? I will share a few that I have noticed - personal observations - as I have travelled around the world, including visits to the Philippines.

FIRST, there is a sense of community, of family. These Filipino Christians did not sit apart from each other in different aisles. They sat together, closely. They didn't just sing quietly, mumbling, or simply mouthing the words. No, they raised their voices in harmony together as though they enjoyed the sense of unity and communion among them. They are family even if they are not related.

SECOND, they have an inner peace and joy which is rare in the world today. When most of the world's citizens are worried and fretful, I have found Filipinos to have joy and peace - a deep sense of God's love that overshadows them. They have problems too, and many in the Philippines have less material goods than others in the world, yet there is still a sense of happy trust in God and love of neighbour.

THIRD, there is a love for God and for his Son Jesus that is almost synonymous with the word Filipino. There is also something that Filipinos are famous for around the world - their love for the Blessed Mother. Among the many Filipinos I have met, the affectionate title for Mary I always hear from their lips is "Mama Mary." For these gentle folks Mary is not just a theological idea, a historical person, or a statue in a church - Mary is the mother of their Lord and their mother as well, their "mama."

The Philippines is a Catholic nation - the only such nation in Asia - and this wonderful country exports missionaries around the world. They are not hired to be missionaries, not official workers of the church. No, they are workers and educators, doctors, nurses and housekeepers that go to other lands and travel to the far reaches of the earth, and everywhere they go they take the joyous gospel of Jesus with them. They make a somber Mass joyful when they burst into song. They convict the pagan of sin as they always keep the love of Jesus and the Eucharist central in their lives.

My hope and prayer, while I am here in the Philippines sharing my conversion story from Baptist Protestant to Roman Catholic, is that the Filipino people will continue to keep these precious qualities. I pray that they will continue loving their families, loving the Catholic Church, reading the Bible, loving Jesus, His Mother and the Eucharist. As many other religions and sects try to persuade them to leave the Church, may God give them wisdom to defend the Catholic faith. As the world tempts them to sin and seek only money and fame and power, may God grant them the serenity to always remember that obedience to Christ and love for God is far more important than all the riches the world can offer.

May the wonderful Filipino people continue to be a light of the Gospel to the whole world!

Giraffes 3 and 4

I submitted 2 more giraffes for the One Million Giraffes project last Monday morning, making it a total of 4 giraffes we contributed so far.

I've gone primitive on giraffe no. 3, which I made out of pebbles from our garden.


Cean created giraffe no. 4 out of Lego bricks, another of his favourite playthings.


I will talk more on these giraffes on a later post.

Story behind Sunday's giraffes

The two giraffes we submitted for the One Million Giraffes project last Sunday was a family effort by me and my sons.

We brainstormed a bit before we created the giraffes. I wanted them to make some drawings to submit to the project.

But the boys have other ideas. Cean wanted his giraffe created out of his Hot Wheels toy cars. He did not agree to some of my ideas on how it will look like, so the giraffe I submitted last Sunday was all Cean's effort.

Here is a photo of Cean proudly standing beside his obra maestra.


The giraffe I created out of bowling pins was for my younger son. He didn't want to participate as he was busy playing with his bowling pins at that time.

I convinced him to let me borrow the pins for awhile to create a giraffe for him. After I finished and took a photo for the project, JP was eagerly waiting to bowl it. But before that, I took a picture of him beside the giraffe.


It was great fun creating the giraffes with my boys. And we plan to create some more for the project.

One million giraffes

OneMillionGiraffes.com aims to collect one million giraffes by 2011.

It started out as a challenge between two friends, that one of them can collect one million giraffes in two years time. The giraffes can be created in any way except from a computer or store bought objects like stuffed toys.

I knew about this site through BBC Click last Saturday. It seems fun and interesting especially for the kids. This is an opportune time since it's summer where you need to come up with something interesting to occupy their time.

I encourage my older son to draw a giraffe so we can send it. He didn't, instead, created one out of his toy cars. Of course, why didn't I think of that? He's crazy about his toy cars.

Here is the giraffe he made, which we submitted to the site yesterday.



I created a giraffe from my younger son's bowling pins. I asked him to do it himself but would not. He had fun bowling it though, after I took a picture to send to the site.



There are two rules to the One Million Giraffes project:

1. You have to tell your friends about this project (otherwise it won't work)
2. Your giraffe(s) can be created in any way and form, but not on a computer.

I've been faithful to both rules. I have already told my friends in Facebook yesterday. I wrote this post so that you will know; later, I'll post a link to my Friendster account. My high school Yahoo group will be able to read this post later on.

I've submitted two giraffes yesterday. I have just send another two but it was not accepted yet.

Why don't you join and support this project? It's all for fun especially for the children.

Boys and girls

"I'm not your boyfriend" - Chowder

When it's my turn to look after our sons, I feel like I am being punished when being made to watch Cartoon Network (CN) all day long by them. Not that I'm complaining, I still love cartoons!

Chowder

One of the boys' favourite CN show is Chowder, which is about an excitable young apprentice of a legendary chef, Mung Daal. Chowder loves food and dreams of becoming a great chef one day.

Panini is the apprentice to Ms Endive and who has a terrible crush on Chowder. She's convinced that Chowder is her boyfriend and takes every opportunity to let him know this.

Chowder does not return the feelings, which he strongly shows by responding, "I'm not your boyfriend!" everytime Panini greets him.

Boys vs Girls

We all know that a very young age, boys and girls hate, or rather, dislike each other, right? We've noticed that in our boys. The older one casually describes that boys play only with boys and should not mix with the girls, implying that girls are bothersome to play with.

We also know that television shows can influence our children's thoughts and behavious, right? This particularly struck us recently with our younger son.

"I'm not your boyfriend!"

On schooldays, I bring Cean to school in the morning while his mum and JP collects him in the afternoon. One day, on their way back home they pass by several girls (one of which is Cean's classmate) when suddenly, JP told them, "I'm not your boyfriend!" together with a look of dislike. Daisy was more embarrassed than surprised upon hearing it. Later that night, Daisy told me about this incident and I can't help but laugh.

That weekend of the incident, I brought the boys to our local Sainsbury's to do some groceries. Both of them would ride in the trolley while we coast along the alleys to find stuff we needed.

We pass by a group of girls, probably sisters and in their early teens. JP then gave the look and said, "I'm not your boyfriend!" I wanted to run away from the scene and if asked, disown my son.

When I told Daisy about it later that night, it was her turn to have a great laugh.

Boy Loves Girl

I'm glad that silly episode in our young family life is over now. Our little Chowder had found his Panini and when they are together they are oblivious to what's going on around them... while holding hands! I now tease him about it telling him that the next time he sees his "girl" (yes, that's what he calls her), say "I am your boyfriend!" He will just smile back and repeat it.

Photos: Chowder (Ben's Chill kid blog), Panini & Chowder (Baking the Baker blog) and Chowder & Panini (TVrage.com)

Website content management

I learnt a new computer skill today. I took a one-day basic website content management training course, for free.

In the organisation where I worked, I was named as the 'editor' that looks after our team's internet website contents. The web-content-management system our organisation will be using is SDL Tridion, apparently also used by RSPB (http://www.rspb.org.uk), Derbyshire County Council, Unilever and Emirates.

According to Wikipedia:

A web-content-management system (WCMS or Web CMS) is content management system (CMS) software, usually implemented as a Web application, for creating and managing HTML content. It is used to manage and control a large, dynamic collection of Web material (HTML documents and their associated images). A WCMS facilitates content creation, content control, editing, and many essential Web maintenance functions.

I learnt a lot of information that I think will also be helpful in my blogging, content management-wise. I still have to get hold of a copy of the presentation though so I'm not able to share them in this blog yet. So watch this space.

I am quite excited to start tinkering on my office computer soon, eager to try out my newly acquired computer skill.

Suicidal lemmings: a myth

The legend that says lemmings jump over the edges of seacliffs to drown in their thousands is a myth perpetuated by out-of-date books and the Disney corporation.

I know this legend for a long time now and believe it (like countless others, no doubt) without bothering to check whether it is true. Then I read an article on the Norway lemming (Summer 2009 edition of BBC Wildlife magazine), which exposed the origin of the myth.

According to the BBC Wildlife magazine:

The number one myth about lemmings, that they commit mass suicide by jumping off cliffs to drown themselves, is quite modern. Sometimes it even comes with a 'scientific' justification: the suicide would benefit the species in times of overcrowding. It seems so heroic, but unfortunately such behaviour simply does not exist in the animal kingdom. This did not stop Walt Disney from including footage of a lemming suicide in White Wilderness, released in 1958. The film crew bought about 1,000 lemmings from Inuit children, transported them to Alberta and created a set on top of cliffs by a stream. The lemmings were herded together on the edge - and driven over it. Needless to say, their 'fatal' plunge was a huge hit with the public.

So, always remember (especially if you have young impressionable kids like mine), don't belive everything you see at the movies.

Python v Alligator...it's a DRAW!

More than a week ago, I came across this strange story of an epic (must be!) battle between two fearsome predators in the Florida swamps.

This unusual clash between two deadly rivals, a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) Burmese python ended in both of them dead.

The python gained the upper hand in this encounter. It tried to gobble its rival whole but then exploded. The alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, causing it burst.

The python's remains were found with the alligator's tail protruding from its burst midsection. The python's head was missing. Surreal!

More of this story here.


Story and Photo: BBC News

We are (tennis-crazed) family

I am teaching my family to play lawn tennis this summer. By family, I mean my very eager wife and very excited sons age 6 and 4, respectively. By the end of summer we will be one tennis-crazed family and my sons will be tipped as the future British No. 1, perhaps the future world no. 1 player!


I have to say that I have not touched a tennis racket for seven years, that's quite a long while. But it didn't feel strange holding one again last week. The skills are still there as well. I played with a friend last week although my family went with me. I gave them a taster afterwards, which they really enjoyed. My younger son had great fun trying to hit the balls. It didn't surprise me at all as he loves all types of ball games.

Last Monday afternoon after work, we all went down to Central Park to play tennis. The scattered rains didn't put off Daisy and the kids. They scampered towards every ball despite the rains. I was playing with Daisy most of the time and the kids would just cut in and try to hit the ball. But most of the time the kids were happy left to themselves with their own rackets desperately trying to hit their balls.


We probably played for a couple of hours. We had mixed reactions from the kids afterwards. The older son, not exactly sports-minded, enjoyed just running about the tennis court with racket in hand and hitting, or rather, not hitting, the ball he carried with him. The younger one, however, was not such a happy bunny. He tried hard to hit the ball but most of the time he couldn't. He did erupted into big smiles and shouting hurrahs when I hold his hand and racket and let him hit a few balls.

So, if you come looking for us on Monday nights during this summer, chances are you will find all four of us in Central Park playing very competitively against each other. Game on!

Photos: Andy Murray in contactmusic.com and Central Park in Discover Peterborough website

My Lamborghini Gallardo is on fire

Photo: Peterborough Evening Telegraph

You have got to feel for the owner. Wouldn't you if you are driving your Lamborghini Gallardo out on a Friday night when suddenly smoke comes out from the engine and minutes later your supercar is burnt to ashes.

This happened two hours after I left the office last Friday looking forward to a daddy daycare weekend. When I arrived at the office yesterday morning I saw the burnt patch on the road, which is just outside the reception area of the building. I was curious to know so I checked out the local daily newspaper, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, for some news. The headline in the newstands says "Hundreds watch as supercar burns".

I thought it was just some car that burned last Friday. But no, it was a supercar! A 195mph Lamborghini Gallardo that costs UKS 115,000 to 130,000 brand new and UKS 75,000 and up when bought second hand. At that cost, it is like watching my house burned to the ground!

There are 5,000 to 6,000 of this supercar in existence with fewer than 400 running in Britain. Now it's one more less.

Strawberry Fayre

The boys had great fun today at the Strawberry Fayre held at Cean's school. There were lots of fun things to do - bottle stall, cakes, bouncy castle, books/video, raffle, plants, face painting, toys, displays, games, barbecue, silent auction, wheel of fortune, jewellery and of course, lots of strawberry and cream teas.

It was great weather as well - intermittently cloudy and sunny, which was just perfect as I forgot to put suncream to the boys. I wasn't able to bring a lot of money (about 10 pounds only) but it was enough for the afternoon. The boys' favourite was the bouncy castle. They must have tried it 4-5 times at 50p for five minutes. Cean tried a card raffle game for 20p but was unfortunate. Both of them had a go at some relay game using water in a cup and the tug-of-war game. They really enjoyed that one. But I think in both games, the boys lost to the girls. Talk about girl power, huh!

There was a barbecue stall where we grabbed some late lunch of burger cheese, bacon and sausage, which were all placed in a bread roll. JP was very excited to continue playing that he didn't finish his lunch and quickly vanished from my sight. I found him later having a freebie turn at the bouncy castle.

Cean did fancy having a go at face painting but it was too late as I used up all my money. He probably got envious of some of the boys with tiger and lion faces. Maybe next time. I then brought him to the painting gallery, where there was a little game of finding the tortoise in the paintings. It turned out that there is one in all the paintings being displayed.

And where was JP? Playing with sand in the shade. Cean then joined in. After a while, both had had enough especially when JP had sand in his eyes from playing. It is really summer now. I will now be on a lookout for something to do every weekend because the boys will be asking for it.

Remembering Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

In my previous post on the death of Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, I mentioned the album Thriller. As far as I know this was the first album our family had of Jackson's music. I remember it was bought by my older brother when he went to Manila during summer vacation. How we all sang and danced to the music everytime we played the album!

The album Thriller and its songs had the most impact to me, among Jackson's many great hits. For me, all the songs in this album are great - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Baby Be Mine, The Girl Is Mine, Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, PYT (Pretty Young Thing) and The Lady In My Life.

I can still remember very well the Thriller video, which was done like a short movie. It was awesome! So I tried looking in YouTube if it's so I can watch it again as my way of remembering Michael Jackson. I found it and although the video doesn't have great picture quality I still enjoyed it much!

It's not only the original video I ended up watching but also that of the 1,500 plus Cebu prison inmates who danced to the tune of Thriller. This YouTube video made these prisoners world-wide celebrities in 2007 and had 20 million plus views until now. I must admit I did not watch it when it first came out.

The reason I watched this other was the news story I read in a Cebu daily newspaper about how fans of Michael Jackson have paid their tributes to the legendary singer in the comments section of this video and not in the original video. It was bizarre!

King of Pop Is Dead

Photo: BBC

It came as a shock! I just woke up and slowly finding my way downstairs to prepare my son's packed lunch and breakfast as it is a normal school day. Or so it seems until I opened the TV to check on the news, as I always do. The scene that greeted me was that of chaos with people running towards a building.

Amidst that chaotic scene I heard the BBC reporter mentioned King of Pop and later on the news that Michael Jackson is dead apparently from cardiac arrest. I feel the tingle behind my neck as I quickly call my wife to the telly. She was misty eyed as we listen to the news of his death.

His death came a fortnight before he is set to perform in London at the O2 Arena, which he said is going to be his last. He will never make it. The famous Glastonbury music festival will be honouring him this weekend. Already, there are lots of tributes paid to him.

Much has been badly said and written about Michael Jackson the man and his failings but I would rather remember him as Michael Jackson the greatest showman of all time. The music and the dance moves were just brilliant and extraordinary. His three greatest albums - Thriller, Bad and Off the Wall made him the King of Pop.

I remember particularly well the album Thriller especially the title song and the music video made about it. It was the most anticipated music video at that time (I was in my early teenage years). And who has not tried to do the Moonwalk and the Zombie dance? C'mon, admit it we all once tried to be Michael Jackson the dancer, succeeding instead of making an ass of ourselves trying hard to do the dance moves.

You are at peace now Michael Jackson, sir! If you were British, the sir would have come first. Goodbye, Michael Jackson! Today, the music died!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all fathers like me! I'm sharing with you all the special card made by Cean in his school. They do this every year and the first one he made was last year, which I posted twice last year in this blog.

The Terrible Two

I created a picture album of my two boys in my Facebook account, which I gave the title of The Terrible Two. The title was taken from a book that is currently a favourite of my younger son. It is a story of two boys who are the best of friends who decided to form a secret club and call themselves The Terrible Two because they want to do naughty things. In the end, they got bored with this purpose and ended up joining another secret club that was formed by two girls.

I read this book to my sons almost every night now. When I get to the line where I mention the name of the boys' secret club I read it aloud with a booming voice; my sons never failed to have a great laugh. The younger one would always say, "Again! Again!," which I dutifully do. Sometimes I add a line to it - "The Terrible Two, just like you too!" referring to my two boys.

My sons being boys can be terrible, but all boys are. But at least they are only two, which is quite manageable to me and my wife. But can you imagine my mother and father having to deal with The Terrible Seven and all boys at that!

If You Like Chocolate You Will Like This

(I came across this fun post by Pinay single mom through Ungkutan blog. I tried it and it works. If only they give out chocolates as a prize for doing this quiz. Enjoy!)

Check this out!!! This is fun!

Don’t tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway but the Hershey Man will know! YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

This is pretty neat.

DON’T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

It takes less than a minute .

Work this out as you read .

Be sure you don’t read the bottom until you’ve worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it’s fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 — I’ll wait while you get the
calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759. If you haven’t, add 1758.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born. You should have a three digit number. The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.

chocolate Calculator.

London: O2 Arena

Our short tour in London was capped with a dinner at O2 Arena courtesy of Clark, who celebrated his birthday the week before our visit. Tired from the tour I didn't manage to have pictures taken with the arena as background. We went straight inside to have a look around.

Clark treated us at Nando's, a Portuguese restaurant specialising in chicken (reminds me of Max's in the Philippines). It was obviously a favourite among diners as there was a long queue when we get there. Clark told us to have a look around the arena while he queued.

We walked around until we saw a dome with the sign "O2 fanspace" and went inside. It is supposed to be a place to chill out which I welcome very much. The kids does not understand the word chill out obviously, as they treated the place as playground.

No To Con-Ass!

I have not lived in my home country, the Philippines, since 2002. However, I still maintain very strong ties with the country since most of my family and friends still lives there. Being away does not make me less informed about the country. Thanks to the Internet, I am even more informed about the Philippines now that I am living abroad than when I was there.

What happened in 2 June did not pass me by unnoticed, for it was a sad day for Philippine democracy. On that fateful day, the House of Representatives approved House Resolution 1109 that would convene Congress (House and the Senate) into a constituent assembly (ConAss) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

I have been closely following the events on Charter Change on the internet for some time now. I am against any form of Charter Change, whatever the positive argument for it, if it is done under the present administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). It will always be interpreted as a tool to perpetuate GMA's power. She should just go out quietly and save the Filipino people from more hardships. But she can't, mindful of the wrath that awaits her.

Because of this selfish and shameless act of the House, I believe it's time for the Filipino people to really wake up and be outraged. This post is my way of saying that I, too, stands up to be counted for the fight to save Philippine democracy!

SHAME on all the (dis)honourable Congressmen who voted for the passage of House Resolution 1109!

London: City Hall

After our sightseeing of Buckingham Palace, we went to London City Hall. Not only is the city hall a great space to enjoy it is also close to two famous London tourist attractions. Opposite it is the Tower of London, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Near it is the Tower Bridge.

Here are some pictures taken in the city hall. The kids had a great time frolicking around in the grounds outside the city hall.

London: Buckingham Palace

A week ago, we went on a tour of London together with Clark, who is Daisy's cousin, and his family. Since it was a short tour, we only went to see Buckingham Palace, London City Hall and ending with dinner at the O2 Arena.

Here are some pictures taken from Buckingham Palace. Pictures from London City Hall and O2 Arena will follow in the next posts.



My family with Clark and his boys.



Cean in front of the magnificent palace gates.




Cean in front of the Victoria Memorial.

 

Military guards in red uniform marching in unison.

 

Horse-riding military guards on parade.
 

To Blog Again

"I'm Back!"

I've been away unexpectedly from the blogosphere for a few days. We went down to Kent for a short holiday. We stayed in Clark's (Daisy's cousin) place in Welling. This week's half term so Cean's not in school. We earlier planned to just go visit local attractions in and near Peterborough but we also thought of going to Welling.

We have been putting off going to Welling for quite some time now because the boys are still young. Last Monday, we decided to just go for it. It was a 2-3 hours journey of several train rides to Welling. It wasn't exactly the smoothest journey that one wishes for especially when you have young children. But it was better than we expected.

I brought along my Dell netbook as I was planning to blog during my rest hours while there. However, Clark (Daisy's cousin) forgot the password to their broadband connection. This also explains why I was not able to blog. This turned to be a good idea after all. The four days that we stayed in Welling were both fun and hard. Fun because we toured the boys in London and in Welling, and hard because our youngest son had some allergic attacks during our stay.

I'll be blogging about this recent holiday in the coming days, together with some pictures. I still have to upload it to my computer, though. The boys really had a great time especially the time they spent playing and bonding with their cousins (Clark has two boys as well).

Bad (Transport) Day

Yesterday started out well for me. Cean and I arrived at his school with plenty of time for me to catch up the Stagecoach bus to city centre. I got to the bus stop thinking the bus will arrive shortly. It did arrive...half an hour later, much to my annoyance!

Stagecoach assures its passengers of a bus ride to town every ten minutes. The half hour delay means they missed two schedules. The result was that halfway to its journey's end, the bus I was in was already full. I have to say many of my fellow passengers were not happy bunnies like me!

This is the first time this delay happened to me in a long while now. I didn't know the reason for the delay; even so, this is still unacceptable. Stagecoach failed to deliver their promise to its customers. We actually have no choice because they are the only bus plying the route in most of Peterborough centre and suburbs.

That bad start of the day was to continue in the afternoon. After work, I catch a different bus because it goes to my neighbourhood. If I took Stagecoach, it is a longer walk home for me. Obviously, I opt for a less tiresome way to go home after a hard day's work sitting in the office!

The Local Link bus, which is funded by the city council, missed a scheduled trip. Only a one missed trip, that does not matter, wouldn't it? You might ask. Well...it does matter actually. Unlike Stagecoach which have a 10-minute interval in their schedule the Local Link bus that goes to my home has a 30-minute interval. Again I lost another half hour of my time waiting for a bus trip home.

A situation like this sometimes make me miss home. I chose third world transport anytime over the first world one when these things happen. At least in Cebu you can get a jeepney anytime you want it!

Types Of Bloggers

I read this article that describes four different types of blogger. The author intended this categorisation for advertising agencies and marketers who wants to tap bloggers. I think this can be used to describe all bloggers, in general.

According to the blog article, the four types of bloggers are:

1. Hobby Bloggers. They generate content from the things or activities that interest them the most. Some examples of these would be those who blog about food, anime, movie reviews and photography.

2. Journal Bloggers. They usually post about life experiences. Their topics can be really random and can be anything under the sun. Favourite topics can include current events especially those being discussed by media outfits and online communities.

3. Google Bloggers. They focus on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) with no or little regard to relevant content, personal branding and influence. They are in it for advertising and money. These bloggers prioritise building keywords so that search engines like Google and Yahoo will point towards them, thus giving them substantial amount of traffic.

4. Value Bloggers. They are writers who put content, personal branding and service as top priorities. They focus on delivering posts that add value to their readers by giving them insights, tips, tactic and advice on how to improve one's craft, hobby or whatever. In other words, people go to them because what they write is relevant, sensible and useful (something readers can actually learn from.)

For me, there is a fifth type - the overlapping type. This type is a combination of any of the four types mentioned above.

I am certainly a Journal Blogger but I would like to be a Journal-Value Blogger. I am thankful for readers who give me part of their valuable time to read about me and my family's life experiences. I feel that I should make it even more worthwhile by giving value and learning to what they read. Certainly, there is more work to be done if I want to be a Journal-Value Blogger.

So, fellow bloggers, which type are you?

Peterborough: Area and Population

Peterborough is part of Cambridgeshire and is located 78 miles north of London. It is only less than 50 minutes by train from London Kings Cross rail station. The city covers a land area of 343.44 square kilometres. As at 2007, it has a population of 163, 300. Population density, therefore, is 475.48 persons per square kilometre.

Now let's compare these figures with that of two of my former home cities in the Philippines, Tagbilaran City in Bohol and Cebu City in Cebu. Both cities are found in the Visayas region.

Tagbilaran City was my childhood home for ten years. I have not cut off my ties with the city, of course. A lot of my childhood friends and my wife's family are living there. My family lives in nearby Baclayon town. Tagbilaran City covers an area of 32.70 square kilometres. The population in 2007 was 92, 297; thus, population density is 2,822 persons per square kilometre.

Cebu City was my home from my late teens when I went to university there, and up to the start of my working career. My older brother who now lives there with his own family, is still renting out the same apartment we have lived since 1990. Cebu City covers an area of 291.20 square kilometres and has a population of 798,809 (2007 census). Population density in the city is 2,743 persons per square kilometre.

In terms of area, Peterborough is larger than Cebu and Tagbilaran (individually and in combination). However, in terms of urban characteristics Peterborough and Tagbilaran are similar although Peterborough is more advanced. Cebu is a highly urbanised city. Its metropolitan area, which includes several neighbouring cities and towns, is considered the second major city in the Philippines. Cebu can be compared to Birmingham and Manchester; it has a metropolitan population of two million people.

Population-wise, Cebu has almost five times more people than Peterborough despite have a smaller land area. On the other hand, despite having the least population among these three cities, Tagbilaran has the most number of people per square kilometer of land area. It is six times more densely populated than Peterborough.

Photo and info source: Peterborough City Council and Wikipedia

Peterborough City: Overview

The city of Peterborough has been my family's home for the last eight years now. Here is an overview of the city as provided by Peterborough City Council:

Peterborough has the reputation of a modern, progressive city located within one of the UK’s fastest growing regions. However, Peterborough is a long established city, with a cathedral dating back to pre-Norman times. Throughout the city and its surrounding district, there are notable features that serve as a reminder of Peterborough’s historical identity.

From medieval times to the start of the industrial revolution, Peterborough was little more than a small market town on the edge of the Fens, though it was granted city status by Henry VIII in 1541. For many centuries the river was an important highway and the Customs House still stands today alongside the Town Bridge. Its real growth started in the mid-19th Century, with the arrival of the railways. Peterborough soon became a major railway junction and attracted a number of heavy industrial companies.

By the late 1960s, the 'New Towns' programme had begun. Peterborough was designated a 'New Town' in 1968, and the Peterborough Development Corporation was established to double the city's population in close partnership with the City Council. The Master Plan was to concentrate development in four new residential townships, each with a full range of social and economic facilities. The fourth township, Hampton, is now being built to the south of the city, and will continue the city's growth into the next century with the development of over 5,000 houses and industrial and commercial space for 12,000 jobs. In April 1998 the City Council achieved Unitary Status and is now responsible for all local government services in the district.

Our neighbourhood is one of earliest township of Peterborough that was developed under the 'New Towns' programme. In fact, the house we live in was built around 1973 by the Peterborough Development Corporation.

Pacman bread

It has been two weeks since the demolition of British boxing hero, Ricky "Hitman" Hatton, from the hands of the great Filipino boxing hero, Manny "Pacman/Destroyer" Pacquiao. The Philippines are still celebrating Pacquiao's great victory but all is quite in the UK now.

Instead of licking their wounds, Hatton's fans can exact revenge on Pacman by eating it with their favourite hot or cold drink. I am referring, of course, to Pacman the bread. Apparently, there is a Pacman bread. It is shaped to look like Pacquiao's fist. This bread was created in 2006 by Julie's Bakeshop, a popular bakeshop chain in the Visayas and Mindanao, Philippines.

However, Pacman bread is not available all year round. It is only made a week before and after Manny Pacquiao's fights, or upon special demand. I'm afraid it is a week late now for Hatton's fans to get even on Pacquiao.

It is not only Pacquiao who had been honoured with a bread named after him. Another Filipino boxing great and world Hall of Famer, Gabriel "Flash" Elorde, also had a bread named after him. The Elorde is a popular bread in Cebu (available all year round) that is shaped like two gloved fists held together. I have tasted this bread, which is delicious and goes very well with my favourite coffee or cola.


Photo: Sunstar Daily Cebu

Jaundice Baby

I was checking SELaplana's blog when I came across his post on his new-born son who has neonatal jaundice. The baby had photo therapy because of it. I sympathise with what he and his wife are going through as I know it from experience.

Our first born son Cean had the same condition when he was born. My wife, a nurse with several years experience in a maternity ward, noticed the yellow discoloration in our baby's body. We went back to the maternity hospital where Cean was born. He was admitted and undergone photo therapy for 24 hours.

Cean was stripped down to his nappy during the therapy. He lied down in a special bed for babies that was lighted underneath with what looks like a fluorescent light. His eyes were covered to protect it from damage from the light.

It was crucial that the bilirubin level in his body will be down to normal within 24 hours of photo therapy. Otherwise, it will be a cause for worry. Thankfully, his body responded well to the therapy. He is now an active and healthy 6 year old boy.

According to Wikipedia, neonatal jaundice is usually harmless and is often seen in infants around the second day after birth, lasting until day 8 in normal births, or to around day 14 in premature births. Serum bilirubin (yellow breakdown product of heme catabolism that is responsible for yellow discolouration in jaundice) normally drops to a low level without any intervention required.

The jaundice is presumably a consequence of metabolic and physiological adjustments after birth. In extreme cases, a brain damaging condition known as kernicterus can occur. Neonatal jaundice is a risk factor for hearing loss.

John Paul, our second son, also had neonatal jaundice when he was born but he did not undergo photo therapy. He was born in spring where sunshine is plentiful. In contrast, Cean was a winter baby and that is why he had photo therapy.

I mentioned sunshine because neonatal jaundice can be addressed by exposing the new-born child in the sun for a few minutes during their first week of birth. Children born in the Philippines are quite lucky because sunshine is plentiful most of the year.

Now I know what those scenes of mothers sitting outside their houses getting sunshine together with their new-born babies, were for. The sun's rays breaks down the excess bilirubin in the baby's body during those crucial first week of their life; thus, preventing damage to their health.

Dayrider

Cean and I walk to his school everyday. Afterwards, I catch a bus nearby to go to work. I pay for a dayrider ticket costing £3.30, which saves me money. A single ticket to city centre costs £1.80.

Public transportation is quite expensive. With the amount paid on a dayrider, I can have a nice lunch instead. My usual lunch consists of a tuna & sweetcorn sandwich (£1.60), Doritos crisp (£0.42), Coke can (£0.45) and chocolate bar (£0.40). And I still have some loose change to spend or save for the next day.

A dayrider ticket from a Stagecoach bus can be used throughout Peterborough and valid all day. Anybody can use it subject to the mentioned conditions.

Pizza Complaint

I really feel for this dude. There has been a debate whether this has been real or not, but you be the judge. I came across this news article last Friday. I have a "wicked" sense of humour so I really had a laugh at this poor soul.

Part of the Telegraph news article read:

Man complains his pizza has no topping - until he realises it is upside down

A telephone call by a shopper who rings a helpline to complain that his pizza has no topping before realising it is upside down, has become an internet sensation. More than 20,000 people have listened to a recording of a Welsh man complaining to a supermarket call centre worker than he has been left without dinner because he has been sold a plain pizza base.

Minutes into the call, his complaints turn to embarrassment as he realises he has opened the box upside down, and is in fact looking at the underside of the pizza. After admitting, "I look like a fool" he goes on to complain that the box should have been marked with instructions, saying which way up it should be held.

Listen to the call at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H8HnaTIcmk

Accepted

Photo: Sacred Heart RC Primary School website

The agonising wait was finally over. We received the news last 30 April and we were not disappointed. After a few months of anxious waiting, our youngest son John Paul was accepted to the school we applied for him to start Foundation Stage. He will start in Reception class in September of this year in the same school as his elder brother Cean.

Reception class is for 4-5 year old children and is the first year of compulsory education here in the UK. In the Philippines, at this age children are encouraged to go to day care centres to start some formal education classes. In private education, this is the equivalent of Kindergarten 1. I also attended Kindergarten class at this age and so are the rest of my siblings. My nephew and nieces in the Philippines also attend Kindergarten classes before they proceed to higher years.

John Paul had been going to this school for about two years now. He always go with me or my wife when we bring and pick up his brother from school. I hope adjustment will not be as hard as Cean's experience, who is the more quiet and introvert between our two sons. Some of the children that John Paul sees and plays with in the school will be his classmates in Reception class.

Relieved and happy though we are, we also feel for some of the parents we know from school whose children were denied entry due to the high volume of applicants. Some of them are not baptised Catholics. It's a shame really as some of these children already have siblings studying in this school. In particular, some of Cean's classmates have siblings who would be going to John Paul's class. Not all of them will be joining John Paul in the next academic year.

The school that I mentioned where our two sons will be going to is Sacred Heart RC Primary School. The RC stands for Roman Catholic, since the Church supports the running of the school. This school is a mainstream state school for girls and boys, which serves baptised Catholics (priority) and those of other faiths, whose parents are supportive of the school ethos.

We chose this school for the main reason that it is a school for Catholics. Also, it is very close to our house (about 10 minutes walk, lesser by car) so it is very convenient when bringing to and picking our children from school. Besides, there are many Filipino children who goes there and not to mention the fact that this school has excellent academic standing in the National Curriculum tests.

Blog Changes

I decided to make some changes to this blog. I have narrowed down the perspective a bit. This blog will now be more of a personal blog about my life as a Pinoy expatriate in the United Kingdom. Of course, I will still talk about interesting news from anywhere in the world that caught my fancy.

For the record, the previous description on Pinoyborian reads:

Pinoyborian
Pinoy life in the UK

The blog's name is a combination of the words Pinoy, the informal name we Filipinos like to call ourselves (similar to Brits for British), and of Peterborian, the native of Peterborough, which is now my home in the UK.

This blog is a smorgasbord of views, ideas and interesting information about the UK, the Philippines and the rest of the world (if it caught my fancy.)

The blog description is quite broad that the direction it was going to seems to be all over the place. As a personal blog, I will now post more on my observations and views on British culture from a Pinoy perspective. I will make comparisons between my current life in the UK and my past Philippine life whenever there are similarities or differences.

I realised that I do not mention Peterborough quite often in this blog. It is not that there is not much to talk about this city. In fact, there are many interesting information on Peterborough that are worth mentioning especially in comparison to places I have lived in the Philippines. I now make a conscious decision to feature my current home frequently on this blog.

As I am about to publish this post I read again my first post on this blog curious to know how I have progressed. Unfortunately, I have veered away from what I intend to write on this blog. In that post I wrote that:

This blog is generally about how it is to live in the UK from a Pinoy family's perspective. There will be focus on our integration into British culture and also about the the vibrant Filipino community in the city of Peterborough and neighbo(u)ring places.

This just goes to show that I have wandered too far off in the woods. I have now found my way back and hereon, will consciously stick to the path where I started. And so the journey continues.

Pacquiao TKO'd Hatton

Photo: Times Online

What a class act! Now I am a believer! Pacquiao really showed us all why he is the best pound for pound boxer at the moment. I'm sure a lot of my fellow countrymen were laughing their way to the bookies today. Balato bi!

It was a disappointing two round stoppage considering I've paid £15 for the match. I was sleeping most of the time during the marathon match (starting at 10 pm until about 5ish am when it finished). I agree with what was written in the papers today about the very bad matches that featured last night. Pathetic!

I was a bit nervous when the match started as I thought Pacquiao had heavy legs as he moved. Unlike that December 2008 demolition of de la Hoya where he seemed to me as if he was moving like lightning. But it did not take long before I was reassured that Pacquiao was going to win it.

Three very clear knockdowns in two rounds. Enough said. We wuz robbed! It should have went on to 8 rounds to make the pay worth it! Go Pacman!

If you want to read a nice article about the fight read this Times news article.

Pacquiao v Hatton Boxing Fight

Photo: Manny Pacquiao's website Pacland

Go Pacman! Go Hitman! I have just began watching a marathon pay per view boxing match as I am writing this. The Pacman - Hatton fight will start at 4am tomorrow (Sunday 3 May) but there will be a lot of fights in the run up to this main fight.

Just like Pacquiao's demolition of Oscar de la Hoya, this fight promises to be another explosive fight. I think it's worth the 14.95 GBP I'm paying just like the Pacquiao-de la Hoya fight. I admit I have not seen both men box before except maybe Pacquiao's fight with de la Hoya. I'm not much of a boxing fan but I did watch quite a lot of boxing matches when I was a child.

My dad's a very big boxing fan. I still remember well the late night boxing matches we watched on our black and white Toshiba television. That trusty old tv set was the kind that also stands as a furniture. I remember the fights of Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Larry Holmes and many more.

If my dad's here now he too will be watching this until the main fight. I wonder if they will be watching it live too on television in Cebu. I forgot to ask him when I rang up at lunchtime to ask them how they are doing there. I might give him a ring later tonight to check if they will be watching this match, too.

I am not a betting man but if I am I will definitely be betting on Pacquiao. Go Pacman!

Britain's Got Talent

Photo: Daily Express

Forget Leona Lewis. Forget Girls Aloud. Forget Sugababes. They are the past.

Meet Susan Boyle (pictured above), Britain's Got Talent's newest singing sensation. Oh, but you would say, "C'mon, you're pulling my legs." I know why you said that. You're not alone. Even the mighty judges and the audience of the talent show thought the same.

Here's an account of what happened last weekend:

"Last Saturday, viewers saw Boyle, with double chin, unkempt hair, frumpy appearance and eccentric demeanour, step onto the talent show stage and proclaim her dream of being a professional singer.

The judges rolled their eyes and the audience pulled incredulous faces. Onlookers, on set and at home, were rubbing their hands at the prospect of another hopeless, deluded loser being crushed by a withering Simon Cowell insult.

Then she opened her mouth and sang I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables.

Her voice confounded all expectations - the judges' eyes bulged, the crowd went wild and Boyle became an instant star."

And what a hit she became in YouTube with more than 26 million views (and growing fast). In fact, she has become a world sensation because of YouTube. She's a big hit in America, too.

But why has she become such a phenomenon? Here's what a celebrity magazine writer has to say:

"In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging - the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts - the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace.

She pierced my defences. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective."

You have to watch the audition to see for yourself why she is music's newest sensation. And to think that she has not won the competition yet. Amazing!

If you want to know the rest about Susan's story read more at BBC News.