Went to the Supermarket earlier and saw a guy with a shopping cart full to the brim with hand sanitizers, baby wipes, soaps, everything that people need!

I called him a selfish bastard, gave him a low down about the elderly and others who need these types of things. Told him he should be very ashamed of himself!

He said: “that’s all well and good, but I work here, can I continue filling the shelves now?”

Um, yeah. Never mind.

That’s the joke I forgot to include in yesterday’s post about grocery shopping. Whaddaya mean better never than late?

So, there’s only one bar in town that remains open (that I know of) and that’s at the Out Back hotel. Which I guess makes it the best bar in Barretto at the moment. How long those moments will last remains to be seen. I’ve been discrete about telling anyone about it, but word is getting out. At the beginning of the week, I was there alone. Last night when I arrived around 5 p.m. I got the last available bar stool.

So, a pleasant surprise during my visit yesterday. A man I’d never met before came up to me and said “you must be John. Thanks, your blog was very helpful to me in getting information about the curfew”. I don’t talk about my blog to people here nor do I share links on Facebook like I used to do. Anthony found me the old fashioned way–through a Google search. That’s happened a few times over the years and it really surprises me to meet an unknown reader out of the blue (or in this case, in the Out Back) that way. We had some beers and a nice chat. I’m sure I’ll see him around about. In fact, he has a house under construction in Alta Vista. Small world and smaller town.

Speaking of the curfew, quarantine, lockdown or whatever the hell they are calling it, I did manage to finagle a pass from the San Isidro Barangay yesterday.

We are all awaiting the implementation of more stringent measures this coming Monday. No one knows for sure what they will entail, but President Duterte has declared the Philippines to be in a “state of calamity” which seems to be a euphemism for martial law. One rumored aspect is being confined to your Barangay of residence–no pass outs to neighboring towns. Another is the prohibition on the sale of alcohol. Everybody’s stocking up today. We’ll see if the Out Back owner still has the balls to defy the authorities come Monday. I’m going back tonight to drink my fill while I still can. You know, it’s wise to play it safe during a pandemic, right?

Speaking of Monday, we are still planning a very low key Hash. I was out with Pubic Head and Blow My Pipe this morning scouting out a trail. If this goes down we’ll have our on-home at a private residence on Rizal Extension. It’s a nice hike we have in mind, one good climb and around 4K from the start to on-home. Additional distance is added depending on where you are coming from to reach the start. For me, that’s another 2K.

Stay tuned. Things might just be about to get interesting.