A good 24 hours straight of water falling from the sky. Last night I got an Orange rain alert on my phone. Looked outside but the rain was still the same color it always is. *ahem*
Seriously though, it was bad enough that I voluntarily stayed home for the first time in I don’t know how long (excluding those lockdown days when I had no choice). Luckily, I had a good stock of beer here at the house. And my helper Gina invited some of her girlfriends over so I didn’t even have to drink alone. I’ll tell you one thing, Filipinas know how to party!
They even coerced me into singing some karaoke…
It has stopped raining now. I was able to walk the dogs and then take a short walk for me. Hopefully, the rain won’t be back until after the Hash this afternoon. We are starting at 2:00 p.m. today which I guess is okay since we have the later (9:00 p.m.) curfew now.
Facebook memories reminded me of a long-ago post from my daughter claiming she thinks it’s cool that her dad looks like Tom Selleck. This was her evidence:
I used to get that a lot. But honestly, Selleck ain’t nearly as handsome as I am. Or was.
Facebook also reminded me that four years ago I was enjoying myself in Pattaya, Thailand.
Turns out the name of the bar was intended to be ironic……because all the of the girls there had something extra.
In other news, we recently had another expat pass away. I didn’t know Steve at all but he was very active in the community and engaged in some legendary charitable activities. He owned a business on SBMA (the old Navy base) and also resided there. The other morning Steve was rushed to the hospital and the doctors were unable to revive him. The official cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest. He had previously suffered a heart attack a couple of years ago. Here’s where it gets interesting–a day or two later a post-mortem COVID test was performed and guess what:
Yeah, what a bunch of bullshit. Steve’s wife said he had no COVID symptoms prior to the heart attack. She nor any of his other associates have tested positive for the virus.
What’s the motivation for such a blatantly false claim? Well, it probably has something to do with money. Or power Or both. This whole COVID charade is wearing thin so I guess those folks in the know want to get as much out of it as possible before the people wise up.
This is not to say there haven’t been a fair number of COVID related fatalities. On my morning walk today, I took some time to document them:
What used to be Johansson’s. This is especially sad because it was our traditional Hash meet-up and start location.Winking Pussycat. I was only in there a couple of times. Not my cup of tea, but very nicely decorated.I probably only ate at this little hole-in-the-wall Korean resto once or twice. Honestly, I didn’t think the food was all that good.The Caison Bar. It had outdoor seating upstairs and friendly gals. Not a regular stop for me, but not bad for a change.The Hunk Zone. I’m not sure what exactly a “male hub” is all about. I know it featured men as performers. Whether that was for the gay community or females or both I don’t know. Never ventured inside.Even though I did not frequent this place regularly, I’ll miss T-Rose.I was just starting to become a regular here in the third-floor open-air bar when the big shutdown occurred back in March. They briefly re-opened but that didn’t last.I used to get the occasional foot spa/pedicure here in those pre-pandemic days of old.Never stayed here but like many hotels, without tourists, there are not enough customers to stay afloat.That space above the 7/11 used to be a videoke joint. Only sang there once though. This was a small bar popular with some expats. I went once and met a girl who wanted to give me a blowjob. I finished my beer and left instead.Another small hotel that has not found a way to stay viable with the travel ban in place.Central Park Reef. The newest and biggest hotel in town. Also the nicest. Very classy. I really liked the rooftop dining area and infinity pool. Rumor has it the owners have filed for bankruptcy. I expect it will reopen someday. Too nice a place to go to waste. Although if some enterprising rich person turned it into condos that would work too I think.The Maze has not gone unaffected. Man Cave, Rum Jungle, and Lollipop bars are gone now. Wet Spot is the last of the originals remaining. The Green Room is a new sports bar where Rum Jungle was and just this weekend Voodoo opened where Lollipop once was.By the Sea is another very nice hotel with not enough paying customers to justify reopening.Rico’s was very popular with the locals. A Filipino style buffet place with cheap prices. Sadly, buffets seem to be inconsistent with COVID.Where Voodoo used to live.And finally, Midnight Rambler. A Barretto mainstay since the 1980s. The space would make an amazing beach bar. I’m sometimes tempted to drop my life savings into turning this place into a bar catering to the expat community. But I’m not that stupid.
So, there you have proof that COVID is indeed a killer. And that’s just along a 2K stretch of highway in Barretto. Things are getting better but damn, the leaders here need to open this country back up before more business fail.
Yeah, a lot of that head up the ass thing going on in this part of the world too.
But at least I have my dogs.
That’s a good boy!
Stay safe everyone!
6 thoughts on “Rainy daze”
Really sorry to hear about Central Park Reef. The mismanagement of the crisis is egregious pretty much everywhere. Here in South Korea, the leftist government had been managing the situation with a fairly light touch, but starting a couple months ago, there have been more restrictions on events and interactions, and there’s now talk of American-style penalties for people caught not wearing masks. This is insane, especially given how small the virus problem is here relative to other countries. Open it all back up, I say, and let herd immunity do the rest.
Yep, that’s where I stand as well. The governments are causing more harm than the virus ever will. It has saddened me to see how many people are willing to defer to the so-called experts as infallible and cede control of their life and liberty to them.
Sorry to hear about the passing of your acquaintance. My condolences.
Would this be the same ‘Steve, the Englishman who doesn’t drink’?
I am an avid follower of the blog so I did a search to see ,but still not sure. What I did find was a story about the death at the bar where you met your first(?) filipina girlfriend/FWB; its owner Greg. Imagine my surprise when I read that you were ready to engage in fisticuffs with a gentleman called Patrick over his loud opinions about culture and funerals and grieving. That was unexpected. But I am glad to get to know about that side of you as well.
Thanks and keep up the good work you do on this blog
Rainy days should be spent indoors with a cup of coffee and a big mug of ale
Hey, James. No, Steve the Englishman who doesn’t drink, is currently back home in Spain running his bar. What a whacky world, eh?
As for Patrick, we were both drunk. He’d lost his best friend Greg so wasn’t really himself. But I couldn’t sit there and let him bully my girlfriend either. I gave him the opportunity to take it out on me instead. He chose not to, which is a good thing. I’m a lover, not a fighter. 🙂
Maybe my previous comment did not survive the moderation.
I meant to say that
It is sad to see so many businesses closing their doors this year, hopefully it’s not really the end.
Even if it is, I am sure some enterprising individual like yourself will pick up a business or a few and start anew. A chain of related establishments in the vein of Cheap Charlie’s could work wonders, provided they have a chef on staff who could whip up a few of the favorite dishes
Hey James, not sure what happened. I always publish any comments I receive. Sorry for the mishap.
Well, I’m pretty sure some of these places will be back at some point. The problem is this town has been geared to foreign tourists. The expat community is just not large enough to support them all. Probably the bar doing the best based on my visual observations is BarCelona. It seems to always have a nice crowd. It’s new and clean, has a pool table, open air with a view, and Cheap Charlies prices.
Sometimes the thought occurs to me to open the kind of bar I’d like to frequent. But there is no way I’d actually take something like that on at this stage of my life.
Really sorry to hear about Central Park Reef. The mismanagement of the crisis is egregious pretty much everywhere. Here in South Korea, the leftist government had been managing the situation with a fairly light touch, but starting a couple months ago, there have been more restrictions on events and interactions, and there’s now talk of American-style penalties for people caught not wearing masks. This is insane, especially given how small the virus problem is here relative to other countries. Open it all back up, I say, and let herd immunity do the rest.
Yep, that’s where I stand as well. The governments are causing more harm than the virus ever will. It has saddened me to see how many people are willing to defer to the so-called experts as infallible and cede control of their life and liberty to them.
Sorry to hear about the passing of your acquaintance. My condolences.
Would this be the same ‘Steve, the Englishman who doesn’t drink’?
I am an avid follower of the blog so I did a search to see ,but still not sure. What I did find was a story about the death at the bar where you met your first(?) filipina girlfriend/FWB; its owner Greg. Imagine my surprise when I read that you were ready to engage in fisticuffs with a gentleman called Patrick over his loud opinions about culture and funerals and grieving. That was unexpected. But I am glad to get to know about that side of you as well.
Thanks and keep up the good work you do on this blog
Rainy days should be spent indoors with a cup of coffee and a big mug of ale
Hey, James. No, Steve the Englishman who doesn’t drink, is currently back home in Spain running his bar. What a whacky world, eh?
As for Patrick, we were both drunk. He’d lost his best friend Greg so wasn’t really himself. But I couldn’t sit there and let him bully my girlfriend either. I gave him the opportunity to take it out on me instead. He chose not to, which is a good thing. I’m a lover, not a fighter. 🙂
Maybe my previous comment did not survive the moderation.
I meant to say that
It is sad to see so many businesses closing their doors this year, hopefully it’s not really the end.
Even if it is, I am sure some enterprising individual like yourself will pick up a business or a few and start anew. A chain of related establishments in the vein of Cheap Charlie’s could work wonders, provided they have a chef on staff who could whip up a few of the favorite dishes
Hey James, not sure what happened. I always publish any comments I receive. Sorry for the mishap.
Well, I’m pretty sure some of these places will be back at some point. The problem is this town has been geared to foreign tourists. The expat community is just not large enough to support them all. Probably the bar doing the best based on my visual observations is BarCelona. It seems to always have a nice crowd. It’s new and clean, has a pool table, open air with a view, and Cheap Charlies prices.
Sometimes the thought occurs to me to open the kind of bar I’d like to frequent. But there is no way I’d actually take something like that on at this stage of my life.