I have heard it said that over time humans begin to resemble their pet dogs. I wonder if the reverse is true as well?
Speaking of dogs, my new landlady provided a modified pet amendment to the lease that includes a provision for TWO dogs. So, that’s another hurdle cleared. I went through my desk drawers yesterday and found my original lease for this house and my rent and deposit receipts. I also have the receipts for the three aircon units I’ll be taking with me. Yeah, I’m expecting trouble. As I understand it, the Ocampo’s are a politically connected and powerful family (the daughter was a Congresswoman), so I doubt I’ll prevail in any court battles. We’ll see what happens, but I do prefer to avoid being deported, so I’m only going to push it so far. More to come on that I’m sure.
In the meantime, life goes on like it always does. Walked out to Baloy beach yesterday afternoon. It was deserted.
What’s changed? Well, Manila is on a lockdown status which means no one is supposed to travel to or from that area. Just read today that one of the local hotels is being investigated for accepting guests from Manila this past weekend. The other thing that happened was a couple of drownings. Kids under 15 are not supposed to be out of the house (same with old fuckers over 65) and that rule still applies here in Olongapo. So, the police are patrolling the beaches on foot now and families are staying away. By the way, no one has ever asked me my age throughout this pandemic, but if they ever do I’m going to say “55”. That’s actually the year I was born. I’ll let the cops do the math. If they can. Which I doubt.
If I’m on Baloy beach, you know I’m bound to wind up on the Kokomo’s floating bar. And I did. Just a handful of customers, most of whom I gathered were up from Angeles City, which is still on a lockdown that includes an alcohol ban. Poor bastards!
I started feeling a little hungry, so I grabbed the menu from Treasure Island and had a look. For some reason, I decided to give the Mexican a try–quesadillas and tacos. Now, the kitchen at TI is one of the better ones in town, but I’ve generally been disappointed with the Mexican dishes everywhere I’ve tried them.
The girls were all hungry too, so of course, I fed them. Some Filipino dishes and chicken. They seemed pleased with their meal, and that pleased me.
Well, I did have one for the road at Johan’s. Home by 8:00, made a smoothie, checked the ‘net, and headed off to bed.
Congrats on the two-dog provision. I wonder if that landlady wants your money more than she cares about the number of pooches. Should desperation be a warning sign? Examine your prospective new place for cracks, drainage problems, tiny insects in dark corners, grit and cobwebs, moldy/funky wallpaper or paint, weird smells emanating from pipes and drains, and the potentially-noisy-neighbor situation.
Actually, I don’t think she is desperate. The current tenants are just now moving out so she’s hasn’t technically missed a rent payment yet. And she didn’t have a problem with waiting until next month for my move-in.
I saw the future upstairs neighbor last night. He told me the landlady had contacted him to ask if he had any issues with her allowing me to bring two dogs. He told her he didn’t, so that was cool of her to ask before changing the one-dog rule on my behalf.
I do intend to give the place a thorough look over prior to moving in. The unit is only a couple of years old so I don’t anticipate any structural issues. On my brief walk-through while it was still occupied I noticed the sliding closet doors were askew, so I’ll be making a list of repairs like that for sure.
Onward!
To the AC’s that you installed, if it’s yours, you can take it with u when u leave..if u made holes to install those AC’s then u need to fix them.
Claiming and fighting for what belongs to you doesnt cause u to be deported…in fact you can charge them of extortion.
Yeah, not really worried about the aircons. But they also owe me 3 months of deposit money (P135,000). Will I ever see that again?