DOWNTON JOSE

Every Philippine Embassy around the world will look to somehow commemorate their respective annual "Philippine-Country X Friendship Week" of course, but it's really hard to imagine any of them matching London's spectacular happenings for this year.   I've mentioned the return of the "More Fun Buses" before... 

Thank you, Camiguin!

...we also had a great talk on Fil-British environment cooperation activities happening at the fun to pronounce Danjugan island...

Dugong salamat!

...plus the Telegraph came out with a lovely feature on the world's No. 1 island...

You-da-man, Pa-la-wan!

And to cap it all off -- what better way to celebrate friendly Fil-UK fusion than to launch the Noli Me Tangere audiobook with a consummate British actor. 

PHL-UK relations have come a long way indeed since "Spiceworld: The Spice Girls Movie"

BUS KO, PO!

Well if you haves it, flaunts it!  The "More Fun in the Philippines" double-decker buses have always been a hit, so why not bring them back -- but this time, go full bodywrap and feature destinations that lend themselves to the best scenery/pun combos!  So...

Baler?

I'm there!

Camarines?

Sure!

And the best LGU slogan in the history of ever: Thank You... 

CAMIGUIN!!!

This will never get old.

BARYA BARYA LANG

So I had a chance to visit the place where they make coins and medals for all over the world, and let me tell you...it was effing metal.   

Yes, you saw that pun a mile away, but you could in fact totally geek out at the mint.  The reinforced walls, beefed-up security and sufficient on-site catering immediately reassure you that you're in as good a place as any should the zombie apocalypse happen outside, like right now (for her part, the LLDD-Hyphen-L knows well enough to head to the big Westfield mall near our house and communicate with me through the Zara online shopping website).  The place also rolled out a couple of nice touches for our visit, including displaying the national flag while we toured...

if I do become a zombie during the apocalypse, I call dibs on the one at the bottom right 

...letting us hold - but strictly not wear - a genuine Olympic gold medal...

although I clearly deserve one for "Sweetest Tie-Vest Combo"

...and blinging up Gromit.

daaaaawwwwggg 

Then, once you get to the manufacturing facility itself, the role-playing fantasy possibilities become endless: you can try something current, say, Bilbo searching for the ring within Smaug's mountain of gold...

   

precioussssssss

...or something old-school, like Matutina sweeping a fortune off Dely Atay-atayan's couch and floors 

kaya John, mag-bloody sumikap ka

Hey, since you're here, why don't I show you my UK loose change collection?  (for some reason, this is not a hit when I pull it out at cocktail parties)   So far, I've got me a bunch of historic two-pounders...

...a couple of quirky quids....

...some sporty 50's...

...and one of these..

yeah, I still don't get it