CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?

For those keeping track, the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I's First Wedding Anniversary just came up. Ah, glorious wedded bliss. To paraphrase the squeaky voice from that De Beers commercial* shown in the Philippines sometime during the early-nineties, "Doesn't seem like one year". This is very true, in part because the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I spent some months apart right after the wedding, in part because we pretty much feel like we're still on our honeymoon (in London!), and in part because - seriously - we only now got around to paying for and getting our wedding album.

(*no, not this one)

Our love-in-pictures was good, but the photographers needed cash.

So where do a beautiful fairy princess and...ahem...her prince charming stay a year after they're married? Why, at a royal palace of course! OK, it was actually just a day-tour bus stop at Windsor Castle, but still.

And since photographs are strictly forbidden inside Windsor, you can't NOT prove that we were actually overnight guests of the Queen! Can't you!

Windsor was all well and good, of course, but an anniversary still needs some extra-oopmh. It needs something powerful, a strong image and symbol of the best parts of marriage. It needs . . . large rock columns that make a man feel insecure and inadequate!

The LLDD-Hyphen-L seemed a little too pleased at this "attraction"

Kidding aside, Stonehenge was not at all the disappointing tourist trap that some have made it out to be (at least, if it's not the only place you're visiting on a day-tour). The vast surrounding countryside, the eerie winds, and the sheer size of the stones combined for a cool, mysterious feel to the place. Staring at it all, you can't help but join in the debate over who built Stonehenge, how, and why? Was it constructed as a burial ground or to serve as a calendar? A temple for ancient rituals and ceremonies perhaps? Did, as legend had it, Merlin magically teleport it to England (to avoid having to pay VAT maybe)? Or - as I am personally inclined to believe - was the whole thing put in place by giant aliens?

Because there is a surprising amount of visual evidence of this

But I really do think there's some mojo going on at Stonehenge, because right after our visit, our day-tour took a turn for the worse when a massive traffic jam suddenly appeared on the highway and brought our bus to a crawl. The result: we were told we could only stay thirty minutes at our final stop, Oxford. Thus, our tour guide (the dude in the shades below) literally just plopped our group down on a street corner, walked us around the block and - what a coincidence! - finished off the tour next to a gift shop. We were then given five minutes to get back to the bus. Awesome.

No Christchurch!?! No Harry-Potter dining hall?!? By the power of Merlin, I swear you shall be avenged, LLDD-Hyphen-L!!! Animo Cambridge!!!!

But love still conquers all, of course, so no lame tour of Oxford could ruin our anniversary. Besides, the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I still had time that weekend to take advantage of London's great theatre scene and watch the most romantic of Shakespeare's plays...The Lion King.

Hakuneth Matathou!

No, it doesn't feel like it's been a year at all. If anything, it feels like the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I have been together since the time of Stonehenge, with our love growing each day that passed since then.

But then the LLDD-Hyphen-L sees Edward/Cedric right behind the Embassy, and it all gets shot right back to square one.

IT'S SATURDAY, I MUST BE IN PETERBOROUGH

And we're back. And off again. Briefly.

No sooner had the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I come back to the UK from our all-too-short visit to Manila did we immediately get sent off on a Valentine's Day trip to beautiful Peterborough for a FilCom event. Now Peterborough may be best known pop-culturally as the hometown of the Erasure lead singer as well as X-Factor runners-up JLS, but my loyalties will always lie with Spandau Ballet, regardless of city I'm visiting. So, Kemp and company...play us IN!

I bought a ticket to Peterborough...but then I came back again

The FilCom Event

The good fil-people of Peterborough were throwing an Induction of Officers/Valentine's Day party, and guess who was invited? That's right, me! (only after they invited the other senior embassy officers, but still). This wasn't the first time I represented the Embassy at a Filcom activity, but it was the first time the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I were ever guests of honor. Seats at the head table, big-ass lapel-ribbons, the whole shebang. I also was asked to give a welcome address, and I thought it'd be more heartfelt and sincere if I spoke extemporaneously and without notes. Why do I find it hard to write the next line, I want the truth to be said, baga. I didn't do too bad, but I still had more mmms... and aaahs... than, well, True

.

If you squint, I look as awkward on stage as Tony Hadley. And as fat.

The Town

The LLDD-Hyphen-L and I didn't get to stay in town long as we had to catch a train back to London. What little we did see was very nice, although the cold wind and rain drove us immediately into a local mall whose feel, layout and wear-and-tear made us swear we were in Harrison Plaza.

Although the DVD vendors at HP are more welcoming

The Cathedral

The undoubted star of the town center (apart from the LLDD-Hyphen-L) was Peterborough Cathedral. Perhaps not as large as others of its kind around Europe, but certainly no less stunning or historic (just like the LLDD-Hyphen-L. Har!). I was particularly thrilled to see . . .

. . . the famous and incredibly beautiful interior designs above (that gave us both vertigo and stiff necks) (which makes me wonder: if ceilings are particularly stunning, can you be floored by them? Har!) . . .

. . . and the burial sites of both Mary Queen of Scots and Katherine of Aragon (which now soorrrtttaaaaa gives me a talking point for when my dream dinner party of the LLDD-Hyphen-L, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman - all wearing "The Other Boleyn Girl" costumes - finally happens.)

Hey, if just standing in front of the cathedral with can make me look like a student at Hogwarts, anything can happen, right?

Anyway, thanks for everything Peterborough. Spandau! Play us out!

With a thrill in my head, Natalie Port-uh-man

Dissolve the nerves that Johansson

Listening to Bo-leyn (all night long)

This is the sound of my soul,

This is the sound

THE FULL BALIKBAYAN

Oh no no no, we're NOT bagong bayanis by any means. The LLDD-Hyphen-L and I did, however, go "Full Balikbayan" during our quick trip back to the Philippines, and ticked off a lot of things that presumably appear on every visiting OFW's to-do list. Specifically:

TAKE CARE OF PERSONAL BIDNESS

In particular, I have to attend a continuing legal education program every three years in Manila, or else I lose the lawyer from "lame lawyer" (the lame, of course, will always remain). The session I went to was interesting, if not particularly exciting. Even the open fora saw few grandstanding panyeros, and my only source of entertainment was a lawyer seated next to me who kept on grabbing my elbow and telling me "I have 50 years of experience!" and showing me his Roll Number to prove it.

Pictured: the number of lawyers it takes to change a lightbulb

EAT!

For an ego trip, nothing beats coming home after months of being away and have everyone tell you "pumayat ka". The polite answer to that, of course, is "hindi naman" (with hand wave). The more accurate response, however, is "eh paano, ang mahal mahal ng pagkain sa London!!" It was no surprise then that literally every day during our stay in Manila, the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I gorged on food in amounts unseen in the UK, and immediately gained back all the weight previously lost.

In our defense, there was no such thing as Sisig Carbonara the last time we were here.

HAVE FAMILY REUNIONS

You may think, "ang arte mo naman, wala ka pang isang taon nawala, pa-family family reunion ka pa". Actually, the reunions were significant, as there were family members who weren't even born yet while I was away. This was therefore my first time to see them and joyfully hold them in my arms.

Not that the feeling was mutual

VISIT A DENTIST

Well score one for medical tourism! The thing about Philippine dentists is - not only are they good, not only are they (substantially) less expensive - they are everywhere! So when I needed to go to a dentist for my...um...five year check-up, and the LLDD-Hyphen-L needed to see one for an emergency filling, it was literally a walk in the mall for us. We saw a practice's sign in Glorietta, strolled right in and sat right down. The ease of it all made us actually welcome the high-pitched wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyyyeeeeeeeeeee sound of the dentist's drill.

BRING IT!!!

SHOP! SHOP! SHOP!

By my estimate, we pumped in over P100,000,000 into the Philippine economy during our short visit here (and that was just on the LLDD-Hyphen-L's shoes! haaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!). But seriously, with all the great bargains and climate-controlled malls, there were just a lot of shopping sprees to be made. You name it, we bought it: clothes, bags, ties, toiletries, clocks, snacks, accessories, filipiniana, even a high-definition camera.

You know those stories of people buying cameras or phones online and finding pictures of classified documents in them? Not sure why, but ours came pre-loaded with Showee and Metro Manila Filmfest parade pics.

AND FINALLY....DATE A HOT COLEGIALA

Kidding! Actually, not date -- be married to. And not just to a colegiala, but a newly minted MBA (Master of Bad Assery). Yes folks, the LLDD-Hyphen-L completed her grad studies, received her diploma, and is now certified at Moira MacTaggert-level. That is to say hot, smart and married to a mutant.

If only her not-as-smart-husband could figure out how to set the exposure on their new camera

IT'S LIKE WE NEVER LEFT

Yes kiddies, it's that time of the year again when the batch tries to gather everyone for a group picture, a.k.a, cat herding. We've had some success in the past years, especially when many of us were still at the home office, but now that 90% of the batch is at post -- fuhgeddaboutit. This myfacester craze on the interweb that the kids are talking about has helped us come together somewhat, and every year there still seems to be a healthy debate within the batch as to what the "theme" of the photos should be. Trouble is, everyone now appears to be so engrossed with Farmvi...er, busy at work that the pictures sent in from supposedly far-off and exotic posts - how shall we put this - LOOK LIKE THEY WERE JUST TAKEN AT OUR PASAY OFFICES FIVE YEARS YEARS AGO!

(AND NO, I'M NOT SAYING WE LOOK LIKE WE HAVEN'T AGED!!!)

Thus:

Where the Picture was Supposedly Taken - San Francisco

Where I Think it was Actually Taken -

A model unit for condominuim development along Roxas Boulevard (complete with overly-aggressive saleslady)

Where the Picture was Supposedly Taken - Vancouver

Where I Think it was Actually Taken -

The Home Office Passport section (when you need the right shade of royal blue background)

Where the Picture was Supposedly Taken - Madrid
Where I Think It was Actually Taken -

With affidavit in hand and enticing look in the eye, like at one of the "mixer" places along Libertad.

Where the Photo was Supposedly Taken - Dubai

Where I think it was Actually Taken -

The home office roof deck, the one that overlooks Ms. Universal (if you know my batchmate above, you know this to be probably true)



Where the Photo was Supposedly Taken - Singapore

Where I think the Photo was Actually Taken -

That...ahem...drive-in...um..."establishment" across the "mixers" along Libertad.

I mean, where's the effort?! Where's the imagination?! Where are the freakin' landmarks!!!! Did anyone even bother to step outside?!? Must it be left to me again to show you how a location shoot is done!?!

Where the Picture was Supposedly Taken - London

Where the Picture was Actually Taken -

...er....the conference room at my old office in Pasay, together with the only remaining un-posted batchmates.

(did I fail to mention I'm in Manila right now? I thought the foreshadowing alert from the previous blogpost took care of that.)

So...um...yeah!! Great work, batch! Wonderful pics once more! Let's do this again next year! And let our theme then be "office pantries", or something exotic like that.