M said that she knows where it is but hasn't been able to deliver it thus far. I think she's making it up and I'm beginning to think I might have left it at someone else's house or, perhaps, even in another country!
So, if you have it, whether because I accidentally left it with you sometime or because you've hidden it over your sadness of the knowledge that the car will be returned to BMW next month and you just don't want to see it go, please let me know.
Update: I chose to communicate my opinion of this beautiful new device with the one word Title of this post. For something a touch more verbose opinion, check out what Stephen Fry had to say here.
Saturday saw us sleeping in late, returning my rental car, and taking a nap before heading out to Fresno to attend the Midnight Run gig at Thai Palms restaurant with Kyle and Anna.
Midnight Run? Well, that's the Journey cover band that our friend Mike Giusti (the magician) moonlights in playing bass and contributing to vocals. And they're really good. The lead singer has sufficient range to pull off the Steve Perry vocals, the guitarist has chops and they sound really pretty good and authentic. It was a great show and the Thai food at the restaurant was tasty too - we'll have to go back and try their full menu sometime.
The Martinis they served us at Twist - a trendy tapas restaurant and bar across the street - were another matter entirely. After the really good ones I had at the Mandarin in Manila last week they were a huge let-down and might have turned M off of them for good.
Luckily they had Stella on tap so it wasn't a complete loss. In fact, M was heard confirming later that night that she " won't stop believin' ".
Should you happen to receive a text message from me saying something to the effect of 'It's a beautiful day in Sydney', with which I mean no malice and am simply sending you a warm, sunny greeting from Australia where the weather is indeed beautiful, please just take it at face value and bask in the knowledge that it was you that I chose to think of when I arrived in the Southern Hemisphere this morning.
You certainly should not feel the need to respond so curtly and, to top it all off, blame it on your wife! You know who you are.
The eagle-eyed among you may have already spotted the photos I've been uploading to the Flickr site over the past few days and I apologize that I'm only just getting round to writing about the weekend trip to Boracay now. What with work commitments and getting sick for the past 36 hours - M has all the details - I've been a bit busy and haven't had the chance to provide my usual journalistic update on my activities. I have a few minutes here at the Manila airport before I get on my flight to Sydney via Bangkok so I'll see if I can remedy that.
I arrived here in Manila at close to midnight on Thursday last week and once we'd gotten to the hotel and checked in we only had about 4 hours before we had to get up and head to the airport to catch our flight to Boracay island. And, with my jetlag from the trip to Tokyo still in full-flight I was ready to wake up anyway. So, Kamlesh (my UK-based employee) decided to use the time constructively and experience the Martinis they prepare in the, um, Martini bar at the hotel instead of going to bed.
The journey down to Boracay was smooth - we met up with the local development team (a great bunch of people) at the airport, flew down to Caticlan, transferred over to Boracay island on a boat that played live Journey and Eagles songs over the tannoy en route (they played the same ones on the way back, too), journeyed to the hotel in a Jeep-ney and then promptly went to bed for a couple of hours. The rest of the day was very relaxed and involved lunch, a meeting in Starbucks, a massage and pedicure on the beach (sorry Christina!) and a quick shower before heading out to dinner. By then I was exhausted and went to bed at around 9:30.
It was just as well as Saturday was a full day - after breakfast we rented a boat and headed out to do some snorkelling around the island (they provide you with bread rolls to feed the fish with) and drinking fresh Buko juice (baby coconut) before stopping off at a beach at the northern end of the island where they barbeque fresh fish, crab and other local delicacies to order. From there we jumped back on the boat and headed south to get a different boat over to the Helmet Diving location. This was my favorite part of the entire day - theye give you a large helmet that is connected to the surface via an air hose and you climb down into the water and hang out there checking out the local scene and feeding the fish. One of the team didn't want to do it so I was able to go down twice. I would have happily spent all day down there getting to know the local piscine population better, but by then the sea was getting a bit rough and so we had to head back to the mainland.
Late afternoon meant a short nap before heading out for Indian food and then on to a local club for dancing on the internal dry sand dance floor our out on the beach with the tide lapping over your feet. It really was quite an amazing experience and, yes, the local team convinced me to show them my 'moves' - of which, just as in most other places around the world in which they get unveiled, they were in awe.
Sunday saw us heading back to a different airport for our flight back to Manila which meant we had a couple of hours bus ride across the island and a chance to check out the local scenery in a more rural part of the Philippines. That in itself was quite incredible too - it certainly humbles you to see how people live and work in these parts of the world.
We're not sure if she's faking it - in an attempt to win some sympathy after Sunny started eating her food while we sleep at night - but it seems that our dear Cornie has developed something of a limp.
Johnny graciously took her to the vet for M today (as I'm not around) to make sure that there wasn't anything serious going on and she has been given some painkillers to help her get through whatever it is the she did.
At this point I'm not sure if it his her left leg (seen her sprawled across JLO's thigh on Christmas Eve) or her right leg. Whichever it is I'm sure she'll put her best foot forward and be feeling better soon.
Has anybody seen my car key? 
I arrived here in Manila at close to midnight on Thursday last week and once we'd gotten to the hotel and checked in we only had about 4 hours before we had to get up and head to the airport to catch our flight to Boracay island. And, with my jetlag from the trip to Tokyo still in full-flight I was ready to wake up anyway. So, Kamlesh (my UK-based employee) decided to use the time constructively and experience the Martinis they prepare in the, um, Martini bar at the hotel instead of going to bed.
It was just as well as Saturday was a full day - after breakfast we rented a boat and headed out to do some snorkelling around the island (they provide you with bread rolls to feed the fish with) and drinking fresh Buko juice (baby coconut) before stopping off at a beach at the northern end of the island where they barbeque fresh fish, crab and other local delicacies to order. From there we jumped back on the boat and headed south to get a different boat over to the Helmet Diving location. This was my favorite part of the entire day - theye give you a large helmet that is connected to the surface via an air hose and you climb down into the water and hang out there checking out the local scene and feeding the fish. One of the team didn't want to do it so I was able to go down twice. I would have happily spent all day down there getting to know the local piscine population better, but by then the sea was getting a bit rough and so we had to head back to the mainland.
Late afternoon meant a short nap before heading out for Indian food and then on to a local club for dancing on the internal dry sand dance floor our out on the beach with the tide lapping over your feet. It really was quite an amazing experience and, yes, the local team convinced me to show them my 'moves' - of which, just as in most other places around the world in which they get unveiled, they were in awe.
Sunday saw us heading back to a different airport for our flight back to Manila which meant we had a couple of hours bus ride across the island and a chance to check out the local scenery in a more rural part of the Philippines. That in itself was quite incredible too - it certainly humbles you to see how people live and work in these parts of the world.
Paul looks very serious.
