FEBRUARY 2001

Since reaching the age of 50 I began to have mixed feelings about the month of February as it is birthday time for me.  It began to dawn on me that I was starting to creep into that Senior Citizen status.  Now that I am going to be 63 years old I am no longer creeping but running full force into the "old fart" category.  This is a bit terrifying but, of course, I am glad to still be around to greet each additional year to my age.  My body, each year, presents me with new aches and pains and my optimistic wife tells me that I will live for many more years but her optimism is based on the fact that I do not carry any life insurance.  After going back and forth to the States recently I must say that it is nicer to be old here than back home.  Looking around Angeles City I see a lot of "old farts" just like me and they are all happy.  Why?  Because they all have women companions many years their junior.   Many single men in excess of 65 years come to Angeles City and within a short time are matched up with ladies as young as 19-21.  In the States or Australia women that young a woman would never give you the time of day much less harbor any romantic intentions (Unless of course, you have a few million dollars tucked away).  Is it any wonder that Viagara is so popular here and that the sun is always shining for the "old farts" that live here.  I am very happy and content with Mrs. Horse even though it has been many years since she saw 21.  At this stage of my life I have come to realize that a daily dose of someone under 21 would guarantee that this birthday might be my last one!  Priscilla and I will continue together as I head towards that really, really "old fart" category and hopefully she will help keep me alive long enough to see our newly planted mango trees mature enough to bear fruit.

Finally, after a lot of work and visits by Net-Asia personnel my Internet Service appears to be back to normal.  It was really quite frustrating and I am hoping that all will be well for a while.  I will stay with Net Asia a bit longer only because they appear to have developed a suitable patience with my outbursts of frustrated anger over the phone and eventually do come around to fixing the problem.  Never-the-less, for new subscribers I recommend that you carefully check out all the companies offering Internet hook-up and take the time to talk to various subscribers to ascertain which company offers the most reliable service.  Right now I am familiar with Net Asia, Datelnet, Com Clark, Mozcom and DialOne.  My lack of expertise prevents me from making a recommendation but just take your time and do extensive research before making a decision. 

New Substation for Perimeter Rd and Fields Ave

Good news from Angeles Electric Company (AEC), that new power substation being built at the old Clarkview entrance gate to the base will not only serve the CDC but also users off base that reside along the entire perimeter road.  AEC has leased the land from CDC that the site is being constructed on and it should be on-line by the 1^st of March.  The station which will be named "Milenyo Sub-station" will grab the load from Petersfald (Near the expressway - Don Bonifacio).  This new sub-station should provide a more steady current for all subscribers along Perimeter road to Fields Ave.  We should experience less voltage drops.  A direct telephone contact to Milenyo will be provided to answer questions if problems are encountered.  Will this mean less brown-outs to this area?  My contact at AEC said  no, as we are still held hostage by the power giants in Manila but it will enhance the power we are currently getting to such a degree that our electric supply will be more stable.  Any move in the direction of improving our electrical needs is appreciated.  Well done, AEC.

One late night this horse was passing the Volcano Bar opposite Kokomos when I saw a crowd of women and a couple of guys exiting that establishment in such a way that I thought it was a fire or a robbery.  As I stopped to look I realized that the screams were gales of laughter and screams of joy as they exited and headed down the street.  I was going to stop and investigate but had to head home instead.  Enquiries the next day revealed that one American Ex-pat paid the take-out fee for 100 ladies.  They did not all come from Volcano as to get that many he also went to Champagne, Roadhouse and Illusions.  This night of hilarity, along with ladies drinks cost him approximately $3,500.  No sex involved, it was just one lads way of having fun and providing a bit of entertainment for 100 hard working ladies.  The next time I see this I will stop and tag along because it was a sight to behold.  Is there anyone out there desiring to better this record of 100 ladies being taken out?  Thank goodness he did not decide to take them all to dinner.  That would be fun to watch and only two places on Fields could handle that many, Kokomos and Margarita Station.  That would be a challenge for the kitchen staff in those two establishments.  Maybe John and Mo would offer a discount.

A few months ago John Dunbar left the Philippines to live in Thailand.  While there he came down with Dengue fever and had to return to the Philippines for treatment as he is signed up with Health Visions here and to be treated in Thailand would have cost a considerable amount.  It was good to see him back at the Hang Out but it was a hard way to lose weight.  He is well on the road to complete recovery and will be heading to the States for further recuperation before heading back to Thailand.   While I am mentioning the Hang Out I would like to praise the great cooking that Amy (Dave White's boss) provides when they are tasked with party preparations.  A great feast was prepared for the birthday party for Tore (Skal to Northland) in which I had the opportunity to taste a great spaghetti, fish, potatoe salad and sausages.  This is not the first time my stomach became enlarged because I ate too much at one of these parties.  All I can say is "Amy, when is the next one?"

On 19 Jan the Beachside Café, Barrio Barretto, hosted the 5^th annual darts "World Championships".  Teams representing England, Sweden, Europe, North America, USA, and Philippines (two local ladies teams - Baloy Beach Babes and Barretto Beauties) met to fight it out with games of Cricket, 301, 501 and when necessary, 701 team game.  It started at 1 PM and after many darts were thrown, and lots of booze comsumed, at around 8:30 PM, the USA team grabbed the number one position.  Darts is alive and well in the Barrio with leagues and weekly blind draw tournaments and it is regrettable that this is no longer the case in Angeles City where bar owners feel that they do not make enough money out of this sport.  There is only one location where one can get a good game of darts with a few ex-pats and that is at the Blue Boar Inn, Clarkview.  This was not the case a few years ago when at least 10 teams made up a league here.  Now, pool dominates and it is doubtful that darts will ever come to the forefront again.  Kind of sad, as darts is a good sport that can be enjoyed by the entire family. 

If you are considering an overnight stay at Barrio Barretto then check out Bart's Resort Hotel.  It is right next to the Beachside and access to the beach is provided.  They have a pool and air-conditioned rooms are P800 a night.  The rooms were spacious and clean and if you reserve early enough a two bedroom unit is available for P1,000 a night.  Their e-mail is barts@svisp.com and telephone number is 63-47-2234148. 

What a very interesting political month we had in January.  Mrs. Horse was glued to the TV set, along with many others as President Estrada was forced to see the light through People Power II and finally retreated out the back door of the palace and sailed by barge into the sunset.  Gloria took her oath of President and now optimism/hope for a bright Philippine future has brought a sigh of relief to every Philippine citizen and to a hell of a lot of ex-pats as well.  With Estrada "stepping down" I thought the Peso would gain value so I changed some dollars at P46 to $l.  A day before it was still 54 to 1.  As usual, I made a wrong decision as Monday saw the peso at 47 and now it is 49 plus.  The politics remain interesting as Gloria's cabinet appointments are being questioned, Loi Estrada wanting to run for the Senate, former friends of Estrada seeking favors to testify against him, especially Mark Jimenez who will do anything to keep from being extradited to the United States to face criminal charges.  All of this is is keeping the economy down and the exchange rate favorable to those with dollars to spend.  Will justice be served this time or will Erap be allowed to go the same route of Imelda Marcos who continues to buy shoes and walk around quite freely to enjoy her millions?  It is a daily soap opera with interesting players and it is anyone's guess as to the outcome.  For sure, hope runs eternal that Gloria Macapagal will have the backbone to be a strong President and that she will be surrounded by honest, hard working supporters that will be interested in helping the country and not just filling their pockets with corruption stained pesos. 

Rick, of Rick's Café fame, is an innovative, hardworking individual who comes up with interesting ideas to make money and at the same time, provide entertainment and convenience to customers of his establishment.  It has come to my intention that he is providing a service on his webpage that allows people from out of country to be able to buy things for their favorite ladies in Angeles City and have it delivered to them through Rick's service.  Even pizza's from Domino's was available.  Rick even had the Domino's logo and a girl holding pizza boxes,  but Domino's Headquarters, Manila,  big guys complained that she was holding too many boxes - guess they wanted to be realistic in how many they really sell now-a-days.   This seemed like a great idea and one would think that Domino's Philippines  would love the extra business especially since Rick's webpage gets approximately 66 thousand hits monthly.  It was great advertisement for Domino's and the Domino's management at the Checkpoint store certainly had no objections to Rick advertising for them.  But wait!  It seems that Domino's Headquarters big shots were upset with this and made special trips to Angeles City to complain and to force Rick to remove Domino's from his site.  How ridiculous,  yes, there was use of the logo without permission but Rick was not selling any home made pizzas under Domino's name and logo, but just helping  Domino's sell MORE pizzas.  They still complained and could not use common sense, which is not unusual in this country.  This from a Headquarters management team that is witnessing reduced sales in Dominos outlets in Manila (Now the silly boys, after doing their hatchet work, returned to Manila to resume their daily naps).  Meanwhile, Rick can only scratch his head as he witnesses another act of stupidity and then moves on with other exciting ideas.  Rick, anytime you want to use my logo to help my business, feel free to do so!

Did you know that "technically" it is illegal to park alongside the road of a highway?  Did you know that some officials of our Friendly Philippine police force consider Perimeter road a highway?  That is being a bit loose with the interpretation of what is a highway but when some police officials feel the need to hustle the local ex-pat community they enforce some rather unknown laws.  All along Perimeter road cars are parked in front of business establishments, especially at night in front of the Karoke bars on Fields Ave.  One wonders why the police at the Clarkview station and the Checkpoint Station decided to go after the ex-pats that had parked along the street in front of the Hang Out.  They let the Filipino Tricycle drivers depart with no problem but then started to write up tickets for the Ex-pats and even tried to remove license plates which was illegal.  Also, for so called parking violations why was it necessary to have one swaggering policeman with an armalite show up and take up a menacing position?  This is another glaring example of how foreigners are targeted for special negative treatment.  This goes well with new Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon's comments that more must be done to bring tourists to this country.  Hey Gordon, how about telling that to the Police that are trying to shake down the tourists you are trying to bring here!  It would have been nice if the police had just informed the customers at the Hang-out that the City Council had passed a ruling directing the police to clear the perimeter road of parked vehicles and politely warned them of the violation.  Instead they acted like Gestapo agents and wanted to confiscate licenses as well as license plates. 

The Perimeter road is dangerous for pedestrians, not because of parked cars, but because of  the high speed of the vehicles and at night, tricycle drivers speeding along the road with no lights on.  Just this week one ex-pat, named Eric Wolf was run down by a speeding tricycle as he was crossing the road around 7 PM and is now in hospital.  Due care must be exercised when crossing or even walking along Perimeter road.  Why walk in the road?  One is forced to do so because of the many obstacles placed on the sidewalk by various business owners who feel that the sidewalk was put there for them to place refrigerators, signs and even vehicles.  Does the City Council do anything about that, absolutely not!

Eye sore and muggers hangout bar! The Galleon Bldg.

The Galleon building (Clarkview) has become a place for thugs to hide in at night and then attack unsuspecting ex-pats passing by.  Recently, Mike, from the Credit Union located in Streetlights was returning home around 11 PM and was walking by the Galleon.  From the blackness of the interior came four thugs running down the newly installed ramp with two by fours and proceeded to accost Mike.  He was hit on the arm, shoulder and head with the latter knocking him out.  The thugs robbed him and left him in the shadows of the building where Mike laid unconscious and undiscovered until early morning when he became conscious and staggered back to the Streetlights Tavern to seek help.  This is another reason all people in this area hope that someone will come in and take over that building and make it into something other than an eyesore.  Details for leasing this building are not known at this time but as soon as the facts are available I will pass them on to any interested readers.  

It saddens me to report that long time Australian Ken Richards is seriously ill with a failing liver.  After a 10 day hospital stay in Manila he has returned home but recovery is very questionable.  Ken has been a long time pool player and at 78 years of age remained a person very difficult to beat on the table.  He has played with many teams over the years but presently he is a member of the Blue Boar Inn Team and his team mates wish him well.  Ken is a proud Mabalacat Rotary Club member and very seldom missed a meeting over the years.  Folks, the prognosis is not good and it would be nice if all his mates could take the time to drop by his house to cheer him up a bit.  The residence telephone number is 322-0147 and he resides in Clarkview Subdivision. 

It is finally a reality.  The Subic Bay Marine Exploritorium, Ocean Adventures is due to open mid-February.  Does anyone want to swim with the whales (not the human overweight ones)?  Now is your opportunity to do so at Ocean Adventures.  Enquiries for tickets can be directed to telephone number 047-252-5880 or by FAX to 252-5883.  Tired of just chasing the women and drinking beer, give this whale swim a go, it sounds like a great adventure?

For those hangovers and folks with aching bones the ideal treatment is to take a dip in the Jacuzzi at Kokomos.  It has hot and cold water coming out of the jets and according to Dave Holman (the Old Gray Fox), pictured here, it is a terrific way to relax.  After an invigorating session in the Jacuzzi Dave finds new energy to manage the King of Diamonds.   This old horse is definitely going to give it a try.  

Relaxing way to spend the afternoon at Kokomos.

The CyberCare Clinic continues to add services.  Pediatrics and OBGYN doctors have been added to the staff, the tread mill is up and running and a top notch specialist in diabetic problems is available as well.  A microbiology unit will be completed sometime this month and a neurologist will be added to the staff.  For those members of Health Visions desiring to use CyberCare, pro-rata memberships are available.  For further information call 893-2459/60.

Jimmy "seasnake"  Button went home for his daughter's wedding and of course had quite a few drinks on that special day and night.  The next day Jim was shopping at a big department store and some bloke came up and said "hello" to him.  Jim couldn't remember who this friendly person was and remained puzzled for a few days until he had the opportunity to run into him again.  Turns out the friendly lad was his daughters husband!  Realizing that old age is settling in Jim is looking around for any interested party in buying his interest in the Tahitian Queen.  He is not going out of his way to look for buyers but any serious offers are most welcome. 

It was a pleasure for me to meet a reader of this column from Mannheim, Germany, Juergen .Schnoebel.  I spent three years at Sembach, Germany and had the opportunity to visit Mannheim once so meeting Juergen brought back many memories.  On arriving in Angeles City he went to Kokomos to find out who Harry the Horse was and was directed to my location.  We spent a few hours together and Mannheim could not have sent a finer representative from that area.  He was so positive about Germany that I felt like jumping on a plane for another look and was sorry that I had not spent more time in Mannheim.  Continue traveling Juergen and good luck in your business.  Harry the Horse looks forward to meeting you again and I hope that you will continue to enjoy future visits to Angeles City. 

Members of the the Rotary Club of Clark Centennial are pleased to see the great progress being made on the construction of their Street Childrens Center.  Hopefully, this year will see the completion of construction and the admittance of children residents.  Donations for this worthy project is ongoing and anyone interested in finding out more information access their website at www.angelesstreetkids.org.  

Rotary Club St Childrens project taking shape

This month I would like to give a few words of praise to the staff of the Manila Veterans Affairs Clinic (VA).  What a vast improvement has taken place in that facility.   On 23 Jan this old horse with aching bones galloped to Manila and upon entering the VA facility I was stunned to see only a few people in the reception area.  After a very short wait Cynthia got the ball rolling and before I knew it I was in with patient service assistant, Twinky; then on to the nursing station where I was happy to see Mr. Personality himself, Rico.  The only disappointment I had was learning that I had gained 10 pounds but the nurse was nice, she excused me because of the holidays.  Then, right on time with the scheduled appointment a charming Dr. Abella called me to her office.  Again, this helpful, understanding doctor dispensed advice and medications and directed me to Orthopedics where Paulie issued me a new back brace.  Before I knew it, I was at the Pharmacy window where the wonderful Tang McGathey issued me my happy pills and I was on my way home before 12 noon.  I was impressed, very much so!  Every staff member was cheerful and very positive in their desire to be helpful and no one was reluctant to take that extra minute to answer questions or be helpful in any way they could.  Special praise goes out to "Cookie" and to Don Sanders who should get extra pay for being a public relations spokesman for the Clinic.  The renovation of the facility improved its appearance 100% and the TV waiting area is a nice touch.  I experienced the production  line atmosphere at the VA facility in Las Vegas and I much prefer the "small town" touch offered by the Manila VA Clinic.  Well done folks, keep up the good work.

I cannot imagine anyone stopping for a visit in Stanley, North Dakota, especially in the winter, but if for some crazy reason one does, stop by the "Spot Bar" and say hello to Elroy, the owner of this small town bar.  Tell him Harry the Horse said to give you a free beer, that should get you a laugh or kicked out of the place.  Question - has anyone ever heard of Stanley, North Dakota?

 Don't forget to make a fuss over your favorite lady on Valentine's Day (14 Feb).  Guess I'll take Priscilla the Horse out for a special treat, just haven't decided which field has the best grass.  Remember folks, whatever you do, be kind to horses!