Stokkevn

The reason is that Philippines comes under countries not to be trusted by UK card issuers. Not too sure what card you have but, once logged in, I can send a message to say that I will be traveling over the next few months and one destination will be the Philippines. After a couple of days you can use your card here for up to about 3 months.

Philosophical 11

I have a variety of cards, MasterCard and Visa. None were accepted. The card issuers know I am in the Philippines and have used the cards successfully prior to this. Fortunately today, I managed to book the flights and hotel on different web sites without a problem.

My only remaining problem now which has been long term, is getting all my cards registered on Paypal. I can only register one so its no big deal really. Paypal says its the card issuers fault and of course the card issuers say the opposite... I am now regrowing the hair that was torn out in trying to resolve the problem.

Regards



PS....This story comes from the Humorous Episodes thread....

morpeth

Paypal a pain in the neck anywhere.

Stokkevn

Yeh, but my reply wasn't funny.

tropicofcancer

You mean: I'm not the only one, who has had trouble with PayPal?

Stokkevn

Impending death, not mine I hasten to add but a very distant relative of the wife. Poor chap has cancer and his wife has been told he only has weeks to live, so he is now at home. He manages to get out and sit outside the front of the house to see life go by and watch the pile of bamboo and tarpaulin that his wife has bought to cover the yard for his wake. I thought this was a bit insensitive, she could have at least hidden the material somewhere where he could not see it.

Philosophical 11

Agree with you about insensitivities Stokkevn. Seems a trait out here. Amongst other things.

Lovely lady has been morose last night and this morning. No idea yet.

My mate has returned to the Philippines and I have no idea if he is aware of the rumours. His gf sister has said she will message him with the details on whats been going on. Don't know if the brgy officials have spoken to him yet.

But he is not a happy chappie when I saw him yesterday. After the initial success of the boat he had built, the catches have been bad. Cost about 1.25 million peso apparently. My conspiracy theory is perhaps they have been landing the catch elsewhere before coming back here. Perhaps I have been here too long. Also, the crew of 4 cannot be asked to go out to fish at the moment because catches have been poor. Or so they say. The boat has been moved away from here for some reason. The crew managed to break the gear selector for the gear box through mis-use and somehow they lost the propeller through mysterious circumstances. Wouldn't mind betting its on another boat. Anyway....8k to replace. Just glad I am not involved in such things.

Solar powered boat has been built to the wrong specs so he has found out. Another headache. I understand why its been built as a catamaran now. It needs to be wide to carry the solar panels. Not being used as fishing boat but as a beach hopper. Designed to carry 12 people.

Anyway....all has been quite and normal recently. No idea why she is quiet...but will probably find out on fb later.

Tc

Stokkevn

My missus had a good laugh at me this morning, she said that now she understands why I never tell her when I am ill, frightened of finding a pile of bamboo in the garden.

Philosophical 11

Stokkevn,

Mine starts digging out my life insurance policy.

All quiet here....bliss actually. Except the other day.....

As you know, my house resembles a Stalag. We have bars on the windows, triple locks on every door...bedroom door is triple locked when we sleep....CCTV (dummy) outside...4 powerful lights on the exterior which I think can be seen from the International Space Station....and barbed wire on one of the walls. Just missing the observation posts on the exterior wall....but we have 4 fierce rabbits patrolling the grounds at night plus a snapping turtle. Well, the other night one of the exterior lights which is close to a wall was not working. Closer inspection revealed that the wire had been deliberately cut. No idea who or why. Could be that next door has fighting cocks and its permanently day light for then and cannot sleep....thus impairing their fighting abilities. Or a neighbour is fed up with a search light beaming into the house. But just guessing. I would have thought if it was a burglar, they would cut the wire dead at night prior to trying to gain entry. Not at dusk. Anyway....theories abound. But lovely lady was alarmed by this and wanted more barbed wire around the house. I said I do not have the spare cash. This created an atmosphere. I was not doing enough to protect our safety. She also wanted me to put iron bars around the a/c unit fixed to the outside wall. Apparently, they can be pushed into the bedroom and a horde of miscreants then can gain entry. Again I said no. Money is tight now. This created an atmosphere combined with dark mutterings. But....credit to her....she is going to pay for the additional installation of barbed wire.

I mentioned a friend of mine who is building a solar powered boat. He also spent over a million on a fishing boat for his gf family. There are also dark rumours about his lovely lady. First trip produced over 400 kg of fish. 2nd trip produced very little but somehow the crew managed to damage the gear lever. 3rd trip....they somehow lost the propeller. 4th trip....they somehow wrecked the new engine. I have not seen him to chat to for a while....but my lovely lady reported that he is a bit angry....and "made bad words". Don't blame him....do you?

Regards

mikemike

Your good lady is correct about the air con point being a mode of entry.

We have ours grilled in as well

Stokkevn

Not surprised you have no money buying that lot. I live on the edge of a village and have a lock on the gate and on front door, windows are left open 24/7, no bars, CCTV or strong lights, just 2 dogs one sleeps on the upstairs veranda the other in the yard. In 10 years never had a problem. Added advantage for you having dogs is they could exercise your rabbits during the day.

I always worry about bars on windows just in-case of a fire.

Gazza-d

Yes welding the window bars to the wall rebar is a recipe for disaster. It's better to have a rod on each corner going through the wall with a pin on the inside, then if need be pull the pins and push the bars away.

David Mashael

I am still undecided on whether to install security bars over our doors and windows. I know common sense dictates that I should, but I really don't fancy the idea. There is also the emergency exit in case of fire scenario as Stokkevn highlighted. We will also have a dog but more as a pet than a guard-dog. I have heard of several cases of poisoned meat being thrown over the wall by would be burglars, something else to worry about.

mikemike

the only room that had security issues was our bedroom as the balcony was a tempting target for the over the roof variety. So we caged the balcony and put a caged gate with padlock so we had our fire escape.

Only did this as at 3am we had an welcome visitor in the bedroom stealing cell phone and wallet, he woke me as he tried to steal a bag off the top of the wardrobe to stash his loot.
He went out the balcony doors faster then I could get hold of him dropping his loot in his panic to get over the roof. I went after him but slipped, as it was gently raining, he scampered on all fours to the corner where he fell off the roof.

My brother in law who lives opposite thinks he knows who it was as the following day a guy limped past looking very furtive and avoiding looking up . The BIL started to follow him and the guy broke into a limping race. Anyway no evidence as they are not good in finger printing here. Since then we have had no issues, none of the down stairs windows are barred.

Stokkevn

My dogs are pets, but fiercely protective, they were feral puppies when I got them, I feed them well and they must still remember the teaspoon of rice a day diet. No one gets between them and their food. Poisoned meat is a problem as was told to me by the local police chief but I pointed to the dog bowls still with meat in them from the previous day he did admit that it was unlikely to be a problem for me.

Safety is what feels right for you and not how much or how little security you have installed