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Change is as good as a holiday
Driving home the other nite I saw the flash of the red light intersection camera in my rear vision mirror. I was actually looking at an intersection just a bit further up the road and assume I must have missed it. The wife did not notice the light change either which change still seems unreasonably short. I can expect a nasty fine in the mail very soon.
Last month our dog got out and was taken to the pound. It cost $50 to collect it and I thought that would be the end of it. A few weeks later a fine arrived for an additional $165. This was the first time the dog got out. Then there is all the bullshit I had to deal with in getting permits for the home renovations.
You may wonder what these events have to do with moving to the Philippines. Not a lot and everything. I have noticed the insidious increase in rules and regulations over the past couple of decades. Add to this an increase in political correctness.
Getting away from all this bullshit is one of the attractions of visiting to the Philippines. There is something refreshing about the lack or rules and regulations, or should I say lack of enforcement of them.
The fact is that the Philippines actually have as many if not more rules and regulations than home and many of the rules are even more draconian. They just do not enforce them as much.
It’s ironic that the chaos and corruption that so many visitors complain about is what makes the Philippines so attractive. Perhaps even more refreshing aspect to the Philippines is the absence of political correctness.
So in one way the Philippines is an escape but at the same time I am fully aware that the grass is greener on the other side. I mentioned already that the Philippines can be a very frustrating place. While refreshing in some way the chaos and corruption generates its own bullshit to deal with. In the place of political you often have to deal with conservatism and religious fanaticism.
They say a change is as good as a holiday and in many ways I will be changing one lot of bullshit for another.
Posted: Sunday 22nd May 2005, 12:35 PM
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