Since coming to the Philippines back in April this year, it has been to say the least hectic. Notwithstanding the local weather conditions and the horrendous typhoons that have plagued the Philippines over the last six months causing death and destruction. Both in Manila where I shared the house with the four Chinese nurses and the house I rented here in Subic Bay were hit twice with flooding. Luckily we only lost personal effects and nobody was injured and once the cleaning up was done we could carry on with our lives.
About two and half years ago I met a young Chinese girl who communicated through Skype. This happens frequently but young Erica has stood the test of time. Most of the people who contacted me in this way just want to practise their English and being an obliging by nature I do my best to help and nurture there requests.
In March I was on a trip back to the UK to see family, friends and also to attend a re-union with guys I joined the Royal Marines with way, way back in 1966. It had been in some cases 42 years since we had seen each other but what a weekend we had catching up on the years that had past.
From Left to Right Judd Barker, Titch Blake, Alan Drennan, John Nicholson, Pat Clarey and of course myself.
What a right motley bunch of plebeians we made, then and now. It really was an awe inspiring
weekend which hopefully we can repeat again in the future.
From that weekend alone Alan Drennan came on a ten day visit here to Manila and Subic Bay to finish some unanswered conversations we had during the weekend. I certainly benefited from his visit is so many ways and I have the feeling it won't be his last visit.
It was the weekend after the reunion and I was visiting my daughter (Kezia) in London. Who had just moved into a house with her new boyfriend James.
I t was wonderful to see my daughter again and I was greatly impressed with young James. Finally, at last, was Kezia going to throw off her mantle of spinsterhood, after the few short hours in their company the unspoken thought crossed my mind. I was to be proved right a month or so in the future when James sent me a message through Facebook of his intentions and asked my permission to marry her. Which I rightly granted with no reservations whatsoever.
It was the Sunday morning and James had gone of to Wales to do some sea fishing with friends. Kezia and I had just finished breakfast and we were both piggy-backing on somebodies WIFI connection. When Erica popped up on Skype from Beijing,
"Stephen how's Zhoucun, China?" She asked.
"Fine I hope but I'm in London staying with my daughter." I replied.
"So you've left China?" She asked.
"No! In fact I will be passing through Beijing on Thursday night." I said.
"Anything I can help you with?"
"I need a hotel and railway ticket."
So that was how I got to meet Erica for the first time, she was waiting in Beijing for me when I arrived and took me to the hotel she had booked for me and had the railway ticket all organised.
We had lunch together the following day, with Lilly a friend from Zhoucun and then she saw me off at the new Beijing Railway Station.
We had spent roughly two years talking occasionally on Skype and she always impressed me with her standard of English but what really stood out was her intelligent questions.
She asked if I would come to Beijing again before I went to the Philippines and I managed to fit in two weekends before I came here. The last one being my last weekend in China.
We had two really beautiful weekends together and I found that being in her company and visiting some of the sights of Beijing, for want of a better word joyful. Not felt like that in years.
We carried on the connection most nights, just chatting away on-line with Skype. It was through the French Family another set of connections that I had made here in the Philippines. That a germ of an idea was forming in my head, another one of those crazy Black plans.
I knew Erica's birthday was 11th June, so the night before I told her my plan.
Would you like to come and study for a MBA in business administration and I would take care of all the details.
Ten minutes silence.
To say the least she was shocked and couldn't give me a definite answer and in fact took a further few days before I got a maybe.
Once the ball got rolling everything went sort of well, it wasn't without it's hiccups. Permission from the family was required visa's to be arranged, flight to organise. Originally she should have arrived on the 1st October we had to change that because of the typhoons, I talked about earlier.
Thankfully she arrived three hours adrift on the 1st of November, tired but happy to be in another country.
The rest off the story and photographs are here on Facebook.
Comments on my writing would be appreciated and would give me guidance for the future.
Stephen
The Nomadic Romantic English Gentleman
