@OldBastard 23 July 2021 more from that month

An Apology To Coconut Trees Everywhere Recently I wrote a post, https://noise.cash/post/l57n476v , where I made the claim that a local woman was struck and severely injured by a falling coconut. It turns out that this is a base cannard. What really happened is that she was walking home after receiving the Covid jab, became dizzy, and passed out. She just so happened to collapse under a coconut tree. Rather than criticize coconut trees for the false accusation of releasing heavy projectiles onto fragile human heads, I should be praising them, for this tree undoubtably provided the woman with some much needed shade from the angry Philippine mid-day sun. Hail to thee, coconut tree! You truly were an aid to a soul in need! At least I think that is the story now. It's hard for me to tell, because I don't speak the language here, (Bisaya), nor do I understand the crazy customs. I'm an American, and I'm used to some sort of logical structure to the way society functions. But if there is any logic to the way things work here, I sure can't see it. For example, suppose you want to buy some gravel? Where do you go? If you live here in Mindanao, the answer is obvious: you go to the local funeral home! Why do they sell gravel at the funeral home? Beats me, but if you are buying gravel from this funeral home, which so happens to be on a busy road, you just pull up in front of it, and park, RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. If you're super polite, or in a good mood, you might pull over a bit, or even put on your hazard flasher lights, but that is optional. The truth is that you can pretty much park anywhere you damn please. So if you're a guy, not only is the world your urinal, but it's also your parking lot. There are stores here, but most of them don't have signs, or if they do have signs, these signs may or may not have anything to do with what the store actually sells. So how do you know what is for sale? One of the ways to tell if an object is for sale is by its location on the side of the road. For example, if you're driving past a house with clothes or plants out front, it's highly likely that these items are for sale. This isn't always the case, and in some instances can cause confusion or embarrassment, such as https://noise.cash/post/1n7439n3 . But at least it gives you a clue. But getting services done is another matter entirely! One of the kids living with us had to get an id. Where do you go to get this id? Well, you OBVIOUSLY go to a small unmarked house behind a small local church! And since this church is on a main road, you simply stop your vehicle in front of it and hop out. (If you're a scaredy-cat foreigner like me you can look for oncoming trucks before leaping into the road, but once again this is optional.) This post is going on way too long, (and I even refrained from ranting about the Covid jab!), but you get the idea: how things function here in the Philippines is a complete mystery to me. But everybody, (except me), seems to know what's going on and is always up-to-date, so I guess the "bamboo telegraph" must be very strong in this area. The pics are mostly unrelated to this meandering mess of a post. I just wanted to show y'all that when we go anywhere, our truck is just like a jeepney, namely overloaded. (I took the pic after several folks had already climbed off the truck.) On a good day no one actually STANDS UP in the bed of the truck as we're zipping down the road, as they have learned that doing so gives this befuddled old American fits.