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The first wakeup call that I didn’t heed was when I went climbing in the French Alps with a friend of mine from RAF Valley, this was not a military event but just a holiday.
Not long after arriving we went climbing up to the snow level at about 3,000 feet and we were coming down at the end of the day and as I swung out on a large piece of rock it suddenly came away from the mountain and was the size of a door and about a meter thick, I was fortunate that it didn’t crush me but as it passed over me it broke both the bones in my right arm (The radius and the Ulna), we were still about 1500 feet above the town and about 5oo feet from our tent on a small plateau.
At this point not knowing what to do or how to get down a guide was coming down the mountain and saw us, he then helped me to climb back up a short way and then get on to the right route as we had gone off the correct route and into a notorious area of loose rock.
He managed to get us down to the plateau where I spent a very uncomfortable night, as we needed to wait for the cable car to open to get down to the hospital. I then spent the rest of the holiday in Chamonix hospital where they put two plates in my arm, which pleased me as it meant very little muscle wastage.
Back home I had a long break waiting for my arm to heal and stayed with my parents as being a PTI I couldn’t do anything work wise.
As I mentioned above this was really the start of life in the wilderness from here not many things went to plan, I left the RAF and didn’t really know what to do, I tried to get work in the Leisure Centre’s or Squash clubs with gyms but they said I had no commercial experience.
Eventually, after many different types of job, I got in to direct sales and spent the next 20+ years in various companies some good experiences and some not so good.
When I first came out of the RAF I ended up in London and started doing some Ballroom dancing, this led to meeting my first wife who was actually originally from India, but had lived in England since she was seven. Unfortunately this did not last long and we separated after about 3 years, no children.
I then joined a divorced, separated and singles club and met my second wife who was to become my only son’s mother. Still in and around the South of England my wife then decided we should move to North Wales as at that time my parents had retired and were living up there. So the idea was to move and stay with them on a temporary basis and find work for us both and buy a house, property being a lot cheaper up there than in the South especially near London.
This is what happened and we bought a nice 3 bedroom house with both front and back garden, but it did require a lot of work, for example a complete rewiring of the electrics which fortunately I was able to do myself with the help of my Dad who was a trained electrician. Plus putting in a central heating system and decorating every room. The kind of work though that once completed you can have a lot of pleasure from knowing that it was done mostly by ourselves.
But things between the two of us did not go well and after considering leaving many times but staying because of my son, I eventually just had to end the relationship.
This I consider to have been my next life.
So now I was single again, but in a small town with very little entertainment and after doing the clubs and pubs for a while it seemed clear that finding a new partner would be difficult if not impossible.
However, as we know along comes the internet and with my desk top computer I one day realised the World was open to explore. So I came across the site “Hearts of Asia” essentially a dating site leading to marriage of women from Asian counties.
So I sent of just 6 messages via the internet and waited for replies, I got some but one stuck out and she was from The Philippines, wanting to get away from the internet, I then sent a hand written letter and received one in return, this was just before Christmas so I decided that after the New Year I would call her and arrange to visit in the January having never been to Asia before.
Arriving in Manila at the International Airport I looked for her but no one there, this was at around maybe 8 pm in the evening, so I eventually got into a taxi and was on my way to a Hotel when the taxi got called to go back to the airport and there she was, having explained to the security there they phoned the taxi and got him to bring me back. So everything worked out and we went to the Hotel I had booked in advance.
Over the next 2 weeks I fell in Love with, not only the girl, but also the people the lifestyle, the weather and just about everything. Leaving her behind was difficult but I had plans to bring her to the UK in the near future. At that time around 2001 leaving The Philippines was not easy and she needed to get a new passport. She and lived and worked in Hong Kong before and assured me that if she went back to HK it would be easier to get a passport there.
This meant a trip to HK which was another chance to experience a different Asian country and I went over there to help make sure everything went smoothly. I got to speak with the English head of the department for issuing passports and she assured me that when she went back to collect her passport it would just be a formality.
Next thing I know she tells me they can’t issue her passport because the date on her birth certificate didn’t match her passport. So I then sent emails to the head office in HK and to the British office complaining that I had specifically gone to HK to make sure everything went smoothly and had been assured by the head of the HK office that it was all done.
Any way they would not issue her passport there she had to return to the Philippines and get the passport corrected before she could leave the country. But we were then informed that we would not have to wait the usual time if about 6 months to a year but would be able to collect it immediately.
One more trip to the Philippines this time spent in Manila with her going every day to the DFA trying to sort out her passport and in the end I had to travel back on the plane without her but she would be able to follow that next morning.
This she did and we started a new life in Rhyl and things were great. One day I was just asking what was her dream and she said to own a store. This got me thinking and I started to look around for small confectionary or convenience store that we might be able to lease.
However, my Mum who had been diagnosed with a kind of Parkinson’s disease some time before once she heard about our idea asked if she could move with us as it was getting difficult for her to manage on her own. So after discussing with my wife and getting her agreement, I started looking for places where we could live above the premises of a store and be able to look after my Mum.
Eventually we found a convenience store with two storey accommodation above, it was a bit run down but this meant we could get it for a good price and refurbish once we were in. So around the August of 2003 we opened up for the first time on a Saturday morning and still being new to everything I up to my ears in Newspapers trying to sort them out with customers coming in.
Being a seaside town in August it was a busy time with many customers great for the business but really tough for two newbie’s. Not wanting to use any staff until we knew what we were doing and some idea of the daily takings. So early mornings and late evenings, which got later once we added the off license and started selling alcohol.
However, it was great to be an owner and the shop was improved and refurbished which enabled us to increase the yearly takings quite considerably. Many different issues to resolve which kept us busy and made the days interesting. We did suffer from poor staff and because of the area we were in, quite a bit of shop lifting, even having cameras didn’t help much, I found out that the Police didn’t do much to help us.
At this time I was still living in the same area as my son, so we met every weekend and sometimes during the week. We all went away to Scotland for a week on holiday with all four of us my Mum and my son and us two and were lucky to have good sunny weather.
Then my Mum went in to hospital just really for observation and unfortunately in there she developed pneumonia and passed away without coming out again. Very sad time but at least I was a able to keep my promise to her that she would never be left or put in an old people’s home and I have to thank my wife for looking after her so well during that time.
With my Mum gone and having tasted the Asian lifestyle I decided we should just sell up and move to The Philippines. We put the property on the market and waited for a suitable buyer, after a few months we got an offer that would give us a nice profit on the original purchase and it was sold.
I then immigrated to The Philippines and after living in a resort for a month or so we eventually moved in to our own house in Bauang, La Union a place about 6 to 8 hours coach ride from Manila in the North.
If you want to see and read more about my house there, check out my blog:
