An Englishman in Lawton

"American?"
"No. British!" was the quick retort.

I like what this gentleman symbolizes.

From the press that my country gets from cable news
Seeing Edward holding a city map
Navigating and wandering the streets of Manila on his own
Is a welcome sight.
A pleasant suprise

He shared...

He is retired
Life's role was that of an accountant
He swung by the Philippines
From Singapore
Wanted to go to the famous rice terraces
Wanted to embrace the experience of seeing
The green rice stalks turn to gold
And see the farmers harvest a year long wait...
a year of hard work.

"I just can't figure out how to get to the LRT station."
"I see it on the map but I don't see it," as he points.

He is tired.
Being in tropical Manila in mid-May
for an Englishman is no joke.
It's an achievement

He's been walking around since 9am
Seeing the sights
Had coffee in historic Manila Hotel
Took photos along the cobble-stone roads of Intramuros

Doing all of this with a two-year old map
Is being adventurous to put it mildly

"I see. Well, I am going to Makati and I'll be riding the LRT, too."
"You can walk with me if you like?"

"Thank you very much!"

We talked as we walked.
It must have been less than ten minutes

I apologize for how unruly we can be in lining up
"Well, it's the same in Britain."
I smiled as we squeeze ourselves into the train.

I said to him that the EDSA station is
the 2nd station from this
"It was nice meeting you.
Hope you enjoy your trip to the mountains."

I alighted in Buendia

I guess for an Englishman,
figuring out the streets of Manila
can be a challenge
Even if you are armed with a map
It can still be seen as chaos = )

But every nation passess through this chaotic phase.
It only happens that Britain had it a few millenia ago
When television and the Internet was not yet around