Bouquet

It's not her name, obviously, but her name actually sounds very close to it, so that's how I'll call her here -- Bouquet, one of my classmates at university whom I've known for 40 years now, and the one who introduced me to Doña, my administratrix.  She found out we were having lunch at this particular restaurant, Torch, and decided to whiff by to see me.  She is a lovely person.

Before lunch, though, loads of things.

I arrived at half past midnight, and it took 1 hour 20 minutes before I got outside because waiting for the suitcase alone took 45 minutes.  Clark International -- I don't think I'll choose to pass this way again.  Anyway, when I got out, it was way past 2 a.m. ... and there was Mimi waiting for me!  She'd already arrived at about 20.00 the evening before, so a rather slow wait for her.  I thought we would try to get some 40 winks in the bus on the way to MNL, but we ended up chatting and giggling, catching up and going over the schedule.  During the trip, we even managed to phone AW just so he knew I had landed and was okay.

Once in MNL, the bus stopped in the north and would not stop again till it got to NAIA, the other airport, so we got off and took a cab to the hotel.  Arrived there at about 05.20 and was allowed an early check-in, so no extra night would be charged.  The room was ready for occupancy anyway.  We went up and I had a chance to take a breath, but we had no time to sleep in the real sense of the word as we had to make it to the courthouse by 09.30.  The reason was ... rush-hour traffic congestion, a real problem here.  We had breakfast from 06.30 to 07.30, then took a GRAB car (like UBER) to the courthouse and we were there by 09.00.  Note -- I had already stayed awake since leaving Seoul the evening before.

The Viking arrived shortly after we did, and then Doña arrived shortly after he did.  There was no need to agree on pre-arranged answers or to rehearse what to say because the story has long been in my head.  All the Viking did was alert me on what kind of questions would be asked.  At about 09.30, we were allowed to enter, and at about 09.40, the hearing began.  Please don't imagine some formal courthouse with the judge in flowing robes and a witness stand where I take the oath and all the other formalities.  This was a simple office.  I did take the oath.  The Viking was allowed to question me first, which was all about confirming all the documented evidence we had collected the past 8 months and requesting them to be tagged as Exhibit numbers such and such.  Then it was the prosecution's turn to ask questions.  There were even questions the Viking and I hadn't discussed, but that was okay.  At one point, I caught the judge even nodding in agreement with my replies.  After some 35 minutes, it was finished, Doña's ringing mobile (she had to hand it to Mimi at one point because she couldn't seem to be able to turn it off, and Mimi sat at a discrete distance in the back) notwithstanding.

There.  The Ellaphant has presented herself in court and done her part.

Afterwards, we had a short de-briefing in a nearby café, where we talked about the hearing but also about what should be done next.  Well, I found a solicitor -- the Viking.  Then, I found an Administrator -- Doña.  Next thing I need to look for is someone who can function as the new president of the company that will be scrutinized and taken apart because all the assets have been put in its name.  This is a tall order as I have been away all these years and there aren't many I can trust or who can take the pressure of what's coming.  I can't fill the position as I don't live there.  Neither can the Viking or Doña because of the obvious conflict of interest.

After this casual de-briefing, the Viking had to go to his other appointments, so Mimi, Doña, and I hired a couple of GRAB cars and visited some of the properties in the San Juan area.  To our 'horror', Jay is known well in those areas and we wondered if word would reach him that three women in black were snooping around.  It was after this inspection round, during which Doña took notes for future reference, that we had lunch at Torch.  The idea is to do the Makati area tomorrow.

After lunch, Doña went to her other appointments and Mimi and I returned to my hotel.  Mimi lives just right next door to this hotel, but it was and is agreed that now is not yet the time to show my face there.  You've probably guessed by now that Jay and his cohort do not know I am in town.  I told Mimi I should try to sleep a bit and she could go home and check on the grandkids.

Before crashing in bed, though, I had to make sure I had a print-out of the new airline ticket as they require print-outs here.  We had done the purchase in such a rush Sunday evening and had no time to print out.  I was able to contact AW, who finally found the email in his Spam folder and mailed it to me quickly.  The hotel printed it out for me for a steep fee ... ugh.  I then went to bed, and then, at about 20.00, the phone rang, and there was Mimi, who'd brought along the Tshirts AW had ordered (8 pieces) as well as five fresh mangoes, also per his request.  Wondered how to bring them home, and I think the best way would be to check them in.  Together with the fat pile of documents the Viking gave me, that bag will end up weighing quite a lot.

Mimi and I then went out to dinner at a native restaurant nearby -- the most delicious lechon (pork) I have ever had!  At least, as good as it could possibly be.  Fresh mangoes and flan and some sticky native sweets for dessert.  Then back to the hotel and Mimi went back home, but now I couldn't go back to sleep.  Ended up doing some bookkeeping and reading, and by 02.00 I was tired enough.

Tomorrow, in the evening, I'll be heading back to Clark for the return flights back to the Netherlands.  So far, 36 'flying hours', all for 35 minutes of giving my testimony in court.