June 2016 - Expat In Bacolod

Undercover Cops Forbidden to Use Drugs!

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 29, 2016

I know a thing or two about undercover cops. The story ‘Undercover police rulebook to be published for the first time’ was published today on the BBC website. I read it with interest. As regular readers, you will be aware of the impending publication of my own book – Undercover: Operation Julie – The Inside Story. I found that the guidelines had been devised by the College of Policing. It was known as the Bramshill Police College in my day. That worried me. From my own experiences, I find that these people are academics. There is a place for academics but it’s not out on the street infiltrating one of the largest (at the time) drugs gangs in the world. What particularly worried me after…

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Irascible: WordWednesdayFun

Irascible: WordWednesdayFun

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 29, 2016

Irascible! Wow! That’s such a neat word. It’s a word that came to mind after my contretemps here with one of my readers. Maybe I should say one of my ex-readers 🙂 I believe he is also an expat. He, in my humble opinion, was trying to tell me what I should or should not write about on this blog! Yes, crazy I know. He seemed to take umbrage with me penning an article to do with Brexit. He pointed out to me that this blog is called Expat in Bacolod. His reasoning appears to be that I should confine my musings to matters connected to Bacolod. That would exclude me from writing about many things of interest to me. Liverpool Football Club, sports in…

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Prophecy: GB is now RB

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 26, 2016

Prophecy is a prompt from the people at the Daily Post at WordPress. com. I don’t usually need a prompt of any kind to write a blog post. Today is different. I feel like making a prophecy of doom and gloom. Why? I am deeply concerned about the result of the Brexit vote. Prophecy # 1 I prophecy that no good will come out of it and all will end in tears. I fear for the United Kingdom and its future. I really do. My first reaction to the vote to leave the EU was one of “Oh! No,” That was a tad selfish I admit. The good old British Pound had tumbled in value. End result – I have less pesos, and any other currency…

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Golf in the Philippines

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 26, 2016

Little did I think I would seriously consider playing golf again. I used to play a lot until arthritis struck. An arthritic hip makes it difficult to play golf. But … today I had the most wonderful day out and it culminated in a visit to Victorias Milling Company Golf and Country Club, near Canetown, Victorias City just outside of Bacolod. As a result, I am now serious about giving the game another try. Take a look at these pictures and you may understand why I feel like I do. The lower of the two pictures shows the 18th green away to the right. Both of the top two pics are taken from the club house. Look at that amazing scenery, beautiful trees, lush…

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Incandescent: WordWednesdayFun

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 22, 2016

Incandescent is maybe a word often used in a tired cliche – “he was incandescent with rage.” I wish I had a dollar for every time I have seen that or heard it said. I chose dollar rather than my native £ because soon it may be worth more! Blame the EU Referendum for that. On that subject, or rather the referendum and the value of the £, I received an email this morning from the TransferWise people. It informed me they were suspending international money transfers until after the referendum owing to the volatility of the £. It’s all a bit of a nuisance. Nay! It could be a problem for me seeing most of my income is paid in currency bearing H.M. The…

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Cadence: WordWednesdayFun

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 15, 2016

Some words have a beautiful ring about the. Cadence, I think, is one of them. It was G’s last short story that inspired this week’s choice of word for #WordWednesdayFun. I think I have a fairly good vocabulary but when I read G’s use of the word, I confess I was unsure as to its meaning. Now I know. Merriam-Webster first – Popularity: Top 20% of words Simple Definition : a regular beat or rhythm : the way a person’s voice changes by gently rising and falling while he or she is speaking : an ending part of a piece of music Full Definition 1 a : a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language b : the beat, time, or measure of rhythmical…

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These Can Help Your Self Editing

These Can Help Your Self Editing

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 12, 2016

This post first appeared on my author website earlier today. It’s a self editing day today. I harboured a desire as a kid to become a journalist and then an editor on a newspaper. The old days of print, that is. An editor seemed to me to be a grand and important person. But I was a kid and everyone seemed important to me back then. I am largely my own editor. I do edit my books and am in the process of editing Undercover: Operation Julie – The Inside Story right now. I needed to take a breather so I thought you may like to know something about how I edit. Writing a book is the easy part. With me, once I start then…

My Lips My Teeth Your Neck

Published by G on June 11, 2016

Another short story by G and I’m sure you will enjoy it. Like me, G has retired to the Philippines and spends at least part of his time writing. I appreciate that he permits me to publish his stories here first. Not only are these stories worthy of reading but they also serve two other purposes. One, they give you the reader something different to read – a different voice to listen to. Second, they give me a breather. A breather, but not from writing. I am busy writing with my other commitments. And, the final editing of my undercover book is also time consuming. That book should be published any time soon. The Philippines has a tradition of ghost stories and tales of the…

Wobbly: WordWednesdayFun

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 8, 2016

It’s a wobbly day today! My old friend Jack recently reminded me I was in the habit of saying that phrase when we were both young and stupid. Now that I am old and stupid, I must confess I had forgotten about it until reminded. It meant nothing. It was one of those silly sayings that friends use between themselves for a giggle. But I was surprised when I looked up the word in Merriam-Webster. I had no idea that it had another meaning: Definition plural Wobblies : a member of the Industrial Workers of the World For once I take my hat off to the Urban Dictionary (and Gwen) for enlightening me: wobbly A member of the once-powerful syndicalist union, the Industrial Workers of…

I Don’t Like Cricket I Love It

Published by Stephen Bentley on June 6, 2016

Cricket? What exactly is it? This beauty of a game involving bat and ball? It has something to do with the smell. In cricket both the bat and ball smell. The ball smells of leather and human perspiration. The bat smells of linseed oil. They are smells that have stayed with me albeit tucked away in a recess of my mind. ‘They’ say that football is the ‘beautiful game.’ As a football fan, I find myself reluctant to disagree with that. But ‘they’ are wrong. Cricket is truly the beautiful game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBRAzmaq5x0 Is Cricket a Team Sport? Cricket is seen as a team sport. It is. Yet, therein lies a paradox. The batter and the bowler are the individual gladiators within a team setting. The…

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Month: June 2016