What does this news tell Filipinos who are so vent on pursuing a student visa in the United Kingdom as if it’s some cheap flight deals and find work on the sides? This year, UK immigration has already tightened the screw by reducing the number of work hours, making it hard for most working students finance their studies. A year from now, the effect of the tuition fee hike will definitely bleed everyone’s wallets. It was not any wonder why students in London smashed windows at the Supreme Court, urinated on Winston Churchill’s statue, attacking Prince Charles’ car and burned the Union Jack. They felt cheated, and as British citizens, they all had the right to.

So if you’re an economic migrant trying to find your luck in the UK, abandon the dream and go find your fortune elsewhere.

Anton Ego is everyone’s nightmare. He’s the boss breathing down your neck, a colleague spitting fire at you, or a bank running after you. Whatever the case may be, the rains won’t totally ruin your wedding day. A bouquet of flowers would be tossed, everyone would still be sipping champagne and dancing merrily until the wee hours in the morning. There will always be that someone, a family or friend, who’d back you up every step of the way. Your personal Ego can’t torture you unless you allow him to.

Let me share what the all-time harsh food critic Anton Ego wrote down his learnings on the paper:

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.

The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends.

Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more.

- Filipinos who were scammed to go to the UK as students with a promise of finding work there
- Filipino student nurses who can’t find jobs to support their studies
- Filipino student nurses were now given 10-hour work per week and could no longer make ends meet

A few years ago, a friend of mine has been lured to taking a student visa in the UK as a first step to get there and find work. Part of her retirement pay amounting to P150,000 went to consultancy, seminars and the processing of her student visa application. The agency asked for an additional P150,000. My friend realized that she’s being scammed so she tried to refund her money but the agency refused.

These agencies would promise things they know you would love to hear – high-paying jobs in the UK that would allow you to save more and secure yourself financially. It’s no wonder that Filipino students flew there in droves under student visas (Tier 4 scheme) only to find themselves going down the gutter – expensive school fees and jobs were scarce. And you just can’t turn your back knowing that you had already incurred debts you need to pay. This is really worse than a apidexin scam as it drastically changes your life.

During my brief stay there, I was actually planning to get myself enrolled to Kingston University and take up Fine Arts. The undergraduate fees alone would cost me up to £10,000. So I was like where in God’s name will I find that? Back then, the minimum wage per hour was £5. If that would be computed using the 10-hour work week prescribed by the immigration office, I would need 2000 hours or at least 4 years to pay off my tuition fee and this doesn’t even include allowance for food, clothing, rent and transportation.

Imagine the desperation of some of the Filipinos there going through that predicament. There are far too many of them who have been hit by the latest changes in the Tier 4 scheme under Non-Vocational Qualifications. The changes apply to adult students coming to the UK to study non-degree or below degree level in the further education and English language sectors.

- Students will only be allowed to work during the school term for 10 hours a week
- Students doing a 6-month course or less, are not entitled to bring dependents with them to the UK
- Dependents of students are not permitted to work unless they qualify in their own right under Tier 1 (General) as a highly skilled migrant or as a skilled migrant worker under Tier 2 (General worker, Sportsperson or Minister of Religion).

There is nothing wrong about studying in the UK as long as you can support yourself financially. But if you severely lack funds to support yourself as a student while there, it might not really worth taking the risk. And to think that you’re a Filipino, not even an EU citizen, makes your chances of survival very slim. You would need every miracle you can get.

There were already talks about the resurgence of El Nino happening. That would mean prolonged dry spell and a very warm summer this year. Even if it doesn’t really look like it is about to take place any time sooner up there near the North Pole. My nieces in the UK are having snowball fights, while most parts of the country are facing power and food crises. To those in the Arctic, this year’s winter happens to be the coldest in years.

For Manila denizens, end of January cold spell (not that cold though) would mean the coming of a hot and humid summer. This insane weather pattern does not exempt anyone, and it knows no country. All you need to do is to prepare. By the way, there are free insurance quotes should you want to secure yourselves from impending disasters.

I had a chance to see them again today in Alabang. I wasn’t expecting the entire family would take their lunch in the resto. Apparently, Kuya seemed to have gone addicted to CPK food. He will sure to miss the food when they go back to London next week, together with my other cousin who will soon attend classes in a medical assistant training school. I will miss the girls, but I am happy in knowing that I was able to spend time with them, no matter how short it was. It was something Bianca would remember. She’d probably tell everyone in her class how she spent her summer going to the beach, shopping in SM Mall of Asia and making her own pizza.

I just got off the phone with a dozen of things swimming inside my head, like the Colonix review I still have to check. My cousin from London is in town with her two little girls and will stay until the second week of August. There is a lot of catching up to do from the time I left London in 2007. I certainly did miss on Clara’s “walk” years.

Here’s what I think a grand idea to entertain these pretty girls this weekend without leaving the metro:

1. Take them to Manila Ocean Park in the morning.
2. Treat the girls out to lunch at CPK Greenbelt 5. Aside from kids pizza, pasta and sundae, they will enjoy the CPKids activity book.
3. Timezone.
4. Mall shows for kids. I hope there’s one.
5. Buy them something. I just don’t know what.

Any suggestions?

After weeks of craving for a Burger King Swiss Mushroom Melt, I finally had my burger fix early last week at the nearby BK store in Robinsons Galleria. That was a superb lunch treat. I took down a Whopper Jr., giant apple juice and chips, and (melted) sundae with (melted) chocolate syrup. I went back to the office with my shades still on and a crazy smile scrawled on my face.

I still had those beef particles inside my digestive track until the following morning. It was like the experience I had when I once ate a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. I felt constipated I had to drown myself with milk from the fridge hoping the bloated feel would be flushed down the plumber knows where.

Now Pinoy-style burgers were like donuts compared to its Western counterparts where portions were almost like the size of a regular dinner plate. I remember frequenting McDonald’s somewhere in Kingston-Upon-Thames every other day sampling almost every burger diet that was alien to my tastebuds. I guess walking around the town center under the cold noonday sun helped save me from that bloated feel and developing belly fat. I even drank too much Coke then. If you want to lose those burger pounds, this liporexall review might help.

So who invented the hamburger? It was not exactly McDonald’s idea. They say it was the Mongols during the peak of Genghis Khan’s conquest of the known world in the 12th century. Because they moved from one place to another checking out lands to conquer, they thought ground meat formed into patties was handy and easy to eat while mounting their ponies.

The term hamburger came from the word “hamburg steak” which was brought to America in the 1800′s by German-speaking immigrants from Europe. These immigrants were served meat patties grilled and placed between two pieces of bread while on board those Hamburg lines.

These are my nieces Clara and Bianca. In the span of 4 months since I left London in December 2007, they have grown up pretty fast. The last time we were together, Clara was still learning how to walk after she mastered climbing the stairs. Bianca was still a four-year-old kid who I regularly walk to school rain or shine. (Mostly rain.)

I miss the things we did together. Like watching Johnny and the Sprites at six in the morning, Mickey Mouse Playhouse at seven and Doodlebops at eight. I remember those bright cold sunny days when played at the lawn hoping for more sun than rains. (That was weird coming from someone who abhors any form of sunlight back in Manila. Ha ha.) It was totally a 180-degree turnaround from my too independent Manila lifestyle that made me realize something. Motherhood does not come in the form of a membership card even if you sign up for one. It is a gift not all us women can have.

An electric blanket

A new record was released by PAGASA last week indicating that Manila’s temperature reached this year’s all-time low at 18.1 degrees Celcius. It happened last Thursday, January 15, but still a few notch higher than freezing Baguio. I believe they have gone frosty up there at 7 degrees Celcius.

Manila is experiencing London’s summer. Britons wear shorts, sleeveless shirts, sunglasses and rubber shoes while Pinoys go about town in their colorful sweaters and jackets. We do love the cold and the fashion that comes with heavy clothing. We also have ready-made antidotes: coffee, coffee and more coffee. And if you’re currently wrestling with your office budgets, that alone could make you sweat without getting physical.

Expect more of the wintry bite in the coming days as every place in the northern hemisphere has gone arctic cold. If you’re up there, buy yourself an electric blanket. Humans don’t necessarily make warm companions. (Hmn. Someone told me that before.)

That was last year’s Halloween theme at Chessington World of Adventures and surprisingly, this year’s also. Hmm. Have they been recycling witches?

Last year, my nieces and I were at the same theme park a week before Halloween. It was a nice treat from cousin and her husband. We were up earlier than usual, drove to the place not exceeding the 30-mile blinking speed meter and got off the car to embrace the cold wind of autumn. I thought my ears would explode.

I was asked to write down a spell the Charmed way and threw it into the "boiling pot".

Our tickets had been paid for online at roughly 20GBP per head. There was a lane for those who printed their confirmed passes from the website. Inside, we took turns in touring the girls around and passed by those trees where “witches” pitched their tents and posed for photographs in their spooky wardrobe on top of white long-sleeved shirts with silk ties. I envied those talents wearing mascots. It was warm inside.

Posing with the bat in shades

Chessington World of Adventures is a spacious theme park, probably double the size of the local Enchanted Kingdom. There were all sorts of rides, a zoo, theatres, game centers and fast food outlets visitors could choose from. My fear of heights was challenged when we took the Dragon Falls at the Mystic East that sent me screaming during the deep plunge while my niece simply looked cool. Other death-defying rides, like the Rameses Revenge, could probably send me early to the grave. I was happy and content in those carousel rides.

Rameses Revenge and the waterspouts

KFC and Pizza Hut swarmed with people during lunch time. No one dared to eat out in the cold unless left with no choice but have a picnic on those cold benches. Inside those heated restos were people sharing seats and floor spaces, too.

Lunch at KFC and Pizza Hut

Probably it was my lack of sense of adventure that made theme parks land at the bottom of my must-see list. It’s nice to go to these places from time to time but I would rather embark on a trip where I would learn something really interesting other than send my vision on a swirl.