Well, it’s 2014 and the start of what promises to be a very interesting year for everyone here, even if you don’t think it will be. 2013 was a mixture of highs and lows for me personally, and to be fair I think for the news that hit the headlines overall. Personally, I started 2013 facing an uphill battle against the UK Border Agency, but thankfully as January drew to a close my fortunes changed and I won the argument against the original decision to deny Joy her visa. Less than a month later Joy flew to Manchester to start her new life here in the UK and we finally started life as a married couple. Nobody told me it was more expensive to support a wife living in the UK than it did when she lived in Cebu (who knew, eh), so money was tight for the first few months after she arrived. Especially as we were saving to move home in the summer. And thankfully, Joy found work in a care home and we moved to be closer to her work (and as it happens, closer to my family) and now we’re making real plans for savings, Joys driving lessens and eventual car, and stuff like that. Married life kind of stuff.. And instead of moaning because she is bored, Joy now moans because she is tired and can’t wait for her day off work to relax. But she loves having money in her pocket and being able to go shopping every week. In fact, we now need a new set of wardrobes to double the space she is fast running out of. And how many shoes does a woman need (for the love of….). And she has some friends she met at work, so after being in the UK for 10 months she has settled in nicely. 2013 was an interesting year for this website and Euro Pinoy. We relaunched Euro Pinoy and it is a promising site on its own merits and is generating some steam, despite what is still a fairly small amount of content (which is growing all the time thanks to you guys). And this forum had its ups and downs as well.. We got hacked in the autumn, but that was a pretty good eye opener for me personally and made me think more about our future (and there will be some exciting changes coming soon). The news stories that dominated our chit chat was generally based around immigration laws (as they affect us all here) and the rising tide of anti-immigration political groups and policies. UKIP grew and grew, then some of their senior members revealed themselves to be the old fuddy duddies we knew them to be. There were a number of deaths this last year, most notably Nelson Mandela. His death was met with worldwide mourning and a backlash against conservatives who had called for him to be hung in the 1980s (most notably the Federation of Conservative Students, well known former members include David Cameron and the speaker of the house John Bercow). This was in stark contrast to the earlier death of Margeret Thatcher who (as in life) split the country with some calling her a saint, some calling her misguided and some partying in the streets at the news of her death. And let’s not forget another polarising figure in international politics, Hugo Chavez. It was with great Irony that many of the people who denounced those who proclaimed happiness at the death of Margaret Thatcher had publicly mentioned how Hugo Chavez’s death was a great day for the world. Away from politics we also lost (in no particular order) James Gandolfini, Richard Briers, Michael Winner, Bernie Nolan, Alan Whicker, Mel Smith, Elmore Leonard, David Frost, Lou Reed, Lewis Collins and Paul Walker. And sadly (and more importantly) were the deaths of at least 6,155 people when Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda hit our beloved Philippines in November 2013. Although the news headlines have stopped, the cameras have gone away and the politicians have taken a huge slice of the millions of dollars in international aid for themselves, it looks bleak still for the thousands of people still displaced and living in worse poverty than they were before Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda landed. But I’d like to finish this on a positive. 2013 showed us that people really care for their fellow man! The millions of dollars given in aid from international governments to the Philippines was more than met (if not massively outmatched) by the millions more raised by people around the world. Celebrities donated thousands (the US rock/pop band OneRepublic donated $100,000.00 alone), regular people were digging deep to send money to the Philippines. And throughout 2013 we raised £410 for Kevin and Charlene Taylor which no doubt helped them in the latter stages of 2013. Well done British Filipino! And let’s not forget we were also instrumental in advising people about to apply for a spouse visa and we helped a couple of people win their appeals. So going forward, the British Filipino community will no doubt help countless others with advice and support, charitable donations and just by being here. 2014 is going to be amazing!
