A heated departure

The heat in New York has been so oppressive lately, with temperatures hitting close to a hundred degrees. A Filipino businessman leaving JFK airport on his way home reported having the worst travel experience ever, compounded by the sweltering heat. The Northwest Airlines flight was already on the runway and about to take off when the pilot sensed it was too heavy due to the heat. He aborted the takeoff and brought the plane back to the tarmac, where seven passengers were asked to voluntarily get off to lessen the weight. After two hours of unloading the baggage and checking that everything was ready, the plane went back to the runway ready for another take off. But once again, the pilot sensed that it was still too heavy because of the heat, and asked three more passengers to disembark. It took another two hours for the luggage to be removed. When the plane finally left, the "warm" departure had already become a "heated" departure because of the heightened temperature in the aircraft with passengers’ tempers hitting close to boiling point due to the delays. To compound matters, when the Northwest plane arrived in Narita airport, passengers had to endure three more hours delay because of technical problems. It was already close to midnight by the time the plane left, with passengers already limp with frustration. The Filipino businessman was so exhausted, his temper was so high, he was ready to quit travelling forever. This is just a prelude to global warming conditions that are taking place all over the United States and Europe — which could only get worse.

‘Borrometric’ temper

Talking about tempers, at a recent Philippine Football Federation (PFF) congress, Jose Vito "Pocholo" Borromeo was complaining about the deficit spending of the football association. To which someone pointed out that there were a lot of promises and pledges made by personalities during the recent South East Asian (SEA) Games. Borromeo was made one of the godfathers like "Don Vito" by the First Gentleman for the SEA Games, and he had promised to donate P1.5 million. As it turned out, the football association’s deficit was approximately P1.5 million, an amount which ironically, Mr. Borromeo never gave. When this matter was pointed out to Borromeo, his temper flared and acting like the godfather, "Don Vito" started to scream, "What do you people think, I can’t afford to give that P1.5 million?" Before storming out of the congress, he blurted, "I’m wearing a P650,000 Rolex watch, and I have a P3-million BMW parked outside!" A rather childish display of "Borrometric" temper. But one who knew the wannabe "Don Vito" wryly smiled and allegedly pointed out, "Everybody knows that Mr. Jose Vito Borromeo, now jobless, was asked to go on an early retirement by his former employer, the Bank of America. His wife’s business has been thriving, where apparently his Rolex watch and BMW came from."

High school fire violations

Concerned parents wrote Spybiz that a prominent private high school in Quezon City had been found to have nine counts of fire violations, among them inadequate fire and smoke alarm systems, inadequate stairway fire escape, inadequate first aid provisions and lacking fire extinguisher both in the kindergarten and high school departments. The school has some 6,000 students and parents fork out P60,000 for tuition and other fees, so parents feel that the school should be better equipped to deal with fires or other disasters. The Quezon City Fire department had given the school 30 days to correct the violations, but to date the school authorities have done nothing to upgrade their facilities. "We just pray that nothing untoward would happen," the concerned parents wrote. The principal reportedly has this un-Christian habit of getting back at anyone who complains, so parents have been keeping mum on the matter.

Spy Tidbiz: Menopause blues

A man in his early 70s was heard complaining that his partner 20 years his junior seems unable to match his energetic demands. The woman, who has recently turned 52, is reportedly approaching menopause and has been getting temperamental and having mood swings, wanting to stay away from the 72-year-old man. Despite the 20-year difference, it seems the man far outpaces the woman when it comes to vigorous pursuits. Statistics show that older men tend to sap the energy from younger women through a process called "osmosis."

* * *

Join our ring of Eye-spies by sending your intelligence information, complaints, pictures, and comments to [email protected].

All information will be strictly confidential.