12:30 p.m.The day began with another flurry of text messages. People here seem to have a routine of greeting the new day by texting a good morning message to everyone on their contact list. So I got a few of those. And then I got a bunch from this odd duck Joevelyn and then some from May and then from a mystery number. I have never met any of these people and probably never will. I ignored all the messages, and I’ll keep ignoring them. It might be rude, but texting a total stranger without introducing yourself and then asking for your age and marital status is definitely rude.

I had a cup of coffee or two, and then I went to work on my bike’s wheels. I did some final adjustments to the front wheel and then I did the whole truing of the rear wheel. Things seemed to go well. But then when I put the rear tire back on the rim and put it all back on the bike, I found that the tire rubbed against the frame. It seemed to me that the rim was fine, but if the tire was anything to go by, it wasn’t. So with the tire on the rim, I did another truing and pulled large sections of the rim to one side until the rubber of the tire stopped rubbing. It all kind of worked out in the end. It isn’t a perfect truing job by any means, but it seemed to be within tolerable limits. That’s assuming the tension on the spokes is acceptable. My feeling is that the spokes are too tight in general, but I can’t know for sure. I guess this is something you just learn by feel and experience.

When I rode the bike, I was pleased to discover that the spokes and wheels no longer made those ominous clicking and groaning and screeching sounds. The only troublesome sounds are coming from the bottom bracket now. That part of the bike seems to be in serious trouble. It had started clicking even before the typhoon. Now it clicks a lot more. The freewheel also seems to be experiencing some problems.

I stopped first at a little carenderia for breakfast. I didn’t want to risk getting irritable through hunger by skipping breakfast. I had a good meal for 65 pesos. Then I rode to Mark’s place. I found Mark and a new maid sitting in the living room and playing cards. Dulce was lounging on an armchair with Kali. Mark said that Dulce was going to go back home, so she was leaving her job with the family. She wasn’t feeling well, and she was worried about her family. This new maid playing cards with Mark was her replacement.

I didn’t stick around very long. I just picked up my Sansa Clip and paid my 30-peso recharging fee and left. I rode my bike along that street that runs by Mark’s house and followed it all the way to the convention center. There was a lot going on out there. There was a pickup truck with a group of super-tall and super-blonde western women in the back handing out stuffed animals and paper face masks. No idea what that was all about, but people were pretty excited. A film crew was filming the whole thing. A couple of big trucks were there with crews loading them with lots of oozing black garbage. UNICEF had put up a bunch of big tents and there appeared to be activities for children going on inside them. I saw one of the happiest pigs in the world rooting around in a big, disgusting mud puddle. And around back, I saw some police with a military backup dismantling some shacks. I didn’t ask anyone, but it looked like they were being taken down because they were placed there illegally. A bit strange since probably all the squatter houses are illegal technically.

The I rolled my bike along the street and took pictures here and there. I wanted to lock up my bike and go on foot, but I couldn’t find a safe place to leave my bike. Then it looked like it was going to rain hard, so I packed up and raced back into town. I stopped for lunch at Megabites for lunch and then at Hayward to buy some beer and Vienna Sausage for my spaghetti dinner tonight. I also bought some bread at a bakery. And now I’m back at the pension house.