A year or so ago Corleen messaged me to say "I found someone to help clean your house Tatay, he is called Jake, shall I bring him to work this week?" . And so Jake started work. He worked hard, never complained, and handled any task we gave him from watering the compost, to carrying heavy bags of bird food from the car, shopping, cleaning etc. But he always had to leave at 11.30 am on a Friday and we never found out where he went or what his day job was.
Secret Agent Jake gets grilled by Miss A
I tried my hardest to find out what he did and challenged all my friends to ask him what he did when we went out to eat, or they rode with him in the car. But we never found out. We only found out he was 39 years old and that he would be 40 on 24th June. So we called him Secret Agent Jake and decided to get our own back by giving him a secret birthday party to remember.
Chester designed a Birthday Card with a secret agent theme and the lovely people at Copy Top printed it as an A1 Poster and created a matching Tee shirt ( thanks to Miss Andrea for getting the tee shirt for Jake). We sent Jake down to wash my car in the basement garage while Ronnie put up the poster and the guests assembled in the Lobby.
The official party photo taken by Beshy with Corleen and Nugget
Jake had said the week before that " we were his Bahrain family" at our Boodle Fight, so we wanted to do him proud. Chef Coco made a wonderful fruit cake, and continued the Secret Agent theme and Ronnie found an hours worth of James Bond theme music to play as the party started.
Beshy had set up a "Friday Gang" group on Facebook which Jake was in so we used this to leave a false trail in the week before his birthday. I set up a group on What's app called "Jakes Secret Party" with Miss Andrea, Corleen , Beshy and Ronnie in and updated them on the organisation of the party and what messages they should post in the Friday group. Someone posted the announcement that the lockdown was extended to 2 July, so I exclaimed that meant we would not be able to go out for a meal as planned on the Friday after his Birthday.
Meanwhile Corleen found a caterer , near Tata Ed that did our boodle fight and ordered food for Himself, Jake, Ronnie, Coco, Beshy, me and Miss A . We included all Jake's Pinoy favourites like soup and Inihaw, Lechon, Bulalao , two types of rice and a whole load more! The caterers were supposed to arrive at 10.30 am with the table while Jake was washing the car but arrived late. I even told Jake that my Thai friends were coming later to make a Thai cookery Vlog and so he helped me set up all the lighting and video equipment.
Jake helps unpack and set up the video equipment for the " Thai Guys"
However my favourite bits of deception were on his actual birthday when we all ignored the Facebook message saying " Jake is 40, send him a greeting" and when I asked in the " Friday Gang" group " what's up" and Jake replied " It's my birthday today " and I replied " Really?"
Just some of the food Corleen ordered
On the day of the party Corleen messaged ( as planned) to say he had to work and could not take Jake home ( which Jake was really upset about as he loves working with Corleen - " He's like my big sister" Jake once said ) . I pretended we had no lunch and made a Spagetti Bolognaise.
Birthday boy Jake with his big sister, Camera woman Corleen
Then as Jake and I were going down in the lift to the basement to wash my car- while Ronnie got the room ready, a What's App message arrived from Miss Andrea to say she was updating her birthday list and could I remind her what date in July his birthday was ( another preplanned diversion message). I showed Jake the message and exclaimed what a dizzy Blonde Miss A was ( sorry Andrea, it was just for dramatic effect) and said " well she won't be getting you a present will she!"
Secret Agent Jake with his tee shirt, designed by Chester, Printed by Copy Top and a gift from Miss Andrea.
We only had a couple of unseen hitches, like when Jake came back for more water to rinse the car when we already had his poster up. Ronnie was brilliant and put a sheet over it and told Jake we were setting up the theme for the Thai cooking vlog and he left without suspecting a thing. Then Coco messaged to ask where Corleen was ( his driver). Late as usual!! Miss Andrea arrived spot on time in the lobby and as we waited for the lift on the ground floor who should be in the lift from the Basement .... but Secret Agent Jake ! For once , when we didn't want him too, he finished washing the car early! Once again Miss Andrea stayed cool and said " Oh , Hi Jake , I was just dropping off some printing for Neil".
A very happy Jake with Tik Tok Queen Beshy, Corleena and TBK
As Jake, Ronnie and Miss A chatted I got a message from Coco to say they had arrived and so for once the cake arrived on Time for one of my parties ( sorry Kuya, could not resist!) ... so when Jake emerged from the wash room the secret was finally out and we all sang Happy Birthday. I do not think I have ever seen Jake smile so much... and I think I saw his eyes watering later. Corleen had said " If he does not cry I will block him" ( Did you notice how like me Corleen is getting!)
Tatay cut the Lechon and Jake cut the cake while Nugget chased everyone!
Of course no Pinoy party would be complete without Tik Tok so Beshy taught Miss Andrea how to dance ( Unfortunately I had to go to the bathroom at that point, based on the feedback from my Tik Tok dance at the Boodle Fight!). And then lots of selfies and several group photos. My favourite is at the top of the Blog taken by Corleen but I love this one too.
The secret is out, Secret Agent Jake is 40!!!
As my regular readers know I have been transitioning into being fully Phillipino while I wait for my visa so this time at the end of the party I was ready with bags and containers to take the remining food home for their dinner, friends and families. This time I had the cake and the guys decided to share some of the food with my Thai friends who work in a nearby massage parlour. Due to Cov 19 they have been without money and food for 18 months. Max would be proud of you boys! He will never let me throw left over food away.
Party over, time to play with Nugget
So, party over, Beshy washed up, Ronnie cleaned the table and Jake tidied the room ( yes, even on his Birthday) . I put a wire in my ear and announced, secret agent style the change in Transport arrangements , that Corleen WOULD take everyone home after all!
The great thing about Pinoy parties is that there are always of 100's of pictures- so Chester is putting together a collage if the best and we will upload that to the British Kabayan Facebook page in the week. Corleen also shot a video and once Edited that will be on The British Kabayan Blog ( I think Chester is on overtime this weekend!)
Later Jake wrote to say:
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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