THE VINTAGE YELLOW SHIRT
- Jaime Picornell
- Mar 26, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 27, 2019
It must have been in 2006, or maybe 2007. I went to the textile section of Gaisano Country Mall to buy some material for some shirts.
I found a yellow cloth with a fine design in black, frieze-like. There was a version in black with the design in gray. I bought both and had them made at Infini, which is located in the same building's arcade.
I wore both shirts often, with a preference for the yellow one. One day I went to Pacita Toledo's house in Peace Valley to pick up some "tocinos del cielo" I had ordered.
I usually stayed for a while to reminisce with Pacita about old times, when we lived in those spacious houses of the Unchuan compound in Mango Avenue. They had been designed in England. Now, the whole block is Foodarama.
On one particular day I noticed that the tea window curtains of Pacita's dining room were made of the identical yellow clothing material I had bought at Gaisano Country Mall and made into a shirt.
I told her so, adding that I had the black and gray version as well. Pacita confided, " I have that too. They were on a sale, and I have also made it into curtains."
From then on, whenever I went to pick up "tocinos del cielo," I always wore the yellow shirt that matched the curtains. One day I noticed the curtains were no longer the same. "The sun can be very harsh," Pacita said.
As it was, in 2007, the radio and television crew of Aragon in Spain contacted us. Aragon is an autonomous region of Spain comprised by the provinces of Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel.
Since my wife Cecilia was from Zaragoza, they wanted to include her in their program "Aragoneses por el Mundo," which documented the lives of Aragonese folk living all over the world.
The crew came toward the end of 2007 and Cecilia figured prominently in it. I also appeared, and for one session, I wore my famous yellow shirt. It photographed well as we found out when we were sent a copy of the video.
The film was a big success, judging from the requests for repeat showings. Our friends and cousins in Zaragoza reacted with enthusiasm and we think were the ones who besieged TV Aragon for the encores.
In September 2008, Cecilia and I went to Spain, staying most of the time in Zaragoza. I brought along my yellow shirt which color during the autumn season attracted comment. Not only that, for some people actually approached us to say we were recognized as those in the TV documentary because of my shirt.
I continue to wear it occasionally since it has a good fit and the material has not suffered any harsh sunlight. I wore it recently to a dinner on March 11 at No. 9 Emilia Benedicto Street, organized by Bigseed for Cebu Pacific.
Bigseed! That means Jaja Chiongbian Rama, whose exquisite manners are faultless. As I opened the car to slide out and grab my cane, Jaja came forth to welcome me. "Tito Jaime, in yellow linen, the color of Cebu Pacific. Is it from Marks and Spencer?"
"No," I flashed back. "It's a vintage Infini, made in Cebu from cloth on sale, and there's quite a story to it." In so many words, I told it to Jaja who giggled and said she was tickled, not pink, but assuredly yellow.
The occasion was for a selection from the Cebu press to meet a brace of Cebu Pacific top corporate executives who had come to Cebu for the purpose in what was designed as a most relaxing evening.
It was high time, too. Nice to meet you: Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing and distribution; Charo Logarta Lagamon, director of corporate communications, and a Cebuana who speaks a refined Cebuano; Blessie Cruz, director for marketing; and Xander Lao, Cebco president and CEO.
While partaking of the excellent dinner, they did a version of musical chairs that enabled them to meet and speak to everyone. "Drink to that," sparkled Jaja as she clinked her goblet of red wine with mine, filled with white wine.
Two weeks later, Cebu Pacific held another press event, this time a lunch on March 25 at the Hai Shin Lou Chinese restaurant at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel.
Cebu Pacific's Charo Logarta Lagamon and Blessie Cruz welcomed a large group of media friends, mostly young bloggers loaded with dynamism. I sat next to Margaux Camaya, The Visual Traveler, and enjoyed it immensely.
After the Chinese lunch, Blessie took the microphone to announce Cebu Pacific's summer schedules. Also to say that during the year, they will add more domestic and international flights.
Charo Logarta Lagamon generated much applause when she said there will be flights out of Cebu to Shanghai in China starting April 15, at very affordable rates.
Shanghai's enticements are its heritage monuments and residues of a bygone era, good shopping, excellent dining and even a Disneyland.
Fortune cookies were offered and everyone thought one of them would entitle a lucky guy or gal a trip from Cebu to Shanghai and back. The cookies were the run-of-the-mill products, and they were soon exhausted.
Good fortune actually smiled on everyone. Whoever was present at the event can be on that inaugural Cebu Pacific flight from Cebu to Shanghai on April 15.
Free passage! But then you have to take care of your land arrangements. Everyone went online for the best offers. April 15 is the Monday of Holy Week.
We told Danna Bacolod of Bigseed that we missed Jaja Rama on this occasion. She had extended her weekend birthday celebration.
And to think that I wore a yellow shirt, this time from Marks and Spencer.
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