Stanley, are you a man or a concept?
A good friend of mine, an ex-spy who's moved on to a high-level Propaganda ministry job introduced me to Stanley about a year ago. Stanley manages a serviced appartment business, but with a twist. Rather than targeting rich expats, he supplies models, spies and other low-budget/low-profile travellers with highly affordable studios/rooms in prime locations. But possibly the greatest thing about him is that he is increadibly flexible (maybe because I've never negotiated the rent) and doesn't require a deposit. And he never asks me any questions about my changing appearance and multiple passports.
In fact, Stanley has helped me out so many times here in Hong Kong, that he has become a concept to me very much like Google is now synonymous with internet search. I've actually never met Stanley. When I call him, he always asks me to let him call me back in 5 minutes, but when I get the call (never have to wait longer than 5 minutes), it's not him, it's usually a woman (nowadays called Liz) who will help me arrange a few viewings. Once I thought I would actually meet the man, as we talked on the phone for a while and he offered to show me an appartment right now. But the man who showed up was some Mario guy.
I've always suspected there IS no Stanley. I've got this idea (enhanced during this weekends fever) that Stanely is a loosely connected organization of flatowners from the Philipines. Kind of like a rental agents version of Al Quada...
So strong is the concept of Stanley, that in my Operational Support Files I've classified all my rental contacts in Asia as instances of Stanley. Stanley Beijing - Cin, Stanley Chiangmai - Viangbua Mansions etc. It's my goal to ultimately have a Stanley in every port.
So, Stanley, hat's of to you! You are a red thread through my existence, up there with 7/11 and Western Union! Without you, I would actually need to sort myself out!
P.S. There's something wrong with the image uploading at the moment so I'm not able to post any pictures. As soon as this has been fixed I'll show you the splendid little hole Stanley has sorted out for me this time. I called him on saturday and two hours later I had a new home!
