Jambo

I was too scared to visit Devil's Den. Rather have a chicken Vindaloo and 6 pints to remind me what my ass is for!

I don't like Coldplay's music - never have. Why they are so popular is beyond me. Went to the Singapore GP years ago and as I recall they played after the Race finished. The stage was right opposite the balcony of the Hotel we watched the race but right at the far end of a huge field. So no additional cost to us but I cannot recall if we heard much.

What was his name? On the tip of my tongue? Nice guy and everybody's friend Heard talk that he changed after his gambling/lifestyle addiction turned him into an evil, inveterate liar. Shame that!

Cheapskate. 😄 My first night and barfine in Pattaya was in 2002 from the FLB bar. As a newbie I asked the Manager how much I should pay the girl and was told "She will be really happy if you give her 1,500 baht and 100 baht for a taxi in the morning." So I became willing president of the "Lame Dupe Over Payers Club" and very popular with all the girls that followed. 🤣

It never ceased to amaze me how you managed to remember every individuals board name when you met them. I have a memory for names like a sieve. It was fortunate I met so many Thai girls all named "Sweetie".

Is that an upmarket Scaffold? 🤣 Sorry, gallows humour.

Jade, my granddaughter , passed her final practical exams at her Veterinary College and was immediately offered and accepted full time and well paid employment within the college's own veterinary practice.

Is that the same premises in Pattaya that lost all its stock in a fire a few years ago?

My GP told me over the phone today that my somewhat raised blood glucose level places me into the pre-diabetes bracket. I have a follow up appointment a week on Friday with the practice nurse to discuss. My GP did not give me the impression that he was overly concerned.

I had blood tests on Friday although I thought it was only one test to check my kidney function as my doctor wants me off taking diclofenac for my arthritic knee. It wasn't until my daughter dragged me screaming into the Practice nurse's dungeon that I discovered they were testing me for everything. I come from the stick your head in the sand school of medical practice. Had a shite weekend with every expectation of bad news to come. Today I get a phone call from my GP. He wants me to phone the hospital and book myself in for follow up xrays on my hip and knee. That I take as very positive news as these are undoubtedly going to show how much worse I am since the previous xrays. Hopefully, that will move me up the waiting list. I ask him about the results of my blood test. Apparently all good except my sugar level is up higher than he would like. Another appointment with the Practice nurse to discuss this and change my diclofenac medication. I tell my GP that I have been on a low to zero carb fasting diet (10am to 6pm for food) since the middle of April and have lost 11 kilos. I tell him I am going to stick with this diet for the next 3 months. He sounds suitably impressed. I wonder how bad my sugar levels would have been before I started the diet?

Sid (Sith) was a very frustrated and highly underrated chef. I have the memory of a sieve these days but I think he produced this "seafood selection" for my birthday one year.

"The Scotsman from Tenerife" has recently been posting his UTube video's whilst on a visit to Alicante. It looks really nice with a good beach, mixture of bars and restaurants and some fine architecture. I have been to and from the airport quite a few times but never visited the Town itself. Mind you, that applies in many world wide airports I suppose.

Nostalgia photo: Sunday afternoon telephone conversation with "Lani" housekeeper at the Villa "Lani, I just had the old cow from next door on the phone to me again complaining about the loud music from the Garden. Can you kindly ask the guys to turn it down please." "No Khun Dan. No loud music they are just fucking with the girls in the pool." "Oh, Lani.............................. On second thoughts forget it and sorry to bother you on your day off."

That is really impressive. I wonder how they make those?

A Scottish wild cat

At 83, if he tries the "Ministry of Silly Walks" routine its odds on he falls over. With my knee and hip I can do that without even trying. I hope his night in Bangkok is a great success but as a fan I think I would rather remember his classic comedy performances of yesteryear. I have seen a couple of nostalgia concerts in Bangkok which received rapturous applause from the audience but on reflection left me feeling I almost wished I had not gone. Fame is a drug.

I am trying to get my mind around the idea of 83 year old John Cleese doing a solo evening on stage in Bangkok. I think this is a mistake of monumental proportions. Is he skint? Surely not? I have so many fond memories of John Cleese entertaining us over the years. None of those involved him as a Stand Up performer.

I lost a lot of my 18 years of photo's thanks to you know who but I have recently copied all I have left to my new Tablet and I have enjoyed seeing again the ones that have particular memories. Surfer Dude was a great guy I met shortly after he arrived in Pattaya. In many respects he was quite naive about Thai girls not realizing, all too often, that they could be more than a little economic with the truth. Step forward Golf and Mook. 😄

"All aboard the Skylark!" The guy with the hat, sunglasses and bottle in his hands was known to me as "Surfer Dude" a retired fireman from California. The "yacht" was once owned by Prince Ranier of Monaco. Not many people know that. 😄

There is a very interesting story about this photo. The dog with the dark brown head is Tung Nung . The one with the white face is See Nuan. The first time they met was when I brought two of our original remaining dogs up from Pattaya/Bangsaray to live with the resident two family dogs in Mae Sot. They immediately started fighting and kept that going on and off for a year or so when the had resolved to simply avoid one another as much as possible. This photo was taken an hour or so after we had collected Tung Nung from the vets. The prognosis was not good and the vet had told us that it was touch and go whether the dog would survive the next few days. Much to our complete amazement See Nuan laid down next to her mortal enemy Tung Nung and basically did not move for the next two days when Tung Nung showed signs of recovery. How does one explain that? They had never,ever, slept next to one another before. That was three years or so ago and both are healthy members of a pack of 5 recycled former Soi dogs.

My daughter works from home in the travel industry. She is really like a wholesaler for other Travel Agents although she does deal directly with the public often putting together packages of the more upmarket variety. She sometimes gets away on paid trips to holiday destinations where, say, a hotel chain might want to promote their hotels in a particular resort. She is away on one right now staying in some 5 star hotel in Italy. She was due to meet up with three other work colleagues on Saturday night at a Hotel at Gatwick so that they could all fly out together early on Sunday morning. All the travel arrangements were organized and paid for by the Italian Hotel including my daughter's flight down from Edinburgh to Gatwick around lunchtime on Saturday from Edinburgh. They booked her on Easy Jet. First Easy Jet cancelled her flight at the Airport and gave instructions that passengers were to re-book using the Easy Jet App. Louise managed to book herself on the next flight that day which was around 6pm on Saturday with a further flight around 8pm. I may not have got the exact scheduled times for these two flights There was no Easy Jet representative at Edinburgh Airport and some of the passengers on the cancelled flight were very annoyed and a few in distress. Louise told me that an older lady was in tears as she did not know how to re-book using the App and Louise did it for her. Then apparently they started displaying various times for Louise's rearranged flight with it and the later flight both being postponed to later times. Except every time Louise's flight was postponed it got nearer to the departure time for the second and last flight down to Gatwick. Eventually there was an Easy Jet representative in Edinburgh Airport and they had to check in luggage at around 5pm. At that time Louise specifically asked if there was any chance that her flight, which kept being postponed, was in fact going to eventually depart AFTER the flight which was supposed to be later. Louise was assured that would not happen and checked in her luggage. You can guess what happened. Louise flight finally departed for Gatwick at around 10pm which meant she had spent 12 hours in Edinburgh Airport. The only redeeming factor was that her employer had already given her 50 pounds for expenses at the Airport so she at least had dinner. Fat chance of Easy Jet offering anything. Message today about her and her three colleagues enjoying champagne cocktails. 😄

RAMBO

Lots of excellent photo's posted by Lazarus. I found some I took of a visit to a wild life center somewhere in Scotland. Not doubt somebody can recognize what type of bird this is but my guess is maybe a hawk or eagle. What stood out me me is that this guy had it flying round quite spectacularly until it swooped down and quite literally killed a pigeon that was flying around minding its own business.

I bought a new tablet. I am an IT dinosaur but having an android phone I decided to buy a similar android tablet because I thought it might be easier to copy from one to another. In any event Amazon had a 10 inch job on special offer. Not only did my phone copy just about everything from it to the tablet it did so in less than 10 minutes without me doing anything other than clicking on a "YES" button. I then copied all the photo's I had on a Buffalo storage device which brought back lots of memories. I will post a few of them.