Toy Boy

One of the very last steam-powered sheep left in Wales. Nowadays, of course, they've almost all been replaced with electric models.

Skype. Free if the other person also has an internet connection and is on Skype, otherwise they charge the same rate as a local call would cost. Just stick a fiver or tenner on your Skype account and dial away.

Groan...

I was a bit late watching this one as it's meant to be a Christmas film. It's based on the Fredrick Forsyth story and you don't really get what it's all about until the very end, but it's well worth waiting for. John Travolta plays the ghostly Canadian Mosquito pilot, apparently he's long liked the tale. He has, of course, been a qualified pilot since he was 22, loves flying and parks his private 707 outside his house, which is located by a private airfield. Anyway, it's only 39 minutes long and, IMHO, well worth the time.

Adding salt to tea is an age-old practice in parts of Central Asia, as recounted in the story of Genghis Khan. It's also done in parts of Pakistan, Tibet and Afghanistan. Whether that's a recommendation or not I'll leave up to you, lol. Here's Quentin Letts' take on the matter which gave me a few smiles: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-13007749/QUENTIN-LETTS-salt-tea-advice-boffin.html

The Abbot's Tale by Conn Iggulden, historical fiction about the rise and fall of Dunstan of Glastonbury back in the 10th century.

GENERAL: Our armed forces are too small and poorly equipped POLITICIAN: Doesn't matter Something fundamental, apparently... lol

Ah, the many joys of living in Thailand, soon to be made even more interesting by the ambiguity over our taxation status and the need to complete an annual Thai tax return. Never mind, I read that deliberate failure to declare tax you owe here has a penalty of 6 months in prison for each charge, just think of the booze taxes and duties we'd save while inside, lol.

It makes you want to weep... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12998487/Aircraft-carrier-fiasco-UK-refuses-deploy-3-5-billion-warships-amid-crisis-Red-Sea-Britons-told-leave-Yemen.html

Awful, I know, but I had to post it, lol.

Some of the water tanker truck drivers will do it as long as you let them fill up the tank afterwards (something like 200-300 Baht/m3 compared with 15 Baht for mains water). Like everything here, they'll rob you blind if they think they can get away with it. Many years ago I had one of the village motorbike taxi drivers do it for me. He brought his wife along and I was stupid enough not to ask the price beforehand, got shafted by him for 1,200 Baht. Since then the GF gets one of her friends in Laem Chabang to come and do it for me, I stipulate up-front that I'll only pay 500 baht but I make him a good meal afterwards with a cold beer or two. OTOH, an American guy in the village gets a relative of his wife to do it for him for just 250 Baht. I asked if he'd do it for me, but nope, he's keeping it in the family.

I've got a 1,000 litre water tank in the ground, you ned it as backup for when the mains water is off. It also acts as a sediment trap, the crap in the public water supply has plenty of time to settle out in the bottom of the tank, so you end up with reasonably clean (though not drinkable) water going into the pump and out of the taps in the house. You need to get someone to clean the crap out of the bottom of the tank at least once a year, though. I was told when I bought the house a dozen years ago that, if you don't do that, then over time the water will start giving you strange skin problems. I pay a guy 500 Baht to come and clean it for me every March or April, and I've had no problems. The shower units both have filters on them and they never need cleaning so the water entering the house must be pretty clean.

Schrödinger's dumpster

I fancied a decent Rioja, so went to V2V on Thepprasit and was surprised by the selection there. Around 10 different bottles on display, but not cheap, the most expensive one would set you back around 3,500 Baht. I was tempted by the Marques de Caceres, it was one of the reds that I cut my oenophile teeth on around 45 years ago when I was living in Assen and just starting out on my lifelong journey into the world of wine. The Aussie guy who runs the place said that you were paying for the name, and there was better value to be had. He pointed me to a Muriel 2014 Gran Reserva which, at around 1,200 Baht, was cheaper than the Caceres Reserva and looked like it would do the job. It's got good reviews and, as is often the case with the premium quality wines, it was only a few hundred Baht more expensive that it would have been if I'd bought it in the UK (£21, apparently). That's resting in my wine fridge now, I'll uncork it one of these days but, at the moment, I've got a bottle of George Wyndham Australian Shiraz in the fridge waiting to be finished.