onionluke

Hello , mine's has been cropped and lost it's all roundedness . Is it poss to reinstate it ?

A deal breaker ? No . Infact learning a few dishes from my partner such as om gai , tom pla ,tom tua farang, has added to our relationship . We have had some great days in the kitchen (read kitchenette when in the city ) . Of cousre this is a two way street with a few western plates making it into our family staples . Once upon a time I decided to make a paella dish for my sweetheart as way of showing my appreciation for all the super stuff she was cookong up . I brought home the rice , chorrizo, chicken (on the bone), prawns , squid,mussels, saffron even and all the herbs and so on .Now she was looking at all these ingredients and was quite impressed with the idea of the dish . She also commented that it smelled good whilst I was preparing it . Alas , when I was about done, I called her in to see what I was doing and she had to say " What's that , gweilo chau fan ? " or white man's fried rice .Oh how we laughed . It was a great dish .Enjoy your food and your partner's . ooh pl la , ooh pla la ...

yeah...happy solstice to all, I watched the sun come up from the back terrace this morning where I got a mark on the railing that lines up with the sunrise (stand directly behind the mark) and now the 'ol sun will begin to travel northwards again to the summer solstice position...just move in an arc to the right...

I like it when things are consistent and dependable, don't you?

as a teenager in conservative latin america I wanted to woo a girl and she said to me very seriously: 'you're pretty crazy...do you believe in God?' and I sez: 'yeah, sorta but I like to watch where the sun is at certain times of the year as it helps to confirm that I'm on the same planet from year to year...God doesn't exist on other planets, you know...'

she screamed and fled...

Yeah , I like the pencil mark on the railing . When I was a lad I went up to Argyl , Loch Fyn to a stone allignment called Brainport , I kid you not , for the winter equinox . There down by the loch side is a stone circle on an earth mound and then some single standing stones in a line heading south eastwards towards some hills . If you stand in the circle and look down the line you are facing a cleft in a mountain that suggest in their shape, breasts of a reclining woman . And so the moon on that night lifted into the sky from that lovely pair . Only it didn't because the line was made tousands of years ago and the moon has inched away since , but it was dam_n close .

It was never the less a fine freezing night and we kept our spirits up with whisky and smokes and then some warlocks or something showed up and spooked us away with their funny hats . They turned out to be knowledgable lot and very entertaing for us city boys .

How do I know you feel it ?

For those in the northern hemisphere. For those in the southern I'd like to offer you this...

Old Nick is right enough .Oh no there ain't no sanity clause .

Winter Solstice greetings one and all .

The days get longer from here on in .

It doesn't really work with my old black and white set

it's exams that count not football teams

Why would any trader freely hand out knowledge to any customer ?

Go Straight to Hell Boy

Did those columns come precast from the factory Crossy, notice they already have the rods inserted for the walls.

Nope, poured on site.

This picture of the columns with the formwork still on is not particularly clear but you can see the rods sticking out through the wooden forms. I don't know how the rods got through the formwork or if they are actually tied off to the cage inside the column, bit late to check right now.

Unfortunately I was away when all the columns were poured so Wifey took the photos, David Bailey she is not.

Not to worry , those are your tie in rods for the brick work that will follow . Kinda like starter bars . As they are cast in you will not have to drill holes to fit them later on . Looks good .

Ah should of read the rest before posting . Looks good .

This is for the alien hiding behind the curtain

http://youtu.be/kYeTckI-nzI

I know where you are going, I can speak Thai not perfectly but can get by, I totally agree with you, many Thais see you as they have been indoctrinate as child and by their parents, and TV. I hear many Thai people speaking bad about me and western people in general. Some like me, to speak Thai, the ones in the Village mainly, Some cannot believe that a falang would want to, and can speak Thai, I mainly keep quiet now and just listen. Some times it gets Embarrassing for my Thai wife because she knows i understand .She has even been ask why she has taught me Thai, in fact i could speak a Little Thai before i met her because she could not speak English. But there is a fruit called falang, ke nok, I have been told there are not many around now in Thailand. The bottom line is you have to put up with it, Its their Country.

My son is 4 yrs old and he calls farangs bad and stupid. We never instilled this in his mind, it is something that he has got from other children either in our estate or at school. We are constantly correcting him and he tells us his friends shimmy, bouy and nok tell him that farangs are not good and are very bad people. He doesn't identify me as a farang tho. The only place that children could get this attitude from would be adults or thier parents and it is a form of brainwashing (instilled racism) at a young age so grow up always believing that farangs are not good.

My son had some experience of racialism when he started in our small village school ,2to 5 year olds . The word farang was used negatively and he brought it home negatively. I guess being so young at the time he saw the word's use as intended . He defined me as a farang then,as he submited to peer pressure . I might add he has got over that stage and now calls me a gweilo .

Can I sell my vote ?

baaksida?

an isaan farrang

I believe it is a kind of watery fruit like a melon .

it's a guava

I wish they'd call me Guava .

baaksida?

an isaan farrang

I believe it is a kind of watery fruit like a melon .

nah use nail polish remover to unset the glue. watch the sticker fall off then wash the lid to finish

Drink the nail polish remover and leave the bottle on the sideboard to impress visitors

SC

I literally laughed out loud from this old post

You should have seen the state of his lipstick afterwards. I knew casting him as both ugly sisters was a mistake.

Now now , Button's unpostmodern stance on panto has stripped away the shiny vennear of crimbo entertainment , and left the two ugly sisters feeling , out of their tights .(excorsise tights ).

There is a thread running discussing regret and time travel .

Dad what does regret mean ?

More money can never hurt. Staying home to earn it and miss out on the great life here is a touch choice.

Especially in some of the bars where touching is allowed.

I would never have moved here......never have gotten involved with a Thai women (i.e. marriage).......never have invested in anything here. Instead, I would have moved to New Zealand or Panama or some other place. Thailand has been going downhill from the day I first moved here (over twenty years ago), and the decline has accelerated over the past ten years. The really good days (80s and 90s) have gone and will not return. I am looking forward to leaving (yes, I know, do not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out....blah, blah, blah).

"....Thailand has been going downhill from the day I first moved here...."

Suddenly, everything becomes clear.

I'd feel bad about that, too.

SC

It's been pure crap since they closed down my fav bar , Butterfly Affect , the girls just don't feel the same .

http://youtu.be/O23Amc514-Y

it's a bad trip when you loss every thing you had

Wilco johnson has something

http://youtu.be/rrSx700tJ5Q

Some real good options mentioned above - I prefer to separate the innovators ( Robert Johnson et al ) from the masters of their craft.

No doubt the innovators are more vital however.

One point I made in my earlier post I would like to revise if possible.

If you cannot play the guitar to a decent level - how can you judge the skill level of a guitar god?

No flames please - just interested in a nice friendly debate

I realise we all have favourites - and this is based on our own personal set of likes/dislikes etc - but judging the skill level is surely based on our own talent/playing competence?

When I discuss a new or established guitarist with my 'muso' friends, we tend to discuss the vibrato technique or the use of mixolydian progressions within a pentatonic major framework.

Sounds a tad boring but these are the yardsticks used in rating a guitarists skill - not evoking memories of a dark rainy night in Chipping Sodbury

Chon

It is all about the end product for me . Where the measure of the skills , teqnique and knowledge and then others like invention along with emotion , choice of instrument , style of music . Jimmi Hendrix had all of that and something else but so did Chet Atkins .

...

Well SC if you don't have a bicycle to cut about on here's wishing you a classic holyday .

Merci bien. I really enjoy French comedy. Last one I watched was Les Mic Macs de Tir Largo (not sure of the spelling...). I inherited my love of Jacques Tati from my dear old father, for whom Tati was something of a role model, I believe.

I think I will look for a bike to cut about, as the circus office is about 2 km from my new abode.

Trying to get back on topic, I was going to say that the last time I had a bottle of whisky in the house was HK seven years ago, but then I remembered a friend's bottle in Dubai, that spent a month in my cupboard - and some murky liquid that the previous tenant had left - I forget what; I'm sure it was whatever it said on the bottle - that I poured away. The friend gradually worked their way through the whisky. As I've posted elsewhere, I don't believe in spirits, through fear of the unknown...

SC

I'll drink to that .

The Faither the Son and the wee ghostie man .

A man

Has to do with Feng Shui and your wife believing that more fortune can be gained by changing the direction in which one sleeps.

Assuming you and your wife sleep in the same bed this is a bit tricky because the good sleeping direction for men and women is more often than not opposite of each other.

If you're the bread winner the bed should be positioned in the direction that optimizes your well being but feminism as entered Feng Shui as well and as your wife gets more assertive she might be demanding her equal share of Feng Shui.

Feng Shui with a bit of village custom . It turns out they were trying to get the beds facing east and the sunrise . This is because , she says , dead people get layed out with their heads pointing west . I think the fufniture shuffle will continue . The neighbours must going round the bend .

I will use the bread winner angle only if I end up on the sofa .