xylophone

I did see a few different types of cargo shorts in Robinsons a while back, so they might be worth a try.

Last night Bangla Road was not so crowded as it has been on my previous visits, and maybe it was because rain had been forecast and it had been drizzling a little bit early on, or maybe it is "just one of those things". Having said that, when I eventually ended up at Red Hot and the band decided to sing a couple of numbers in Russian, at least 25% of the folks in the club/venue got up and danced on the floor, singing in Russian – – so there are plenty of them around. Continuing on that note, I would estimate that the vast majority of the shoppers in Big C when I visited yesterday were Russian, apart from a couple of small crowds of Indians who delighted in picking up just about everything in the chocolate section and trying to open it, and they aroused my suspicions by crowding around so that one could not see what was going on – – if indeed anything was?? A couple of new things to report, inasmuch as a friend of mine who has a problem with his neck and has not been able to sleep well, decided to go into one of the cannabis bars to try out one of their joints to see if that would ease the pain and relax him, so I followed him in, and although it's been decades since I tried any of that stuff, I did have a big puff of his joint, and it didn't seem to have any/much effect. Anyway he decided to stay in this bar and finish his "spliff" and said he would follow us a little later. However about 10 minutes later when he appeared in the other bar where we had stopped for a drink, he seemed decidedly unsteady, and after having one beer, decided that he wasn't feeling that special and toddled off home. Speaking to him the next day, he explained that he had to go home because he was totally out of it, out of his tree, off his face, however you want to describe it, but did say that it was "bloody strong stuff" and that he was not going to go there again, although he did get a good nights sleep! A couple of us went to Suzie Wongs, and what surprised me was the "lewdness" of the new "show" which left nothing to the imagination and involved a lot of oral "manoeuvres", shall we say. As is per the norm for me these days, I ended up at Red Hot and after doing a couple of songs was on my way out, a little inebriated, when an Aussie guy stopped me and said how much he and his wife enjoyed my singing and that they had seen me there before, and they had come that night especially to hear me sing a few songs! They were travelling back to Adelaide the next day and so I thought I would ask the band if I could sing one last number for him, which they agreed to, and it went well and he and his wife were extremely happy and gave me a big hug before I wobbled off into the night to get a motorbike taxi to take me home.

Which is where he should be!

Decided to watch "V for Vendetta" (again) last night and it's always good to see the delightful/delectable Natalie Portman, just as it was in the movie "Annihilation". Enjoyable evening and as always, picked up a few things that I hadn't noticed before, so contemplating what else to watch now??

I watched this and thought it was "amazing" but not the way one usually describes a documentary, more the way that it also encompassed the fanatical evangelical support given to trump through the Falwell connections, notwithstanding the fact that Trump was everything that evangelists rail against – – a liar, a crook, an adulterer and one who had broken just about every commandment in the Bible! It was more far-reaching than just the affair between the pool boy and Falwell's wife and laid bare the hypocrisy of the Bible thumping, god bothering hypocrites. What also surprised me was the absolute hate, that many Republicans had for the Democrats, and I'm not holding back on that, because it came across loud and clear, as did the trump connections with other unsavoury groups, and a brief showing of the Capitol Hill riot, something I hadn't seen before, was disturbing/disgusting. Take a look, it's well worth it, and if you think that the USA is an absolute mess at the moment, then you wouldn't be alone.

I watched this a while ago and thought it was great.

Then sell the resulting pics to voyeurs online!!

"but it is especially so when you don't bother to report on the very damning evidence being released by Twitter that is context to his post and that demonstrates unequivocally how incredibly corrupt this last election was". What utter nonsense, which has been proven time and time again to be the case. Has to be something wrong with someone who gets their "news" from Twatter.........absolutely unbelievable, but does show that there are still some Kool Aid cult drinkers out there!!

Well my old mum would certainly qualify with what she could do to food!!!!

That is what I do in order to watch BBC iPlayer, but connect the laptop via an HDMI cable.....I use Nord VPN.

Have just finished the complete series and thought it was great and although I did post a little bit about my time in the Sahara, this brought back a couple of other memories..... We brewed 100% alcohol (white lightning) and beer in our desert camp (totally against the rules) and one night whilst drinking in one of the rooms, a Libyan soldier burst in, drew his pistol and put it to my forehead whilst angrily shouting in Libyan, and I thought it was the end for me. A few minutes later a couple of other soldiers came in, fully armed and ordered the six of us out of the room and lined us up against a wall and that's when I truly thought the end had come (this was in the 70s and anything was possible), but we were saved by a diminutive gay Maltese schoolteacher who was at the camp to try and teach Libyan children some English. He spoke excellent Libyan and persuaded the soldiers to take us to the recreation room and there we would hand over our passports and wait until the next day when the camp commander could summon a Libyan lawyer and various hierarchy down to try and help us out. Although he was pushed around by the soldiers, he never faltered in his desire to keep us safe and whenever a rifle was pointed at us, he would admonish the soldier and push the rifle to point towards to the ground. He was a very brave guy and quite probably saved our lives. Eventually the problem was resolved and it came about because two American engineers had been brewing the white lightning in the camp and selling it to the Libyans, which was absolutely a no-no. Luckily enough they were on leave in the USA at the time when this was discovered, so we sent their company a telex, telling them never to come back because if they did they would be arrested, and who knows what would happen to them. I never forgot what this Maltese schoolteacher, Charles Pether, did for us and kept in touch with him long after I had left working in the oil business. In fact I caught up with him again some 30 years later when I visited Malta, specifically to see him and to check out Malta to see if it was an option instead of Phuket. Unfortunately I was unable to contact him again after that, and can only assume that he had died. Many adventures in the Libyan desert, some very dangerous, but for me always exciting, and in this series I could fully understand the pilot of the aeroplane not wanting to take off in a sandstorm, because I was caught in a sandstorm whilst in small single-engine plane and it was quite terrifying, and did quite a bit of damage to the edges of the prop, only noticeable after we had managed to land safely, albeit a bit hairily! Also having to land at Tripoli airport in a Fokker Friendship F27 with landing gear that would not lock in place, so we braced for a crash landing, only for the very skilful Scottish pilot to get us down safely, although with one hell of a bang. Sorry to go off topic, but it's not often I get the chance to reminisce like this and those truly were quite remarkable times for me, and this series was brilliant.

Cut their nuts off!! ????

Just so that I understand this, are you saying that one can come from Kathu to Patong, and bypass the landslip by taking this "new road"??? One more question, please, do you think that my little Suzuki Swift would be able to safely negotiate that road??

As I do quite often these days, a couple of days ago I delved into the archives to seek out an older movie, one that I had forgotten a great deal about. So I downloaded "Rob Roy" with Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange and enjoyed it, and one of the things which stood out (again) was how some actors can form a bond with the viewer, or get the viewer to dislike them, and Tim Roth in this film did the latter. He was an extremely dislikeable character from the outset and the ending for me was brilliant – – if you can't remember it, then watch it again!

I've heard all sorts of rumours from different Thai folk, some from Power Buy in Central and couple of those people said that it was going to return to Jungceylon soon, but as you have stated, there appears to be very little work going on to accommodate the return of the place as a busy shopping mall? That's a pity because there is a lot more activity these days in Patong, what with an influx of tourists, with 55,097 Russians making up Phuket’s largest tourist demographic in November, and many finding their way to Patong, with the second largest tourist group in Phuket in November from India, with 26,525 travellers, according to Phuket Immigration. The third largest group was Australians, with 13,868 tourists. British visitors made up the fourth largest group with 12,340 tourists. Germans came in fifth place, with 11,097 tourists. I certainly came across many Russians when I went out on Tuesday evening to have a lovely steak at a Norwegian restaurant, in the walking street leading to Patong Tower, called West. It was beautifully prepared and very tasty, and I'll have to go back again for another one. Had a couple of glasses of wine at Blue Beach Café and Restaurant as it has become one of my favourite haunts, then foolishly decided to go out on the town despite having downed about a bottle and 1/2 of wine as well as a beer. Went to the reopened Smiley Bar in Soi Freedom, where I caught up with a couple of friends, and the Soi was reasonably busy, however I should have gone home then rather than downing a couple of rums before wending my way to Red Hot to sing a few songs, and staggering home at 2:30 AM. Bangla was certainly busy as were the surrounds like Beach Road, and plenty of activity in Soi Sansabi, even at the late hour when I was on my way home. And I was surprised that the little walking street in which I first ate, started to liven up a little later on in the evening and I remembered it from many years ago and even then it was a clean and well-kept place with some nice little restaurants and shops in it, including a nice wine shop (now)! Another sign that things are picking up is the fact that a friend of mine from Karon often pops into Bangla to catch up with friends, and if he has imbibed too much he often books a room for the night, and whereas just a few months ago he could get a room for about 400 baht a night, many of them are now around the thousand baht so coming in on the bus and getting a taxi back would now be cheaper.

Yes, and although I knew very little about the band, "Chicken Shack" I heard Christine Perfect singing the song, "I'd Rather Go Blind" and thought what a lovely voice she had, and was a great fan of hers right through her Fleetwood Mac days. I did have a lovely CD, which I lent to somebody and never got back, which was a concert shot in LA (I think) and which had the marching band come on at the end, playing the Tusk melody – – and Christine sang "Songbird" in that and she was a very talented, all-round musician. So sad to hear of her demise and I had no idea that she was 79 years old. PS. Anyone know where I can find that particular CD???

Well we have something in common, because I played in the Athenian league for Horsham and also Worthing, clubs, which later moved into the Isthmian league. I also played in the Mithras floodlit league and we played against many Isthmian league clubs. The standard was good and we got through to the first round proper of the FA Cup to play Swindon Town at our ground, which we lost 3-0. I played on Brighton and Hove Albion's Goldstone ground in three Sussex senior cup finals and also played in a Sussex trial. At that time I was asked to go to QPR for trials, but didn't think I was good enough, so never went – – on top of that I was serving an apprenticeship so I didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that. I also played in friendlies against Chelsea and Crystal Palace and that was an experience. Later on in my career I was fortunate enough to play alongside Marvin Hinton and we made a great combination, and even at his age then he was still a very good player. Luckily enough Horsham were a fairly wealthy club and "expenses" were always paid after each match and I marvelled at one time that if we won two games on consecutive Saturdays, and one of the midweek floodlit matches, I could get more in "expenses" than I was earning at my job!!! Stopped playing when I was 45 in NZ, after breaking my nose for the fifth time, and this along with a broken leg and breaking a bit off my pelvis a few years earlier made me realise that the time had come to take up another sport – – so I took up tennis!!

I'm going to have to watch this, and I particularly want to because I have a connection with the "Long Range Desert Group" which is what this series is all about........ Working in the Sahara desert, in the Cyrenaica region, not too far from Kufra oasis, I and a group of intrepid engineers decided to head north of our BP camp and search for the remains of a battle that had taken place a few hours north, during the war, which was marked on the BP survey maps, but the area was strictly forbidden because of possible unexploded armaments, although the area was/had been marked as "dangerous", we decided to have a look! Sure enough we found some remnants of a couple of almost intact trucks, axle deep in sand and with what looked like bullet holes/strafe marks down the side?? A couple of guys found a huge shell, which somebody said was still live, so I kept away from the Land Rover in which they put this! Whereas I dug around at the base of the truck and uncovered the remnants of a fire, so considering this was in 1970, this fire was lit almost 30 years ago, and we also found a couple of old tins with the tops being cut open with knives (no tin openers, obviously) and imagined the soldiers sitting around eating out of their warm tins. There were other bits and pieces of what looked to be parts of trucks/jeeps or the like, but I wasn't too keen on venturing too far into this area just in case they were mines or similar around. Anyway after having a look round and staying away from the guys who loaded a very large shell in the back of their truck, we headed back to our BP camp at Sarir. It wasn't till after I had done a bit of research many years later that I found out more about this LRDG and their exploits....... brave guys indeed.

The movie, "The Big Short" is excellent and although it cut a few corners, it really does lay open the "make money at all costs" mentality of not only some of the investment banks, but also the ratings agencies – – we have now experienced what happens when the "regulation" of financial products is left to the very banks/institutions which provide them. And for the record I am also in peer-to-peer lending (paying 6.5% per annum, paid monthly) and only hold a couple of NZ stocks both of which deliver an almost 5% dividend yield, and one whose share price has moved from $3.75 when I bought it, to now $8.19, whilst the other has been a bit slower, and was priced at $3.70, now at $5.22. Not looking to buy any more and at my age, so what investments I have will suit me fine until I visit the great vineyard in the sky.

I have downloaded and watched three movies over the last few days and here is my opinion of them: – Triangle of Sadness: billed as a comedy and running at over two and a half hours long, I found it very tedious, and nothing whatsoever to laugh at/about. It's completely about satire and how the rich and famous live, and how the others don't, and it didn't raise one laugh with me! Quite probably because my sense of humour stretches back to the likes of "Fawlty Towers", "Only Fools and Horses" and similar series, as well as a few of the "Pink Panther" movies, but this didn't even raise a smile. In fact I switched it off after about 45 minutes as it had nothing on which to engage me. Trauma: this is the movie from a few years back, starring Colin Firth and is billed as a psychological thriller and it worked on one level, however there were too many unanswered questions towards the end of it, although one key aspect of it was laid bare, but still quite a few questions unanswered. Surge: starring the excellent Ben Wishaw (Hugh Grant's gay lover in the Jeremy Thorpe scandal) and without giving too much away it goes into this person's mental unravelling in his job and everyday interaction with people. It seems to be filmed with (in part) a handheld camera and although that helps portray the pressure on him, it also (for me anyway) wound me up to a point where I wasn't enjoying the movie any more, so off it went. Not a very satisfactory few days viewing, and the tip from ThaiFelix regarding the making of "Apocalypse Now" was the best thing I've seen for a long time.

Many thanks for the tip ThaiFelix, and I did manage to find it; "Hearts of Darkness: A Film Makers Apocalypse" (eventually) and watched it, and it was both informative and intriguing and as I've always suspected, it was an allegory, not only about the Vietnam War, but also about America itself. The candid confessions of the actors in the film were indeed eye-openers, and I was extremely surprised when Dennis Hopper (in this documentary) was just as "scatty/spaced out" in the real life scenes as he was in the movie! It remains one of my most favourite movies and I don't know that I've ever seen one to match it. For those who may want to watch it, I think I have found the link and it is as follows: https://harateness.monster/movies/play/0102015-hearts-of-darkness-a-filmmakers-apocalypse-1991?mid=17&sid=e31nqfg5mbeuka1rd8cb87o1h4&sec=359bcefd2d3a5a6a86f0e28b245b47fed685e597&t=1669449583

It might've been mentioned already, however just for the record, I took my passport along to a copy shop and got them to make a small copy of it, about credit card size, which they then laminated, and which I carry around in my wallet all the time. I have presented it at various places when asked for a passport, and it has been accepted, as has my Thai driving licence.

I have done the same in NZ and basically as I'm writing this, the first investment has come to fruition and the funds have been paid into my bank account, whilst the second investment is due to mature in one month, and the same thing will happen to that. The rate was 6.5%, with interest paid monthly, secured against a registered property with a very low, loan to valuation ratio, secured through a lawyer, which gave the lawyer the right to liquidate the registered properly if the borrower defaulted on the repayments. I will probably reinvest most of it through the same company, although I may keep some aside in a bank term deposit, just in case I need it in a hurry (yes I can break the term deposit, however I do lose some interest, but no big deal if the money is urgently needed). It's quite probable that the new rate for this peer-to-peer lending will be 7.5% per annum, paid monthly, so food for thought.

Well they do sell Indian Basmati rice in stores here.......although there are plenty of Indian folk here, so perhaps there is a demand, but as you say, for Cambodian rice.......probably not!

Getting back on track gentlemen, I have also thought that the Thai rice, hom mali, has been lacking something of late, and even went over to buying Basmati rice, however I would like to try this Cambodian rice, so has anyone seen it in the likes of Big C or similar??