owl sees all

When I got with my 'Seven Day Adventist' g/f, she was always on about me having a river baptism, and how good it would be for me. First time we went to Jamaica together there was a visiting minister who was doing the baptisms not far from us at Flatbridge. Of course I had to get involved?! We took the bus, and I joined the queue at the river. The non-believers were in and out the water so quick that is was soon my turn Wearing only shorts, I waded out to the minister in the middle of the river. "Do you want to find Jesus young man?" "Yes," I said confidently. With that he grabbed me at the back of the neck and forced me head under. On the count of five he let me up for air. I didn't resist, as the g/f was at the bank watching excitedly. "Have you found Jesus?" "Not yet." I replied. Down went my head for a count of 10. Up again. "Have you found Jesus?" As I recovered my senses I replied, "no". Twenty seconds later he repeated the question. "Have you found Jesus?" Again I replied, "no". Now me maths weren't that good, but I could see that he was doubling the stay underwater every time. The g/f said he had a fantastic conversion rate. No wounder, I was thinking. What could I say to get out of this debacle? Again I was under water; 37, 38. 39, 40 and up. He asked in desperation. Not wanting to drown me I guess. He just didn't want me saying 'no'."Have you found Jesus yet?" I couldn't face 80 seconds without air. "I heard he fell in further downstream at Troja."

Right you are jvs. We all know that Humpty Dumpty represents something, and I happen to know what. But in the fable it/he was an egg; so who/what laid HD?

What!!?? There were lesbians way back then?

I object to that ''joke''. The other jokes were fine, but not the Humpty Dumpty' one. I won't use the word 'sucks' but enough to say it's in poor taste. It is stereotypical, and for many, it would invoke distressing undertones. Could even be termed by some as racist, and definitely could upset the WHU2C++ community.. Also has 'global warming' denying connotations. And, quite naturally - some would say - leads ineluctably, and ultimately, into endless 'chicken' and 'egg' corundi.. After all, let's us not forget; Humpty Dumpty was real.

From hero to zero in most footy fan's eyes. Although I'm not a United fan, I didn't like to see their good name rubbished by Mr Greedy.

I was grease when it all started, but in the early days I never had a bike. Usually a long-weekend thing. Me and me mate John slept in 'Never Never' land, away from the beach.. Unless we pulled a bird. But that was hard going when yer didn't have yer own transport. Done much better with the ladies when I got me first Cortina a couple of years later. Me footy mate Colin, got nicked and banged up overnight in Southend once. We were p!ssed up and he slumped against a parked car. Next thing he was in the 'meat wagon'. They threatened to do him with trying to steal a motor. But he was done at court for being drunk and disorderly. Fiver fine if I remember. Southend peelers were horrid.

I remember it well. Gunners 1 - Robins 3 --- 98k. I had a read up on the link you provided. Thanks for that bud. Found a pic. .

Just kids letting off a bit of steam. We did the same down the beach at Southend every summer. Chasing the Mods.

Can buy a top notch Rolex in Laos for 600 baht. Losing that is no big deal.

Those were the days. Are the players of today wrapped up in cotton-wall? Perfect pitches!? Just the correct moisture content in the grass!? Grass the perfect height etc. Well it wasn't always like it is today. It took a lot of bad weather to see a match postponed. Fog!!! The ref would go out and stand on the centre circle, and if he could see the goals and the touchlines then it was go, go go. Mud!? Never a match postponed because of mud in the 1960s or before. Have a Saturday off for a bit of mud? Unheard of! Surface water. No problem! Frozen pitches!? As long as the ref wasn't too cold, the game went ahead. Snow!? Get the ground-staff out with their shovels, before the fans were let in, and make sure all the lines could be seen. Oh yes! A bright orange ball helped out too. Drop of the wet stuff! Frozen wet stuff even!? Those were the days alright!? Where did they go?

Just like 'fridge' and 'refrigerator'.

Matt or Stan were very good players. Nowhere near as good as Ronaldo, I grant you. Matt was loyal to his club and their supporters. Stan sacrificed his England career for a principle; a good one at that. Who would you rather have in the dressing room?

Very over-hyped. The MSM were obsessed with this over-the-hill, self-opinionated ultra-greedy player. He was, in his prime, a 'great'. I'll give you that. Refusing to come on as a sub. That's not the English way! Hope he finds peace of mind in the sun. Give me Matt Le Tissier and Stan Cullis every day.

Dogs come to village. Saturday was the big day. Went to the dog farm and had a good time with the puppies. vid dogs003.mp4 Robert left and Oscar right. After a 40 kilometre trip back, it was the new home. Cats said "Hi puppies". The doggies houses should be ready later today. Just came back from the general store with the last bit of material.

Same here Owl. Right from the start I fancied Van Gerwen and that German guy, who was beaten in the semis. Smith played exceptionally well and got better as the show went on.

The Leyton Orient dream. Part two of two. "What ya reckon then Col?" I asked, as we walked the short distance from Leyton Midland Station; looking forward to Arsenal's visit. "Well those 'Tractor Lads' did it last season. Champions at first time of asking. We can do it for sure. Just have to get off to a good start. Make those northern clubs, especially, feel physically sick at the thought of visiting us. Today? I'll settle for 3-0 Owl. What about you?" "I'll not worry too much about winning by lots of goals,. I'll settle for 1-0 Colin. To be honest. Don't like playing London teams." "Make you right there. Me neither, We don't seem to do any good against the locals." We queued at our favourite North End for ages. It was evident that there was gonna be a big crowd in. Seemed like thousands of Gooner supporters had come to see their beloveds put to the sword. Once on the terrace , we manoeuvred past lots of away fans. to our special spot almost behind the goal. 26,300 roared as the teams came out together, Towards the end of the promotion year we were getting just over the 20k. But this was a big, raucous crowd we were in with. Our wingers Deeley and Musgrove (ex- Wolves and ex-WHU) both had chances, but it was the away team that scored first. We equalised, but they added another in the second half a: 1-2. We were quite subdued on the North London line back to Barking. Didn't say that much to each other. That night in the 'Robin Hood' we cheered up a bit. The pub was split three ways. About a quarter for the 'O's, with Spurs and The Irons sharing the rest of the support. It was just the North Londoners who were happy for the opening August in that 1962/63 season. They stood third, with 6 points from 8, while we were equal bottom with West Ham on just one point. The Hammers gradually pulled away but we didn't. It was sad to see the support gradually drifting away. Towards the latter part of the season we were getting around 10,000. With 5 left we could have escaped the dreaded drop if only we could win them all. Only 8,000 saw us defeat Liverpool 2-1 next game. Four games left. A ray of hope? Alas it was not to be. Four straight losses to end the season. Our six wins: Home games: 2-0 - West Ham 1-0 - Man Utd 3-0 - Everton --- league winners 2-1 - Liverpool Away games 0-2 - Fulham 0-1 - Bolton W Final tally: P42::: W 6; D 9; L 27::: 21 points. The dream ended. Turned into a bit a of a nightmare really. Relegated with Man City. Back to crowds well under 10 thousand, but we managed to consolidated our Div 2 place; just! In the next season 64/65. we crashed down to the third tier. Winners of the Second Division that same year, Man City. It's a cruel, cruel footy world. But onward and upward. We top Div 3 (4th div down) and look forward to playing the biggies before too long. The Brisbane Road ground is unrecognisable to me. The cinder North Terrace is only remembered by a few. Don't even hold 10,000 supporters now. What will happen when we get into Europe? Have to share The Iron's ground, just down the road! Pics courtesy of footballgroundsguide.com

Owl Log - 08-01-2023 - Sunday mid-dayish An interesting week. Didn't get to Udon. Didn't sort out the water pump. Didn't get the stone from the supplier for the road fix. But it was busy! Went to a dog farm earlier in the week. Went again yesterday. Dogs everywhere! TBH, I was just as interested in the farm water set up. Let it run 24/7. Switches itself on an hour after sun-up, and off about 16-30. Not yet been tested in the rain, cause there has not been any for a coupe of months.. Has the option of filling the pond, watering the garden or filling the house tank. Cost about 25k baht all told. Lemon tree. Can't say the doggies were not nice though. And we (I), finished up buying two. Oscar and Robert. Do a mini Owl Log later today, when I've sorted out the pics from yesterday. This beautiful riggie caught the eye. I was wondering why they put the pipes on the surface. Now I know. A new house is about to spring up. And they have dug out a pond. Deep! It seems a bit close to the road to me. Only about 30 metres. Can't be a really big house planned. Watch this space for updates. Talking of dogs. They were at it again on Wednesday night. I'm thinking that a new bin is in order. One that the soi-dogs can't easily get into for their rubbish fix. But in the meantime a tool to help pick it all up, when it gets scattered all over the place. It's good. Can pick up fag-butts and tooth-pick. And it has proved its worth at the farm when Mildred does a tidy-up. The cows are going into the palm farm every day. They can't really do any damage, and their poopoo is welcome. For quite a while now, I have been feeling guilty about keeping the budgies in their little cage. I spoke to Mildred about letting them go. Mrs Owl said to let them out too. So Saturday morning me and Mildred set them free. The blue bird didn't get far before he landed. Just over the road into Bella's yard. Had a look before going off to the dog farm. He was gone. We'll never see them again. Freedom! I feel much better. I hope they do too. Far more farmers are baling their rice stubble this season. Of course if you are gonna keep a dog or two, they have to be looked after. Two dog-houses to be built. And!! Don't want them getting out to explore their new village. A busy week alright. Dogs, budgies, busted roof, farm had a haircut and a nut cut. Footy roundup. Well done the owls for rolling over Toon. 27k at Hillsborough. Wolves were unlucky. Orient still lead their division by 5 points. Fulham having a nice run. The Bees were outstanding against Pool but not good enough against The Irons. "It's a funny old game." Geavsie was right. And pretender Harry Kane - who couldn't hit a barn-door in the World Cup when asked - is only a couple of goals away from Jimmy's record at Spurs. Gonna lose sleep over that. World focus. Anyone wanting peace in the Ukraine conflict in the US, is demonised it seems to me. The house finally voted in a chair. I think the Dems missed a trick early on. MacDonnald was their least worst enemy. They should have voted him in right at the start. After all, there were a couple of Repubs thay just didn't want. Maths gonna be taught at schools until the kids are 18, according to Rishi Rich. Better to teach about the world banking system and how it works. A decent nut-cut in the week. Put a few baht in me bin. Needed it this week. Mildred back to school tomorrow. Only one day in last week for exams. She said the maths was easy the Thai language so-so, but found Thai history testing. No art or music lessons at the school. The farm has had a make-over. 3k baht plus petrol for three guys to grass-cut it all. So not bad at all. The toilet it giving problems. Need to call out the poopoo wagon today. Darts at the Alley Pally had a fantastic finally. Absolutely outstanding from Van Gerwin and Smith; who was the solid and deserved winner. Never before have I seen four 180s on the trot like in one of the legs (earlier post from Farmer Jo). It was simply great. Bought some metal box-sections at the supply-shop on Thursday and will probably have to get some more to get the two kennels built. Drew up a detailed plan for the engineer/technician/welder. Should be ready in a couple of days. Good to see Poo and Robert are friends already. Not so sure about Oscar though. He has that funny look in his eye when a cat comes close. That's it, until later today. Good job there's no rain!!!! The cat is what done it! Bye y'all.

I recall those darts. A step up from the feathers. And feathers were the new plastic. Anyone remember the 'polo mint' challenge? The guvnor of our local banned them. Hundreds of bits of mint on the floor after every opening session.

Thanks for that. They look good and green I've seen lots of attempts around my area, and I've not seen any durian reach maturity. I put it down to the lack of humidity, but your pics show a different story. Keep us up to speed Bannork if you would. ps. Not that I like the stinking fruit.

They are not a small dog. Probably a bit more than average. The boss of the kennels has a handsome, fully grown, grey-blue. When I go Saturday I'll get some snaps. Not yet settled on whether we will get one or two. I'll settle for none, but I'm outvoted by the ladies. Anyone have a problem with Krungthai Bank? Lost quite a few thousand baht out of the account on Tuesday afternoon. Spent an hour at the local branch trying to sort it out yesterday.

If it's not a low humidity problem, why do you think there are so many failures at growing durian?

These puppies are all Thai Ridgebacks. They have a decent write-up. Good with kids. Good as guard-dogs. Very good confronting snakes; even cobras and vipers. Generally a healthy dog. I'm not sure they get on well with cats though. In the US they go for ridiculous amounts. 4k dollars is not uncommon. Mrs Owl liked a doggie named Oscar, while Mildred liked Robert. We will see. I'm going back to the kennels on Saturday. More on this canine saga next Owl Log on Sunday.

Went o see a dog farm on Monday. Lots of Thai Ridgeback puppies for sale. Not cheap though. Mrs Owl found a nice quiet one; Oscar. Just 10 weeks old.

We have had a few trees planted at the farm. None survived. Went to see a man about a dog in the week, his wife had also planted durian trees and the same; all died. I think it's lack of moisture in the air for so long up here. Not rain, or not watering, just low humidity for months on end.

When I first arrived in Thailand, I stayed at the Canterbury Tales in Patts. The boss Dave told me of a bar, that was popular with dart playing farangs. It was raided by the peelers and the board confiscated. Can play darts at the fairs though. Just have to stay away from the black and zeroes. Three in the '9' wins top prize. And if you are good - like me - can win lots of nice stuff for the wife.