Wedding Bells for Peter

Oldest friend Peter, co-member of the infamous Tiger Patrol, is finally hanging up his guns and is getting married on 10th July. Our warmest wishes go to him and Jen, and Ben on the happy day.

Peter and I have been partners in crime for more than thirty years and our frumious activities remain dark and secretive to this day. We enjoyed rollicking in the woods (stealing flags, destroying enemy camps, a veritable chest full of treasures, family betrayal (yes, that letter that failed to flush is still in existance (in the British Museum, I believe), lovely Tablet, Magical Edward Bear, elusive Charles, scoldings from Wendy (and kisses and universal motherly wisdom), that distinct homey Collett smell, the best toilet library in the universe,  peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches, holidays in Cornwall and Portugal, village hall productions (he was the Chinese porter with brother, if memory serves), playing rudies in the woods and the unfortunate "dog incident", adventuring in Dungeons and Dragons (one will recall young sprat Meron and his mighty struggle against the two terrible wizards and his successful assassination attempt, after seeing his comrades eaten alive by a giant octopus) and years of space trading on the floor of the spare bedroom (not forgetting Chuckie Egg and the lost gem Worst Things Happen At Sea). Days of The Humphrey Club and betraying his brother in a vicious egg pelting incident, narrowly avoiding being eaten by police dogs by scrambling onto a studio roof, force feeding wayward children frogspawn sandwiches and standing accused of burning down the village hall. Happy days. Memories that will serve me to my last, dying breath.

One should not forget the fatal deceitful meeting, involving a dictionary, a snake and a furious teacher. "There's a lovely boy lives just down the road.", "I know, mum. I have already met him."

Peter packed his kit bag and travelled the world and joined the order of teaching overseas in the Great Peter Reverse Barometer Psychology Swindle.

I remember meeting Peter one Summer day at Voller's house and finding him red as a beetroot and minutes away from a heart attack, I am sure. A strong whiskey restored his constitution. And here in Thailand he is known as the gentleman who is charming, funny....and crazy.

Boston Creams, Peter. Boston Creams.

To my oldest and dearest, and utterly fearless friend, I bid you Bon Voyage to the married life.

A river's going to flow across the land, across the land,

And a river's going to flow to the sea, to the sea.

And a boy is going to grow to a man, to a man.

Only once in his life is he free.

Thank you for making my childhood light years ahead of the rest.

The Stones in Exile

See this new docu asap.

It is incredible and will have you wanting to be Keith or Charlie.

Slipped Disc

Life became horribly real on Friday morning (a holiday), after a cracking time with Tom and Patrick, when Oi woke up with sore legs. One trip to the hospital and she was informed it was nothing to worry about, just to do with giving birth, and was instructed to do some exercises.

The pain got worse throughout the day and we went back to the hospital. I was invited into the doctor's room this time. He was a thoroughly excellent chap. He said it was similar to a slipped disc, one segment of the spine out of place and with medication should slip back into place. The three of us moved into the hospital. They put Oi on mild medication so she could continue breast feeding Grace.

Grandma arrived at about five in the morning after I had a very uncomfortable night nursing Grace throughout the night and plagued by nightmares the hour or so I got some sleep.

The next day the doctor said it had got worse and that they had to give Oi the strong stuff. Graces's screaming and crying was very saddening as she couldn't have mummy's milk anymore, and the doc said it could get pretty serious, weeks or months to recover and risk of recurrence.

Life plans flashed before my eyes as everything went out of the window. Poor Gracie and Oi.

It was very tiring and awfu,l but Oi responded well to the stronger medicine and on Sunday morning the doctor said she had made a big improvement and was okay to go home, but must rest and take it very easy.

Such a relief and joyous to get home. Pee Dtoi picked us up and we had great support from Smart English as usual.

Grandma will stay for a couple of weeks to help Oi and Grace, and hopefully things can return to normal.

Hilary

Been a little while and thoughts have been simmering away.

I am not impressed by Hilary Clinton. Pushing for another war. I hope UK stays out of this one.

Life is fine at home and I am really enjoying my afternoons and evenings now. I do my walk in the plantation very regularly and the folks that live there are very sweet. There is a bunch of kids that always come and say hi and the nature is very soothing.

These days I rarely ride over 40k/hr on my bike and I yell swearwords at the big 4x4's as they fly past at breakneck speed. I heard an interesting report on Excess Baggage from China. The reporters were talking about the road safety in China and how dangerous it is driving there. They saw many car wreaks and dead bodies from folks speeding and looking in every direction except in front of them.

I watched WWII in colour this week. Amazing footage and some awful stories about Japanese islanders performing mass suicide as the US Marines approached. They had no weapons and families had to beat each other to death with rocks. Shocking docu but very informative and John Thaw was narrating.

Grace is very happy but quite demanding on Oi. It's a good thing she sleeps right through the night. It won't be long before she is walking and talking.

Tom is back in Hat Yai (yay!) and now working for Smart English (my lot). So us four buddies are all back together again. Let the good times roll.

Holiday tomorrow (Friday) so can chill out, make some flashcards and water the garden.

North Korea

Phew! This baby could really go somewhere. It could pitch the US against China if it gets really out of hand.

...and who is to say that it was North Korea who torpedoed the vessel? Could have been a number of parties wanting to instigate a war.

Stay tuned.

The Tolling of the Old School Bells

Several things to report.

Just acquired the new release of Exile On Main Street with 10 lost tracks.

Back to school this morning and it went pretty well. Doing Kindergarten 1,2 & 3. Good fun and everyone enjoyed it and paid attention.

This week's movie has to go to one Don showed me; The Missouri Breaks with Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando is a horse rustling Western. The only person who could make Jack look sane is Brando, and at this he excels. Marlon is truly mad as a nut. There's one bit when he is getting into bed talking to his invisible grandmother. I nearly pooed myself with laughter. A great plot in this movie too. Randy Quaid is excellent as one of the henchmen.

Alice in Wonderland on the other hand was great to look at but very stale, I thought. I groaned when a giant CGI dog-like thing appeared and started the usual charge through the forest routine. Stephen Fry was very tame as the Cheshire Cat. Johnny Depp good, I suppose, but a bit flat, like his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory role.

Patrick very kindly phoned me from sunny Koh Phang Ngan where he went with Tom for a few days. He was in a beachy book shop and found many interesting reads, of which I asked for four. Namely, One on Michael Caine, one on Peter Ustinov, one on David Niven and best of all and I am reading it first, one on John Peel. So I am very grateful for those. Those book shop for the traveller are mostly excellent. I picked up Siddhartha by Herman Hesse in one such shop in Trang years ago Cannery Row and Of Mice and Men at some other point in time. I am sure Peter knows of what I speak.

Grace is more of a little girl and not so much of a baby now. She has been very happy these last few days and Oi can always make her laugh. She likes me for being carried around. The games I play with her I found on the Net. The first one was the finger under the blanket game one plays with cats if one is a little off-centre in the mind. The second cunning game is knocking down the mighty tower of blocks. I had bought some very fucking expensive soft blocks in one of the hugely-overpriced department stores in town. 600Baht for six blocks. That, ladies and gentlemen is 100 Baht each for a piece of foam with some plastic squares stitched on it. Yes, those stores are something else, and don't get me started on the cost of food! CHEESE! Anyway, I digress. Yes, young Grace loves to topple the tower of blocks I quickly construct before her.

I should say how hot it has been here. It has been unbearable, and I rarely complain about heat. We have spent days now in the air-con room lying on the mattresses, checking our Travian villages watching movies (The Jungle Book, Holy Smoke (Kate Winslet), Hornblower (TV series), One Foot in the Grave (Victor Meldrew) and various High Def nature docus I acquired from RS. The past couple of days it started to rain heavily after weeks of blazing heat. Yet, the temperature is yet to drop.

Been back to the BBC podcasts which are awesome as ever. So soothing listening to some guy talking about Chile or walking across a moor in England.

My exercises have slowed which is a disaster, but I am not drinking much beer. I will walk in the mornings at six before going to school at eight. I have been doing a 20 minute Yoga workout I have the DVD for which is good fun and I would highly recommend it.

Music, I got hold of lots of Santana, Stones, Traffic, Neil Young, John Cougar, Death In Vegas.

Gracie Again

Snacks Around the World - Chocky Strawberry

This season we have been exploring more cheapie snacks from South East Asia, In a small, insignificant shop our team of researchers discovered Chocky Strawberry by Biscuit House.. A rather boring strawberry wafer snack but price-wise a real winner; only 5 baht and there are quite a few wafers in there. Probably only palatable with a strong cup of tea.

the concrete wall of school

It is near the end of the holiday and I am feeling the slow surge of the approaching term like creeping lava down a mountain towards a small town. I just want to slope around the house in the laziest fashion I know, just to drain the last traces of good times before the concrete wall of school. I shall still only teach mornings and I won't do any private classes for the duration. I am looking forward to coming home and relaxing every day.

These holidays have been rewarding. I have travelled some great journeys of the mind and have arrived back safely from various dreams and realisms. The hammock and the slow, swinging bamboo stick kept me rocking gently back and forth. I can lie back, like Christopher Robin, and gaze up at the great tropical leaves above.

We went out with Phit today to make a few preparations and to talk about the new term. Grace enjoyed the break from the monotony of home. She does love to be among other people. I guess I could learn a thing or two from her.

Hurts So Good

So there I was, lying back in the hammock under the speckled shade of the trees above, thinking of times past. I recalled one great episode which involved John Cougar's American Fool album. Tony and I would often rock out in the living room of mum's house to Hurts So Good and, my particular favourite, of course, Danger List. Somehow we introduced these songs to Ian and Kevin Wooster, the other half of the band, The Truth. Ian and Kev are quite awesome people in their own right, and young Kev is indeed still a chum. Yet, these boys were raised on a strict, very English diet of The Who and Led Zepplin. Anyway, what I recall is the look of disgust on Kev's face on the awfulness of the song. I seem to remember Kev shouting out rude remarks about John Cougar during the time we played it. 

I have never been quite sure if Hurts So Good is one of the worst songs out there, or one of the worst songs out there.

Malaya

Well, I have received the return dates for school. A teaching seminar for a morning on the 13th May and the start of the new term on the 17th May. I was secretly quite pleased with this, and I have been trying to get ever so slightly fit before it all kicks off.

Right now, I have my walk in the rubber plantation, my dumb-bells exercises (The York system) and this YRG yoga video I have. I try to do it every couple of days, and I have had some success, though never achieved anything like true fitness.

It's been a decent holiday. I didn't go anywhere, but I had a relaxing time at home and I have had some invaluable time spent with young Gracie. That has been very important especially as it has been her personality that has developed most recently; collective memory, stuff like like that.

My overall attitude about stuff is fairly unhealthy right now. I look at the world and don't like much of what I see. It is of interest that the US has had another environmental disaster occur on their doorstep. Maybe it will encourage them to be more careful and more limited  in their exploitation. It is of interest to see fighting on the streets of Athens and it may spread to Portugal if things continue. The child killings at schools in China is also of interest. I am sure John Zerzan will be on to that. Apparently, illegal Chinese blogs are rampant with explanations. One blogger assumes that it is the most effective way the poor can attack the rich; by going into their schools and killing their children. Let's see how the ruling Chinese families, let's not call them leaders, let's call them families, deal with this one. Just as long as they don't have to give in to the revolting peasants.

UK politics is as much as a joke as Thai politics these days. It's all falling apart nicely.

And I see the development of the third largest dam in the world down in Brazil has the green light. And that is just the first. There are 7-9 more being planned.

Great movie (yet to finish watching);

Bruce and Danny

Tom got back from Vietnam a few days ago.

Last night Don, Patrick and Tom came over. It was the first time the four of us had been together for a while. We got wasted and had a good time out on the porch.

Danny is back from a six month stint in Aus. too. He came over with Bruce, another Aussie and old timer in Hat Yai, a few days earlier.

So the full crew are back in town.

Don also broke the news that he got a new job in Hat Yai too, and with a great salary. Tom's job is okay for the next year and Patrick has a new college too. So everyone is good to go.

A couple more weeks and I will be back at school. I have really enjoyed my time off. I have had a very relaxing time chilling at home with Oi and Grace. We have had a great chance to bond and Grace has developed so much recently.

I won't do private classes anymore. Gee seems to have disappeared, but up to her. I like to have the time at home.