Grilled Pork.

Time for some words.

Life has been fairly blissful after Oi, and then Grace's sickness. Grace has really developed into a funtime ball of bubbling laughter and is a bit of a hoot. So we have enjoyed good times lolling about the house.

My evening walks are splendid and go go every day, almost without exception. By late afternoon I am craving some solitude and the plantation is perfect for communing with Nature. Damn it, everywhere else is heaving with busy people and noisy, smelly cars and trucks full of crap.

Tom came over last night and we drank cheap beer and chewed the fat over some tunes.

It is the birthday of Toi the guitarist from Co-Art and people are going out. I am tempted to go, but part of me also doesn't want to go. It can get dangerous in the town; drunk people, busy traffic and aggressive Westerners, especially on football night. I shall have to see if I can bare a night out.

I have been playing a lot of guitar again lately, not having any evening classes and plenty of free time. It has been good and I found some wicked videos of the internet to give me something new to play.

Some killer films include; Brooklyn's Finest, The Last Station and The Vintner's Luck.

We spend all my salary every month now I don't do the extra work. That's okay and I think it is quite good as it encourages one to be careful with money. When I am wandering about I cannot believe how rich a lot of these people are, and they have the arrogance to go with it too. I deliberately ignore these people when I spy them in the school or in the supermarket. I play up to it by whistling and barging past them. Or just staring at them for a moment or two. Unfortunately, I think a lot of their kids are going to grow up as cunts too. Phit told me one kid, whose mother had bought everyone in his class a doughnut on his birthday was treated like a prince at home. He doesn't have to do anything as he is pampered by maids, who dress and wash him. He spends most of the class in Dreamworld and I have to constantly remind him to repeat the vocab I am teaching as he forgets what he is doing and returns to Dreamland. Poor kid. Doubt he has ever cut his knee or picked up an insect in his sweet, short life. Yes, they really protect themselves with money over here. 

The supermarkets still astound me. Everything is 200-250 Baht. Cookies, pasta, ham just way, way expensive. I resort to eating the cheap Thai snacks of fried bananas. Of course that is the trick; eat what the locals eat. And my latest little compliment to a glass of beer is the delicious grilled pork they serve with a dip. It is even on  my way home from my walk. So I can stop off, buy the pork and a bottle of Archa and sit out the back of the house thoroughly enjoying the evening sun. Perfect.

And that said, it is nearly time for my walk.

Good Times

Oil Like Blood

The BP oil spill story is developing. I was wondering if oil might be to the Earth what blood is to mammals. What does oil do, if left untouched? Does it lubricate the planet in some way or have some other function?

I have spied a couple of scary stories talking about the spill as a planet killer, that it might keep flowing for years, and that a giant gas bubble is forming under the surface which will eventually erupt.

I have also wondered about the great voids left after drilling and what happens to those and about the sinkholes that have been in the news lately. Connection?

Grace Post Fever

Hot Tub Time Machine

A spat of great movie watching revealed some gems worth passing on.

The Mist. Terrifying Steven King.

Hot Tub Time Machine. Very funny with John Cusack.

Hannibal Rising. Brilliant young life of Lecter

Grace has a fever which is never nice and we might take her to the doc's today. School has been great and I have been walking every day.

Although the weather has broken and storms are now seen across the sky evry day at about five, the temperature is still high making life rather uncomfortable.

Alien Breed Impact makes an interesting remake of an old classic.

In the Actor's Studio

I have been watching a few of this series and they are always great, informing and absorbing. The programs with Ian McCallen and Richard Dreyfuss were particularly awesome. It is also good hunting for movies missed. I have always thought Dreyfuss brilliant.

I know there are still good movies being made, but I think they have fallen by the wayside somewhat and new talent does seem a bit thin these days.

Patrick and I have been bonding some of late and we both watch quite a few movies. He's also a bit of a thinker and it was he who got me listening to Alan Watts. If yo ain't heard this chap yet you are missing out big time.

Enjoyed Children of a Lesser God and Shutter Island this week.

Oi fairly okay now and Grace has really been enjoying having Grandma to stay. It has also given Oi and I a bit of a break. Grace is a wiggling, crawling bundle of fun right now and demands constant activity. Lucky for us she sleeps right through the night and always has done.

School has been fun and again, I am really enjoying not teaching in the evening. I have picked up the guitar again and have been learning some bluesy stuff (Sweet Virginia, John Martyn etc.). Been a few criers so far this term which are always fun to watch.

My evening walks are taken every night and I am doing a YRG (Yoga for Regular Guys) exercise DVD. Both are predictably awesome. The audio books make a great accompaniment.

World news? I think Obama is spouting off a bit too much at BP. He'll fall into a hole if he keeps up. And also of note is the admission that the whole recession thingy is really far from over and is more of a long term thing.

I noted Bill Bryson stating that England is full of "self-obsessed and greedy" people these days, far removed from the 70's when he was sleeping on benches at Dover harbour. This is something I noted when I was in UK. Not so much greedy or self-obsessed, but so fascinated by the latest gizmos and tech that they didn't take much note of a lot of the not-so-great stuff happening in the world.

A fun article from China tells of a bunch of kids in an internet addiction clinic, tied up the guards and escaped after being forced to do physical exercise and Chinese calligraphy classes. One mother said her son had been playing online games for 28 hours in a single stretch. Although tragic, it is interesting to hear of all the Apple workers jumping off the buildings and horrific the knife wielding poor farmers rampaging into the schools. From the society point of view it is interesting to observe.

Best call it a day before people start complaining.

The Hobbit

A most fabulous recent acquisition is the audio book of the Hobbit read by none other than Nichol Williamson. Who? One may ask. None other than Merlin himself, from Excalibur. It is spellbinding and the narration is excellent. I should highly recommend this. It comes from a vinyl recording with harps and mystic tunes and riddles aplenty throughout. I shall be so sad when it is finished.

Israel? Oh dear.They really are looking for a kicking, aren't they. I wouldn't be surprised if the Arab states overran their country and stuck their sorry heads on poles all the way to Jerusalem. And what a mess it leaves their helper the good old US in trying to support it.

And on the other side lies China waiting for a move against North Korea. As i said to Tom the other night. USA seems to have overplayed their hand. And they have a lot of cleaning up to do in the Deep South to boot.

Just watched the first part of Micheal Palin's Full Circle where he heads to that old favourate state from Risk, Camchatka. When he joins the Naval band for the Russian tunes was hilarious.Only 17 parts to go.

Oi is making her recovery and Grandma is doing an excellent support job. Young Grace is getting used to having Grandma around, though she has been screaming the house down at bathtime.

The rain has come but the temperature is yet to drop and, like a whoose I have been hiding in the air-con room with TV and computers. Not a good thing.

But these audio books I like a lot and I think I shall take a leaf out of Stephen Fry's book of wisdom and do my walks through the plantation accompanied by the lilting voice of some old duffer reading me a story. On these occasions I hate the passing motorcars even more than ever. And despair at the Thais as they zoom past at breakneck speeds.

I came home today and found some fucker had lean over our garden wall and stuck a bird trap in our Pomelo tree. I was furious. Luckily, he removed it before to long. It saddens me so. One of these lovely creatures can fetch a thousand Baht, Oi advised me. I reminded her that Thailand is devoid of any animal life, discounting rats, cats, dogs and snakes. All the rest ended up in the cooking pot. I suggested the King should protect the animals as the Queen does the swans. But what is the use. Had I approached this cheeky bird trapper, he could easily have done something very nasty to me, as often is the way here if you involve yourself in their business.

I won't talk about having to stop Patrick shouting at the neighbour when he heard her beating one of her dogs.