Curb Your Enthusiasm

Following Joel's recommendation I have downloaded 3 episodes, the first of which I watched this evening. I loved it and will endevour to view more. I also got some of Extras with Ricky Gervais which is quite fun. It is The Borgias though which I find excellent. Jeremy Irons is brilliant as always.

Grace is a regular at nursery now and, apart from a few tears, seems to enjoy it. I must say though that the room is dark and unpainted, which I was not impressed with, though the two Thai teachers seem very kind and there is lots of food. So typical Thailand really, lovely people and food, yet minimal decor or effort from management. So, this week we have gone down on the bike to pick her up at about one. Next week I am back at school, so Oi will go with the neighbour at three when she picks up her own daughter, Ching-Ching.

Fairly ok at home though my teeth and gums are somewhat sore. I put this down to my recent trips to the dentist in the UK and the knock-on effect of fucking about with the insides of my mouth. Yet to see if the pain subsides or I am forced for further consultations here in LOS.

As Grace has been at school in the mornings I have been pestering Oi for games of Carcassonne, as there is no tiny hands to grab all the pieces. Good games they have been too, playing with the Inns and Cathedral expansion. Including Traders and Builders expansion became a bit long and confusing. At some point I will swop to solely T&B for a while and may one day incorporate both, but so far the I&C expansion has worked really nicely. We are now starting to learn some of the finer points of the game and strategic tile placing to mess up someone elses city or such like. The game is quite light and fast, and I am pleased to report that Oi seems to genuinely like it. I would still recommend it to anyone. Though I was sad to depart English shores without the two other expansions I spied, namely Abbey & Mayor and Bridges, Castles and Bazaars, careful analysising on online pdf copies of the rules of these two expansions seems to indicate that they are not that great. I am very glad I made a purchase like this to bring home, and really enjoyed exploring the book shops of Hampshire.

The ereader is proving rather ace as well. At night now I can flit between Cadfael and Melvin Bragg on the ipod. The latter has high soperific effects and I often awake to a dead battery in the morning, or hear tiny voices chittering away in the middle of the night.

The rain has started here early and quite heavy which is quite fun. I am off beer, not a drop has passed my lips since my return, though I bought some Philipino gin which is cheap here and it goes well with soda and some lime, both of which are readily available ingredients. Don told me of the high quality Philipino rums available in LOS. Cheap and tasty and we give thanks to the Spanish conquests for these precious provisions. Liquors from Europe are just off the charts cashwise here.

I have been making some slow preparations for the start of term. I have to give a one man seminar to the Thai teachers at the school I work in, and then term kicks off proper a couple of days later.

Perhaps in October, we might head up to Koh PhangNan with some of the boys for a break. It has been years since I have been there. In fact, I think the last time was with Peter.

Time for Cadfael...