Hell Drivers

Here is the lost gem Hell Drivers. A stellar cast and great story. A young Sean Connery, Herbert Lom (who died 2 days ago aged 95) and Gordon Jackson. A classic film. It's in my permenent collection.

The Sargossa Manuscript

I urge all people of Earth to at least attempt to view this movie once. It is extraordinary.

and as an appertizer....

This one's on the list.

Where's My Perry

Another half baked camp to today in the municipal park. It was fun catching up with the boys. Everyone was pretty funny, but the camp was poor. Smart English is a fat swollen sow right now, full of freeloaders. Gone are the days of Emily and Trevor, who produced environmental tasks and games for the kids. No more searching for Hornbill. Just touching the word "ANT" and then sit down again type games. Still, it was great fun for me to catch up with the guys and, like I said, everyone seemed grateful for the chance to talk to each other in a neutral environment without alchohol and aggression.

So its over and a month off work and Mum arriving on Tuesday night.

Its Friday night so we are at home and will presently have dinner. Good times, and good movies await I hope. I will report all. Got a few lined up for viewing, and some great ipad games to play. I'm really enjoying thesed board game conversions, namely; Tigris and Euphrates and Catan. Also I finally got Where's My Water, which Peter recommended, and Where's My Perry too for an extra 69p.

French Connection 2

Incredible movie. The ending is superb.

Holidays now, but one more camp tomorrow as a special favour.

Mum arrives on Monday evening so its a crazy countdown until then. Getting the house in ship shape and maybe some teabags, gin and snacks! Olives and an assortment of stylish salted nuts.

I am in movie mode now, determined to watch some classics from yesteryear. I have a wonderful thread on French and foreign movies. There are tons of top rated movies from the 50-70's. Hidden treasures for those who seek.

End of Term

It's nearly the October break!

Yesterday was the usual English camp at a school out in the sticks. It was a fun day and all the farang teachers were in good spirits. There are a lot of girls working at Smart English now which makes a nice change. Everyone seemed keen to catch up and have a good time.

Tom is heading back to the States on Monday for some concerts, great food and ale.

I told Tom the other night that I had stopped listening to music. Such was his look of horro that I immediately set sail on a course to reverse this. And what treasures did I find. Chuck Prophet and Tanita Tikaram both have new albums and I DL's a bunch of others; Lou Reed, Jayhawks, Calexico, Wilco to name a few. I will continue trawling and almost certainly uncover more gems.

I have also started watching TV and movies again which has proved fruitful. Mainly French movies as they always seem so much more interesting than regulars flicks.

Mum is due to arrive in a week, so we have set about the garden fgetting it spick and span for the big day. I keep telling Grace she's going to get the Ben and Holly Littel Castle when Grandma Jane arrives.

We plan to head up to Chum POn and stay at the farm with Oi's family. It should be fantastic as long as mum can handle the farm.

Ipad rules the house and I am normally too exhausted to play anything by the time I am allowed to use it at 9 o'clock. The best games though that I have bought and downloaded are some very intreging board games. Catan is wonderful and I got hold of Carcassonne too. You can play online over the Net. There are various others all with extraordinary titles like, Tigres and Euphraties, Le Havre. They get rave reviews so I am hoping I will like them. Catan is excellent. For a long time I couldn't figure out what to do, then when the penny dropped it is now a joy to play. As usual no one has a clue what I am talking about when I get on this subject.

Oi bought some lemon trees for the garden. I am very fond of lemons.

We are hoping to do some serious juicing in the holidays and I intend on doing a 3 day juice fast very soon, living on nothing more than juices. It will be Mean Green and my lovely carrot, apple and parsley concoction. It's super yummy when chilled, or chill the veg before you juice them.

Madam has arrived to destroy my thoughts...

Download

A glorious day of relaxing at home. I am delighted that Grace likes spending time at home as much as I do. It's such a relief to hear her say "Stay at home" when i ask her what she wants to do. I've always loved just being at home where I can pursue my thoughts, endless research and infinite appetite for distractions. I am quietly pleased these days that I am not longer a slave to a video game that has had me wrapped up for months and now can enjoy TV shows again and educate myself.

Today I have downloaded some fantastic shows from bolt.org. This Scottish historian Neil Oliver is great fun to watch. I am collecting all his shows. I just finished watching the first part of his new one on Vikings and it had me longing to venture to the frozen North. It flashed through my mind if I might ever have the opportunity again and realiszed that it probably wouldn't ever happen, to venture to Norway on my own, discovering Viking burial grounds. I'm glad I had an incredible holiday in Iceland back in 1997.

Thailand is great, of course. I still think it is a great place to live, especially with the global position shifting that is occuring at the moment, but I could also be happy living in the remote Scottish highlands too.

Yes, my thoughts have been changing lately and I suppose with Grace growing slightly older we have been granted a tiny amount of time to follow our own interests again. That game Stronghold Kingdoms has a very nasty aftertast in my mouth about how it sucked the life out of me until I very quickly grew to despise even the very thought of it. I shudder with the painful memory and I will do my best never to waste so much time on something that really tired me out again.

I'm still a news junky and am watching the big story unravell wondering what the Hell is going to happen next, but also of course I can see lots of people doing cool things. Glad I got out of UK though. I think I would have been stuck in a death sentence job in Facilities Management in outer London. It would have killed me. The driving, the work.

Thailand has not been perfect, but it has a nice random element to it that anything can happen, and Hat Yai has been a wonderfully authentic place to live. My Thai language allows me to joke with the locals when I go shopping and the folks are always very real people, working hard and enjoying a laugh. It's a bit like Zorba the Greek in a way. Lots of toothless weathered farmers here, and the host of beautiful Asian ladies that I see every time I go into town always impresses me. Of course, Oi is wonderful and our relationship has nicely settled down to us both pottering around the house and enjoying healthy meals together. I have made efforts to splash some cash about lately too so we can improve our lives. We have had small holidays quite regularly now, and will the move to Chum Pon back on the cards, it could be an exciting year.

The countryside around Chum Pon is pretty impressive. Good for bike riding I am sure, and easy access to both coasts and some excellent islands. It could be grand there. As this will be our final destination for a while we can build up some ties there and the family near by will be a huge boost too. Oi's brothers nearby will be fun, both of whom are exceptional people, and there might be more available transport too. I can't wait to go back to Koh Chang in Ranong and lose it on the island for another week. It was glorious there. Up that way too are some inland nature parks with some pretty amazing sights I believe.

Things have been dry in Hat Yai for a while now, especially on the social side. I'll be glad to see fresh fields.

Friday

Rest. Thanks. Tired again and ready to drop, though my mood is fairly okay. Like I said, I have been taking it quite easy of late, after a lengthy binging session of getting wasted every night. I still get wasted, but now leave days between of healing. I am normally in bed by ten thirty, so I don't do no one no harm.

Tom came over this week, and will join me again tonight. He's had a hard time with company lately, I will explain in the fullness of time, and I think we really took refuge in each others company as we focus on having fun when we are together and not be heavy and shit. Tom is such a wonderful, easy Californian guy. It is a miracle that he is here. Such a lovely chap.

Plans to move to Chum Pon are on again as job offerers have arrived from that way for Oi and myself. This time Oi is driving it and seems quite determined as there is the promise of a job in a government school, which is a great opportunity for a Thai, pension, all that shit.

Me, I am so caught between to enormous pillows. The easy Sabai life that is Thailand, and the fear of procrastination. I have read a couple of articles recently, one by Fry no less, discussing the perils of doing nothing, but I do stand against this by rule of thumb. Filling up ones life is fine, but there is also something to be said for not doing anything, or living a simple life. We are all old enough now to realize that the passing of time does have some effect on the human psyche and that growing older puts you through stages in your life. How we survive those stages is critical, and it's worth giving time to plan your way through and not caught in some shit storm or suffer a terrible addiction. Just contemplation of the word "addiction" is enough for me to prevent me from near any addiction I hope. Use your minds eye and don't ever let any demons into your mind arriving in some toxic habit you've picked up.

I'm back onto movies and am panning though a classic thread. Picked up some early  Ken Russell and some hot 60's chick called Marisa Mell, who had a sad ending unfortunately. It's a truly incredible thread with wonderful lost gems. That one, The Maracossa document or whatever it was called was so crazy. I must watch it again. The one with the French solders arriving in a house, going in, meeting an old man who reads them a story about some French soldiers arriving at a house and meeting an old man. It really is utterly strange.

Retro iPad gaming. My new daily fix of pinball.

Rainy season here now. Time to stay inside and star at the rain through the open screen door.

Back to Normal

Grace is back at nursery and things have returned to normal. It is exhausting when she is at home all the time. It's non stop from 6 am until 10 at night. Now she's back at school I get a few wee hours in the middle of the day to chill out. This being that first day. I got a new high score in the pinball game I play, and bought Manic Miner for the iPad, after reading Mike Brunton's comment about it. It was only 69p. He made it to Eugine's Lair. So far I got to level 3. These old games are a bitch as there is no save or anything so nice. In the old days we played them for months at a time. Today, five minutes and the frustration becomes unbearable. Still, it's nice to see it again, and it looks very accurate.

I have been easing myself of  the booze as it was becoming a habit. We made some mean green juice too, as I found myself slipping into a shit storm of a mood. Somehow, managed to pull myself out of it, canned the booze and happiness and woke up feeling much better. These days I can judge just by my manner at school. If I am a shit, then I am doing something wrong and not looking after myself correctly. Still, sometimes things get too much though and I need to sort it out. A burn on the bike always helps.

Watched Promethius which I thought was great.

Mum due to arrive soon and it will be great for Gracie to be with grandma Jane again.  I insisted on taking the whole time off work to spend with mum and we will do some fun things.

Next year Grace will go to the school I teach in. All the teachers there are waiting for her to start. It should be fun, and just as well cos she doesn't like her current school, either that or she just loves being at home playing zombies on the iPad. I worry about her future a little here. We are going up to Bangkok at Christmas to get the marriage cert we never got. Would you believe you have to go to the capital to get it? More cash to squeeze out of the peasants.

Rainy season now and big rains and foolish weather bring relief, though most folks here have nasal allergies, but hardly surprising when you see the air quality. Enough complaining already. Time to poo out a word search to give to the kids.

Private classes is proving a struggle too as I strain my brain for ideas on what to teach and keep the kids entertained. Something I have to do in a moment.

Times

Crazy times. Crazy drunk times of looking over Grace as shE grows older. A lot of sitting around, feeling exhausted.

I did a brave thing of carrying out an afternoon of searching for new music. I got about 7 new albums that had got good reviews, or from folks I like. Nanci Griffith has a new own, but I confess not having listened to her for some years.

These days it's been Blur and Stone Roses.

I listen to a lot of talk radio, radio 4.

So glad The News Quiz has just restarted. Hilarious first show for enthusiats.

This week end I have been exhausted. Barely moved, tired to the bone just enough strength to get me a g n't . Embers from the Koh Lipe trip still remain. 

Grace charging around with joy, keeping me from dying.

Drunk In Charge

It's been a Hell of a week.

Grace had a tiny cough last Friday. We headed out to Songkhla for some fun. Great hotel, lively night market, playground, aquarium, roast beef roll sandwich, swimming in the sea.

A great fun time.

We got home and G's condition steadily got worse, until finally on Tuesday, Oi took Grace down to the hospital. They stayed overnight and came home today, Wednesday. Grace was very well behaved at the hospital and seems to have got very smart of late.

Late at night I can get wasted and chill out some, but generally I am quite busy and have to stay slightly active. It's a strange stage right now. I like to get wasted at night.

Magnum ice creams have arrived in Thailand. They are on my list of delights.

Ipad providing fantastic fun. I highly recommend this tin box. I have collected a substantial collection of games already, with a blend of retro arcade platform and shoot 'em up games. Some fruity hidden object games and even some space trading. My firm favourite though is pinball. It is so damn fruit pickingly awesome fun! Table: The Deep (for ipad owners). Onslaught is a hectic gladiator kill incoming meanies game whilst throwing knives and spinning axes about.

Socially void of late, but Tom is still a valued friend and Soul Agent!