As I Went Over To See Mark,

I noticed that the next bloom on the amaryllis had opened,

 just one flower stem,

 but the flowers are large, I called round to see Mark and spent the afternoon chatting away, later watching some of The Great War on a DVD,

 in the evening it was glad rags on as we made our way to town, this is the shrine at the V.C. Hotel,

 next along a busy Soi Marine Plaza,

 we spent the evening having a few drinks in Champions, on the way back Diana strikes the pose!

 a picture taken by Diana of us,

 and a self portrait at home,

 and another as I am checking e-mails before we settle down for some television,

 the necklace was a gift from Steve's wife Kai, a Swarovski Crystal heart, 

 one more for the family album,

in the afternoon I watched some of the first DVD The Great War, there are 6 DVDs in the series, so much footage from before the war that I had never seen before, as the blurb says, 'one of the most ambitious and prestigious series ever produced by the BBC, drawing on over one million feet of film, hundreds of exclusive interviews and contemporary diaries and letters, this documentary masterpiece is by far the most comprehensive film history of World War One ever made', from the two episodes on the first disc I watched I can believe it,

in the evening we had to get the 3D glasses out, first for Wild Ocean, filmed in crystal clear IMAX, the DVD focuses around the South African sardine run, the fish keeping to the coast are a mobile feast for sharks, mammals and birds, great aerial shots as we were taken along the coast not to mention the underwater shots that showed the sardines being shoaled into bait balls then eaten,

Mummies: Secret of the Pharaohs 3D was the second DVD for the evening again 3D glasses on, again filmed in IMAX, a group of scientist explore the nature of embalming using a modern day mummy they have created, 

by now it was getting late, or I should say early morning so a couple of episodes from one of my favourite shows L. A. Law, then for us we were off to bed.

Over The Years I Can Remember Many Street Parties,

normally held down a cul-de-sac,

so there would be no through traffic, well it is the Diamond Jubilee year, so what better reason to be patriotic and have a street party? but those planning the party in Petersfield, Hampshire, in June, have been told that although a charity they must spend £320 for a ladder training course, Health & Safety strike again, the course, called Safety With Ladders, covers the Health and Safety Executive Work at Height Regulations 2005,


participants are shown how to set up a barrier around a ladder to stop people bumping into it, I wonder what would happen if some one looking at the top of the ladder bumped into the barrier and sued, where does it stop? also how to position someone at the bottom of it to warn others the ladder is there, (in case they do not see the barriers!), they will also be taught how to carry out the risk assessments required to put up tables for a street market, for me it is sad when people in the UK put so much effort into a project then have to jump through fiery hoops to make it all happen,


as committee member Vaughan Clarke, 71, said: ‘these ridiculous rules are making it more and more difficult to have some simple old-fashioned fun, I’ve been using ladders all my life, all we want to do is mark the occasion by stringing up some bunting, it’s lunacy, the centre management told me I needed public liability insurance, a risk assessment and a ladder certificate to put up the bunting', lunacy indeed and good for you Vaughan, making sure kids have a good time, though perhaps a younger member of the team would be better on the ladders!

I Must Admit I Would Like A New Ducati Motorbike,

as if I did not need convincing Ducati have won “Best Motorcycle of 2012” in three categories,

the prestigious German magazine, Motorrad, over 39,000 readers voted in Motorrad's 14th edition of "Motorcycle of the Year", an increase of 11,000 over 2011 and further indication of the international interest generated by Ducati, the famous motorcycle brand, based in the Borgo Panigale region of Bologna, Italy, the awards are,


the 1199 Panigale stealing the coveted prize for "Best Sport Motorcycle" with 41.2% of the vote, 20% more than runner-up, BMW for the S1000RR, Diavel Cromo claimed the "Best Naked Motorcycle" award with 9.7% of the vote ahead of the Triumph Speed Triple, while the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring won the "Best All-rounder" award with an impressive 23.9% of the vote, 10% ahead of the BMW K1300S, in addition to the three prestigious awards and numerous recognitions, the Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP also made a significant mark in voting, taking second position in the "Best Enduro/Supermoto" award, as runner-up to the BMW 1200R GS Adventure, no mention of the bike they make that I would like,

the Ducati 795 Monster, but then it would be a bit unfair to win everything!

Who Says Being Honest Does Not Pay?

this taxi driver was glad that he was,

last Wednesday a taxi driver noticed that his last customer had left a bag on the back seat, opening it he found 13 million bahts worth of gold chains, (£267,000  $423,177) finding the owner taxi driver Saksri Ketseekaeo was rewarded with 200,000 bahts worth of gold, this picture was in the Bangkok Post today showing the owner Ekkarat Kanokwannakorn giving the reward, what an honest taxi driver.

First Thing I Popped Over To Have A Coffee With Slim Jim,

then home for breakfast,

Mr. Tony called in for a couple of hours, then we were off to Juu's as it was his birthday, when we arrived a Cycad had just started to make some new leaves,

 and very strange they looked too,

I must admit I have always found these plants fascinating, Cycads are the most ancient plants on earth existing today, they were highly spread out in Mesozoic era with known contribution to the vegetation of Jurassic and Triassic ages 120 to 200 million years ago, strangely enough many people confuse Cycads with palms but the are not, palms have seeds inside fleshy fruits and belong to the flowering plants classification, Cycads have open seeds in their cones, the confusion as a relation to a palm is due to the naming of certain species of Cycads as palms as in the case of Sago palm and cardboard palm, also keeping them together within a collection of palms,

 we whiled the afternoon/evening away, as it got dark the girls took a walk to the Friday night market,

which Diana said was quiet crowded, which seems a bit strange, I had just remembered when I was speaking to Harvey yesterday he remarked the scheduled British Airways plane he was on had 171 empty seats in economy, so good news for the passengers that were on it as every one had 3 or 4 seats each! 

the bar was full, 

 lots of pans of hot soups bubbling away,

 and plenty of sweets,

plenty of fresh mango's, 

 and meats,

 and fish on sticks,

the seafood stall had plenty on offer as well, after eating with Juu we made our way back to 388, then feet up for some Top Gear and Kings of Restoration, both excellent programs, then for us off to bed.

Why Is Fylde Council Against Our British Flag?

because it is 'too big and too busy',

Peter Salthouse, 54, and wife Lesley, 53 who have run the Naze Lane Chippy in Freckleton, Lancs, for 25 years decided to put up a patriotic flag of the United Kingdom, but the council had ruled that the flag, which also incorporates two St George crosses, also had too many 'angles, triangles and colours',


Lesley, said: 'it's madness, We are an English fish and chip shop yet we can't use our own flag to celebrate that', a council spokesman admitted there was 'some support for the sign', why is it that pretty much every country in the world is so proud of their national flag but the people that make up Fylde Council can not stand the sight of ours?

First Thing And Off To Pay For Our Internet Service,

the office is on Thepprasit Road where the night market is,

 usually when we are here all of this area is covered with stalls, but not today,

so in to the 3BB office to pay the bill, but unfortunately I could could not, in the words of one of the Little Britain sketches, 'the computer says no', no date could be give for when the computer would be repaired, so off to the local 7-11 and pay the bill there, just 15 baht extra charged for the service by 7-11,

in the afternoon Mark called by for a tea and a chat, then I had a telephone call, Harvey from the UK was back in town and did I fancy a bar crawl in the evening, now let me think about this, decision made we arranged to meet in the food hall at the Central Festival at 8.00,

 I had never walked in from the Second Road entrance before, as you go down the escalator there is a nice water feature,

 after meeting we walked past the Bayview Hotel towards one of the bar complexes, this shot looking back to Central,

 these were the first bars we came across, so we had a couple in there,

 then past one of the many mobile bars, we continued walking but we did not see another bar we wanted to sit in,

  so we made our way down to Beach Road and walked to Walking Street,

which was not as crowded as I thought it would have been,

 the Samsung screen working well,

 lots of bright lights,

 these outside Lucifer's disco and bar,

 first stop Champions, Harvey strikes the pose, after a few in there we had a couple in Sweethearts,

 then along to see Grieg in Roxy's who made us both more than welcome,

 as did one of Harvey's friends he meet there,

next stop the Air Port, or Sexy Airline as it says outside, this place was packed, heavens knows why, the music was so loud, but then again everyone knows that it is and goes there, so we had another two or three in there and made our way back to Champions for a night cap, we said our goodbyes, I headed for a taxi, Harvey headed off into the night on a mission, arriving home I was surprised how late it was so for us off to bed.