As It Was Friday We Decided To Pop Along To The Soi Bukoaw Market,

normally we would park in Friendship go to the market and then shop at Friendship as we used their car park, but now on market days we park in the street, the problem is on Tuesday and Fridays as you leave the car park you have to turn left as traffic barriers are placed in the road, which means even if everything is 100% OK, helmets, tax, insurance, you will get stopped, you will pay, everybody, no exceptions, so we park in the street, just make sure you know if it is an odd or even day or you will be finned for being on the wrong side of the road! the good news was that we stopped outside the cut flower shop on Pattaya Tai,

there were so many orchids for sale,

and so many different types of flowers, so at least we know where to buy cut orchids, strange really we must have driven past the shop countless times but never paid it much attention till now,

they also sell the orchids for making merit at the temple or putting in the spirit houses some people have,

some of the orchids have strange flowers indeed,

a real riot of flowers,

as a land mark the flower shop is opposite the big gold shop, the entrance to the market by the side of it,

just a short walk from the road the market begins,

a quick look at the permanent fish shop,

Diana was looking for a few things,

so we went our different ways, I spotted these wooden candle holders,

that you can put scented candles in,

then some pomelos, like a grapefruit but not as sour, so I bought one of those for later in the evening, the season for these has just started,

lots of vegetables on sale as well,

I then walked past the temporary fish shop, this one is only here on the two market days,

past boiling oil, this time the owner was frying fish,

then Diana meet me in the coffee shop,

by now we were quiet hungry, I remembered that the last time Diana was in the Philippines I had a breakfast here, the Dat Coffee Shop, so we went there for a bite to eat,

it is almost just opposite the Phuphaya Resort, off Third Road,

Ah! club sandwich and coffee for me,

and a huge spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread for Diana,

then back home to complete yesterdays blog whilst Diana did some house work, after that out for the night market,

again we were a little bit early but it was so much easier to walk round,

there were still lots of mobile food sellers in the aisles, this one selling Coke-cola and peanuts,

having said it was easier to walk around you still had to squeeze past parked trucks still unloading merchandise,

another mobile snack/drink stall by the bar,

the sky was a bit over cast, the rainy season is now with us for the next 3 months or so, the good news is that the rain held off for the evening,

we may have been a bit early, but the pet/flower side of the market was looking very sorry for itself, many once flourishing stalls now boarded up,

just a few of people at the bar, worse two of those were not drinking!

Diana had a quick look around and returned with some food on a stick,

which was soon ate!

'Cheers!' from me, keeping to the low sugar beer,

one thing Diana did notice that was different from last week was that as we made our way to the bike park, next to the 7 - 11 a new building was being built,

not sure what it will be, but it does look a bit small,

then home for a pork chop with vegetables, a beer, then feet up for a film or two,

I saw this 'Blu-Ray' DVD in the market, of course it was not a Blu-Ray, but I had to try it to see, 120 baht, but I had only seen a small part of The Last Castle when it was on cable television, so it was not a total waste of money, to say it was predictable is an undersatement, but Diana was quite taken with it, I can always tell when she enjoys a movie as she cheers on the good guys,

then a strange request from Diana, she wanted to watch Schindler's List, now I do not have a clue what brought that on, but if you have not seen it it is in my humble opion a masterpiece, as it eneded I remebered a quote, 'for it is the curse of mankind that we forget,' then to bed.

Just As I Thought Council Health And Safety Officers Could Not Get Any Madder,

this comes along from officials at Homes in Havering, which manages the flats for Havering council, officials at a block of flats have banned children from playing in paddling pools because they present a ‘fire risk’, yes you read that correctly a fire risk, the four inflatable pools were put up in a communal green space outside the flats in Cranham, near Romford Essex, they were filled with chlorinated water and each one was supervised by a parent, at night, three were emptied and the fourth had a secure cover to prevent anyone falling in, but officials at Homes in Havering, which manages the flats for Havering council said they had to go, the pools could stop access for fire engines! as one commenter wrote, 'if the fire brigade need to get somewhere they will get there, if that means shoving 3 illegally parked cars out the way or running over a couple of plastic kiddies paddling pools - they will do it, this type of rule is absolutely ridiculous,' but wait perhaps I am being unfair to the people that thought this one up at Homes in Havering, who want to stop the simple pleasures in life for local kids, lets ask a processional, enter Graham Hart, a senior officer at nearby Hornchurch fire station who said fire engines were rarely driven onto grassy areas and that the pools would ‘come in handy’, ‘I know the estate very well and I can see absolutely no access issues whatsoever,’ he added, so who do you believe, an over paid official at Homes in Havering or a processional fire fighter?

Another One Of Those 'Happy' Stories I Love So Much,

a couple were given a pair of vases at their wedding in 1965, they never thought of the Qianlong dynasty porcelain pieces as any more than a family heirloom after being given them at their wedding as a present from the groom’s father, who inherited them from his father before him, through the years, they lay on a bedroom shelf at the couple’s modest home near Southampton, then antiques expert Guy Schwinge from Duke’s fine art auctioneers in Dor­chester called to make a routine inspection, joy of joys, he valued them at up to £60,000, so off to auction the two 10 inch Qianlong dynasty vases went, but joy soon turned to ecstasy, in a hushed saleroom they sold for a total of almost £500,000 to a foreign bidder on the telephone, there were 10 phone lines and various bidders in the room at the auction house in Dorchester, the anonymous owners, after hearing of the price, said: “We are absolutely delighted and are definitely going on holiday, this has transformed our retirement,” you bet it has, just imagine if it was your pair of vases and you were in the auction room watching the bidding - bring me the smelling salts!

Serious Question,

are some shop assistants and councils in the UK leaving common sense at home? I know there has to be age checks for people buying alcoholic drinks in most countries, the UK included, also if your licence to sell alcohol was in question because you had sold alcohol to a youngster before then I guess One Stop would be more cautious about underage drinking, but to refuse to let 67 year old Chris Page buy a £2.55 bottle of cider is just ridiculous, especially as he showed staff his free bus pass and offering them his birth certificate, as he said, ‘I don’t have a passport or a driving licence and when you get to my age you don’t really expect to be asked for either when buying alcohol, either the world’s gone mad or One Stop Shop are trying to bankrupt themselves.’ Harlow Council requires staff at the shop in Essex to ask for photo ID on all alcohol sales, said a One Stop spokesman, plant earth to Harrow Council and One Stop shops, it is time to get into the real world!

First Thing And We Were Off To Pick Up The Now Repaired Air Pump For The Aquarium,

as we were going to be out and about I also brought with us the gas lamp, we had a power cut a few days ago but the gas lamp was broken, basically it needed a new glass and mantel, so we went to the Shop Mick and Mas had tried for us, mantels were in 50 baht each but no glass, so we decided to go on a quest, at one stage it seemed more akin for the Holy Grail! after being directed to numerous shops we arrived at the Jomtien end of Thepprisit, but just as I approached the Makita shop Diana saw a shop selling gas cookers, the Makita shop did not have one so the last shop we went to before going home was this one above that Diana had spotted, the owner looked at the lamp 120 baht for a glass, great! so of he went, he came back and tried it to make sure it fitted, he said some thing in Thai to Diana, she explained she was Filipino, mistake, I went to give him the 120 baht, but no, now 150 baht, he must have thought Diana was a Thai! but at least we got the glass for the lamp, after all of the running around I had a cup of tea and put on a DVD Cops, the idea is that a film crew ride along with the police on patrol and film it as it happens, blood, warts, swearing and all, (well the swearing is there just beeped out), fascinating stuff and so addictive to watch, so we watched a second one, which was a double DVD, whilst watching some of Americas finest you realise what a tough job being a cop is, at the end one of the 'extras' is where some of the policeman featured take a light hearted look at themselves and talk about their big moment on the screen, amid much laughter as he told the story this one stood out, an officer was chasing a guy on a suspected stolen motorbike, in the dust storm made by the bike the officer lost sight of the road and ended up here, astride some railway tracks, see going on about trains again! he had called for a tow truck but the truck driver could not find him, the officer said on camera, 'well there is only one thing worse that could happen' and then before the camera switched off it did,

he heard this coming towards him in the distance,

now in a real panic it was back to his car,

gunning his engine it was do or die to get it off the tracks, who knows what trouble he would be in with his superiors if a train hit it, but disaster, the rear tyre was flat, the car was stuck at the mercy of the nearly unstoppable train, by now it was obvious the train was to near and to fast to stop,

then in what can only be described as a miracle the train veered off onto another track, by now other officers had arrived on the scene, with comments of 'that was close', 'you were lucky' with nervous laughter filling the air the unthinkable happened,

coming from the other direction, there was this train, I will not spoil the outcome for you in case you buy the DVD, after our evening meal we watched some more of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The Secrets Of The Fox Hunter, William Drew meets his most dangerous case to date when the head of German intelligence pays a visit to England, it was so strange to see a young Derek Jacobi, most dramas we have seen in him he is of course some 40 or so years older, following that it was on to the The Looting of the Specie Room, a luxury passenger ship sets sail from New York for a record-breaking transatlantic crossing, aboard is a quarter million pounds' worth of gold bullion and some of it goes missing, then off to bed.