Straight On To The Blog Today,

as soon as I have finished I have to do my 90 day check in at immigration, but back to yesterday, I decided to carry on putting my new acquisitions into the album,

so I spent the morning printing white on black labels for the new stamps, another day should see some order descend from chaos!

theses are a couple of 'stamps' I purchased last night on E-Bay, I put the stamps in inverted commas as they can not be used as postage, the first was an advertising stamp, some times known as a Cinderella from Lloyd's Bank given away as a souvenir from the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, I have tried to find out more about them but so far only know there is the red version which is waiting for me in the UK and that a black version is also out there some where,

the second from the Festival Of Great Britain in 1951, a charity stamp for the fund for the blind, it features 'Flying Saucer' & Travelling Exhibition, I wonder where it is now and what it actually did, the price for theses two rarities? the first £2.29 and I went a bit over board for the second at £5.59, it may seem like a lot but I look at it this way, look around if you are a collector and try to buy another one, there are not any out there, of course it could be that I am the only person that collects them, or just that they are extremely rare, but in any event I still enjoy looking at them,

then feet up for the first series of Rumpole of the Bailey, we watched three, or at least I should say I did Diana slept through the last half of the first one, Rumpole and the Younger Generation, Horace Rumpole is a middle-aged "junior" barristers who excels at criminal cases, Rumpole defends Jim Timson, the youngest member of the lovable but criminal Timson clan, followed by Rumpole and the Alternative Society, Rumpole stays with some old RAF friends in the West Country, while he defends a member of a local commune charged with drug-dealing, lastly from the series Rumpole and the Honourable Member, this episode a much more serious one, Rumpole defends Ken Aspen, a Labour Member of Parliament who is charged with rape, Aspen's defense is that the victim made the advances and that the sex was consensual, but was it? to round off the evening Hercule Poirot's Christmas, when Simeon Lee, a mean-spirited, tyrannical patriarch of a dysfunctional family, summons his offspring to his country manor house in Kent for Christmas, he employs Poirot to attend the reunion, guess who ends up dead? then a nursery rhyme, Hickory Dickory Dock, when a series of apparently minor thefts plagues a university hostelry run by Miss Lemon's sister, Poirot is recruited to investigate, Celia Austin, a pharmacological major, confesses that she is a kleptomaniac and responsible for most of the thefts but denies stealing several objects including a stethoscope, light bulbs, and a student rucksack, but what a strange collection of items, what can it all mean? then off to bed.

This Sunday We Decided To Have lunch At The Punch & Judy,

it is almost opposite the Eden Hotel on Soi 17,

the place is like a UK pub, good food, drink

and very comfortable,

as the wardrobe is still shrinking Diana's clothes she has decided to go on a diet, no main course, just the prawn cocktail starter,

for me the Sunday 3 meat roast,

Diana's diet lasted right up till the desert!

Banoffee pie, I dread to think how many calories are in it, so to help Diana slim I just had to eat half of it!

it was so delicious,

if you want to have a go at making one yourself have a look here at the BBC cooking recipe page, so off we went home, feet up and I feel asleep! when I woke up on the sofa there was a film about James Braddock the fighter being shown, Cinderella Man, but what was of interest to me was that in the early 1960's my father always would say when the Beverly Hillbillies was on look at Jethro Bodine, he is the son of Max Baer, the boxer, I guess that Dad had a bet and won, Max was the only sportsman I think I ever heard Dad talk about,

not feeling hungry we stated on the local fresh strawberries, what they lack in taste they make up for in colour,

then to another couple of Poirot's, Dead Man's Mirror, Poirot is outbid at an auction for an antique mirror by the dislikeable Gervais Chevenix, who requests Poirot's attendance at his country home as he believes he is being defrauded by a business associate, John Lake, then as the guests are dressing for dinner a shot rings out, followed by The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan, on his doctor's orders Poirot has gone to stay in the seaside resort of Brighton, where he is frequently mistaken for Lucky Len, who gives out money on behalf of a newspaper to people who recognize him, Poirot is staying at the Metropolitan hotel, as are Mr. Opalsen, a theatrical producer, and his wife who is an actress starring in a play at a local theatre, a set of valuable pearls which Mrs. Opalsen wears in the play is stolen, but who did it? then off to bed.

I Wonder How Many Dads Are Being Woken Up This Morning,

to the cry of 'Dad can I have one of these for Christmas?' they are small versions of cars some dad's own, pictured the E-type and Porsche, but also available are versions of the Mercedes 300SL, Willys Jeep and Bugatti Type-35, costing £6,995 or £9,995 depending on the model, some have a 14 m.p.h. electric motor or a petrol engine, which is an altogether a more serious toy, these 220kg machines have a top speed of 46mph, a 110cc four-stroke air-cooled Honda engine, a three-speed semi-automatic gearbox (plus reverse) and twin hydraulically operated disc brakes at the rear,

more than 450 hours of work go into each car, as an aside I wonder how many man hours go into making a full size car on a production line? but back to the toys at 7ft 6ins long and 3ft wide will they fit into the garage, or would you be able to squeeze them through the front door? it appears that they can not be used on public roads, so I guess they are safe to use on pavements! but what a toy for a young lad to get for Christmas! the cars are lovingly made by Pocket Classics who might do a 'one off' of your favorite car if requested, for me the type 35, full size if possible please!

I Had The Day Already Planned,

spend the morning continuing playing with my stamps, but first unlock the gate, as I walked past Diana's plant, you may remember she planted it a few weeks ago, I was amazed at how much it had grown, also it had it's first fruit, well it is a cucumber like vegetable really, now just a few inches long, but I guess one day it will be in the pot,

back to the stamps, glasses on and concentrate!

not many envelopes left now,

carefully does it,

it looks like a stamp but is actually a commemorative or Cinderella stamp, it can not be used as a postage stamp, just something to remember an event by, there seems to be a revival in these, but still for just £4.99 I have this little piece of history, just think, this souvenir is 78 years old,

older still is this one at 87 years old, I wonder if I will see it to be 100? because they were of no value so many were thrown away, but now collectors are beginning to appreciate them in their own right, £3.20 bought this beauty, when I used to collect these as a kid they were in the 20 for a penny box, I liked them then and still do now, but in those days serious stamp collectors would not have them in their album, nor would they be listed in any of the catalogs, shame really as so many of them are really very nice,

all to soon the day spend past, we had heard that Grieg was now working at the Carousal in Soi Diamond on Thursday evenings through to Sunday, so we were off on the town,

Diana glad rags on and ready to go,

Walking Street was it's usual blaze of colour, not to mention packed with people,

walk up Soi Diamond and there it is, the Carousal,

we were joined there by Tom and Mr. Tony, along with Grieg we chatted the night away, at about midnight we decided to go for a stroll along the strip, by now it was really packed,

I just love all of the neon signs,

we slowly pushed our way towards the end of the strip, the high season has really started now,

we then decided to make our way home, but I knew we could not walk past Boots twice!

next get a motorbike taxi home, but first past over Second Road, it is being resurfaced,

starting a few weeks before the high season in November and scheduled to end after the high season has finished in February,

Second Road is reduced to one lane of traffic, you can imagine the chaos that brings in the daytime, I often wonder having been here for some 28 Christmas's why this sort of work always happens over Christmas? I am not joking when I say this, major road works happen every year at this time that I have been here, still I should not complain at least the roads are being renewed, then home to Poirot, The Chocolate Box, 20 years before, Poirot agrees to investigate the death of rising young politician, Paul Deroulard, Poirot believed Deroulard had been poisoned, likely from a box of chocolates, but could not make the charge public, maybe 20 years on he can? then off to bed, busy day on the stamps again tomorrow!

How Strange That As We Are Just Getting To The Half Way Stage In The Poirot DVD's We Are Watching,

than actor David Suchet who plays Hercule Poirot, is featured on the real life Orient Express, many times Agatha Christie herself travelled on the Orient Express as she headed east to undertake archaeological digs with her second husband, Max Mallowan, In 1929, the train was trapped in a snowdrift for ten days, 60 miles from Istanbul, the story became front-page news and captured the imagination of Christie and gave her the starting point for her novel, published five years later, in the book, the train is halted by a snowdrift and the victim, 13 suspects and Poirot are trapped inside a carriage,

like many a school boy David wanted to be a train driver and here is his chance, David steers the train towards the Italian border under the watchful eye of driver Wolfgang Grassebner, if only it was a steam train! speaking of which, Robert I tried the link but it did not work, please email me and I will send you my email address and look at the pictures that way.

Up Early And To Friendship,

Diana was going to make a stew for this evening, but we had forgotten to buy some potatoes on our last trip out, the shrine in the Friendship car park in the early morning sun, one thing I did notice was the unusual front suspension on this bicycle parked there, then back to cataloguing my stamps, I seem to be spending so much time on them, but what hobby does not take time and a little attention?

I have the stamps that I bid for sent to my UK address then friends bring over a few envelopes at a time, opening each envelope is just like Christmas, I never know what is inside till it is opened,

then all of a sudden the day was over, so off to Thepprisit night market,

a few fragrant candles for the room, as usual I made the mistake of buying 3 packs for 100 baht, then Diana reminded me we normally pay 100 baht for 4 packs in front of Tesco's, this is another time that the market has been more expensive than going to a regular shop, must be careful and watch the baht in future!

opposite the bar this week was a display, with people dancing and singing,

and wearing angel wings, nothing in English, but everyone seemed happy,

as I sat at the bar a number of people congregated on the steps, all with one thing in common,

they all sported super expensive looking cameras, I guess a photography school had made the market their venue for a workshop,

then Diana came back laded with food and fresh fruit goodies for the evening,

by now others had joined the singing and dancing opposite,

Diana went to have a look at the lady who was in the group, it was a health awareness group taking their message to the public, a couple of friends joined us at the bar, so we stayed late, then home feet up and watched the second part of The Godfather Trilogy, by now it was late so off to bed.