Saturday 30 April 2011

Jay And Precil Called Round,

for the early part of the day,
then it was time for us to get ready for the days big event,
in case you had not noticed there was to be a Royal Wedding today, where else to celebrate it? The Punch and Judy of course!
we were joined for a late breakfast/early lunch by Doc. Jeff, who ordered the small English breakfast,
Diana went for the roast duck wraps,
French onion soup and a beer for me,
Jamie very kindly gave Diana a order of ceremony for the wedding that he had printed, and some complimentary cakes,
we settled down to watch the coverage from the BBC,
the Royal couple,
Jamie hard at work, there was a good crowd here all captivated by the images on the screen,
Diana was totally engrossed by it all, watching the progress on the screen and in the order of service Jamie had so thoughtfully provided,
at last he had time to relax for a quick pint!
we spent the whole afternoon/evening there so later it was time for our evening meal,
a gammon steak for Diana,
beef steak and stout pie for myself, 'Cheers!',
the Royal couple on the balcony at Buckingham Palace,
the fly past,
then a cherry wave to the crowds, what a wonderful day for all concerned, we made a late evening of it so then home for us and off to bed.

This Is Another One Of Those Good Luck Stories I Love So Much,

it appears that you can go diamond hunting in the Crater of Diamonds State Park, which is what Beth Gilbertson, from Colorado did after seeing a program which featured it on the Travel Channel's The Best Places to Find Cash and Treasures which includes a segment on the Crater of Diamonds, well it turned out to be a good idea as she found a 8.66 carat diamond,
She was helping two other visitors, who were new to the park, learn how to search when she found the valuable rock, She said: 'I'd collected four buckets of dirt for me to search and two for the other visitors, the diamond ended up being in one of my buckets, park officials say it is the third largest diamond of the 27,000 diamonds found by park visitors since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972, visitors are allowed to keep whatever they find, what a great way to spend the day, chances are you will find nothing, but you never know how lucky you could be!

Friday 29 April 2011

I Awoke Without The Headache Today,

which was great,
as usual Diana started the day looking at her games and increasing the size of her cyber city and looking at our blog, just in case I have made a mistake or three,
then we were out and about, first stop the bike shop, a quick tyre pressure check, it is surprising how having a lower tyre pressure can eat up petrol and make the bike appreciably slower, not that you notice as the tyre slowly goes down but when brought up to its normal pressure when you first get back on the bike it feels like a much faster machine, I do not know why but out here for some reason all of the bike tyres, even when they have been replaced with new tyres and inner tubes always seem to go down after just a couple of weeks or so,
then to Casa Pascal, we eat there a couple of days ago with Mr. Tony and thought we would give their coffee, sandwich and cake afternoon a try, it is just in front of the Ruen Thai restaurant on Second Road,
they also have a second branch in Jomtien, the Poseidon, we have eaten there before but not for some time,
but back to Casa Pascal, the sandwiches and cakes are laid out on trays, with just 3 or 4 being made at a time, so they are always fresh,
unlimited trips to the tables for fruit drinks or milk plus tea or coffee,
mine, all mine!
some of the sandwich selection,
and six of the 10 or more desserts on display,
second plate for Diana, she tried the apricot and custard tart, which she pronounced as delicious,
and second plate for me,
open salami, roast pork, accompanied by a tuna, cheese and tomato,
Diana said the apricot was delicious, so much so she had to eat another one, as well as two more sandwiches, with some fresh fruit to finish, for me I was full so I did not try any of the desserts, just another cup of coffee, what a way to spend a quiet afternoon, newspapers were provided, endless tea, coffee, sandwiches and cake, in a high quality air conditioned restaurant, all for 135 baht, including VAT,
and if you think that is a good deal, it gets even better, there is a loyalty card, you receive 1 point for every 10 baht spent, after seven meals the points earned are deducted from your eighth meal, what a deal! the afternoon coffee and sandwich menu starts from 14.00 till 17.00,
a bit small to read but I thought I would put their brochure on the blog,
the other side of it mentions the Poseidon at Jomtien, but the description is for Casa Pascal, we both had more than enough to eat, for the price and surrounds/service we really do not think Casa Pascal can be beaten for the morning breakfast or the sandwich afternoon, but if you know some where better let us know!
next stop the bank, where does all the money go?
after returning home we switched channels catching a number of films half way through till in the evening we settled down for another few episodes of History Mysteries, this time The tower, the Queen and the outlaws, John and Adele Richardson are fascinated by a local legend that Mary Queen of Scots rode across their land and stopped at the now-ruined Pele tower on their farm, the Richardsons want Jonathan to create an image of the tower of Queen Mary’s time, and for the team to find out if they had a Royal visitor, scouring the archives, Nick uncovers dramatic proof of the Reivers’ exploits, and checks out the family history of the Turnbulls, who owned the tower at the time of Mary’s alleged ride and were her allies, finally, his hunt turns up an official record of Queen Mary’s journey, She would definitely have passed the Richardsons’ Pele tower, next on the teams quest, Puzzle at the palace, Kathryn Gibson, owner of Pen y Bryn, has spent many years establishing a link between her house and Llewellyn, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, but she has never been able to find conclusive proof, solving this mystery could rewrite the history books, in the archives Nick finds the crucial evidence that proves that Kathryn is right, Pen y Bryn was the site of Llewellyn’s Palace, so history will have to be rewritten!
we then started on a series we have been looking forward to for some time, Only Fools and Horses, we have bought the 7 series box set, we watched the first four, Big Brother, Go West Young Man, Cash and Curry, lastly Second Time Around, we both laughed so much, but occasionally we paused the DVD as I explained to Diana, what a 'unemployed gas light lighter waiting for the return of gas street lights' was, great fun, then for us off to bed.

This Has Got The Makings

of one of those 'good luck' stories I like so much, whilst looking for treasure a chance encounter with a local fisherman led a team of divers to discover what they think is the oldest shipwreck in the Caribbean, after only diving the site - located off the Dominican Republic coast - a handful of times, the team at Deep Blue Marine has unearthed some serious treasure, at the last count Captain Billy Rawson and his crew had uncovered 700 silver coins that could be worth millions, although the team know the name of the vessel it is being kept secret, Deep Blue Marine are contracted by the Dominican Republic to search and uncover treasure from the wreck, they then split the proceeds 50/50, what a way to spend the day, unearthing silver - and gold treasure! well I guess they have had many days of searching and finding nothing as most treasure hunters do, so who knows, this could be the 'Mother Load' for them.

Thursday 28 April 2011

I Am A Bit Late With The Blog This Morning,

mainly because I woke with a bit of a head ache, it all started as I popped into the Punch and Judy for a larger and lime at lunch time, the flags and bunting outside getting for the big day on Friday,
then in the afternoon we were off for my late birthday party, Slim Jim, Maureen and Nick, along with Damon in the baht bus to Preecha,
just coincidentally we went past the Punch and Judy,
along the Sukumvit past the Floating Market,
this was supposed to be a shot of the elephant park, but I pressed the button too early or late, but caught the tricycle though!
here we all are at Preecha, Mike and Riza along with Mark and Anchisa made their own way here as did Mr.Tony, Juu and Dang, Brian and Sa along with Craig and Porn,
the last time we called here it was closed for refurbishment,
now everything is new and as bright as a button,
yummy!
we shall be seeing some of these later on,
and some of these!
not many customers but is still early, about 5.00 in the afternoon,
naturally we had to have a picture of the ladies,
then the food arrived,
and there was plenty of it,
some tom-yum-gung,
of course we also had seafood fried rice, prawn doughnuts and steamed prawns along with green mussels,
next course arriving soon,
another sunset in paradise,
garlic fried rock lobster next,
'Cheers!' from me in my birthday shirt,
Mr. Tony was demonstrating a magic trick, but I was too far away to see how it worked out,
next course fish,
I just had to take another shot of the sunset,
and then it was gone!
Mark, Mike and Slim Jim,
Cheers!
Porn and Craig,
we also had some plates of steamed crab, I must admit I cheated a bit, we also ordered some crabs legs that had already been striped of their shells, just eat without all of the fiddling about trying to get to the meat,
then home to 388, everybody had been so kind, my vodka cellar was refilled, I had my birthday shirt on and now another present,
a railway engineers pocket watch from Slim Jim, and before any one says, the diet starts tomorrow!
well we all had a great time, a few more drinks at 388 and our friends made their way home, for us off to bed, 61 years old, strange I do not feel 61 but I am, so there you have it, once again many thanks to everyone helping me into my frail old age, the many presents which are all appreciated, and here's looking forward to my 62nd!