Steve Called This Morning,

so we met up for lunch,

and went where else? the Punch & Judy,

 much to Steve's delight there was plenty of HP sauce to go round,

'Cheers!', from both of us as we tuck into our 199 baht pint, burger and chips, whilst we were there the water purifier guy called at home to replace the broken piece of plastic on the top of the reservoir, so we now have purified water on tap,

if only things were going so well with my new watch, slowly but surely the minute and hour hand are going out of synchronization, so plan B, tonight go to the market and do not buy a cheap 199 baht watch, really push the boat out and buy a 299 baht one, I know I could take it back but after returning to the stall three previous times I think that I will try another,

in the afternoon/early evening we watched some more of Wild China, this time focusing on Tibet, fascinating country, beautifully photographed,

after our evening meal a si-fi, Virus, an alien life form has taken over a ship's computers and is churning out mechanical warriors, a salvage tug boat arrives on the scene, can the crew outwit the life form?

Midsomer Murders was our late night fare this evening, although we had watched these before we could not remember who killed who, yet again my prime suspect became one of the victims in Orchis Fatalis, DCI Barnaby and DS Scott find themselves investigating the murder of Madeline Villiers, a member of the Midsomer Malham Orchid Society, another society member is found hanged, they also find out that collecting orchids is as addictive as drugs and there is no shortage of possible suspects as a result, Bantling Boy is the name of a horse owned by a syndicate of four people, the trainer of thoroughbred Bantling Boy is battered to death, the other members of the syndicate come under suspicion, but the killing continues - then Bantling Boy falls ill, with that it was for us off to bed.

I Had To Look Twice,

when I first saw this picture,

but it appears it has not been photoshopped, council contractors May Gurney did in fact paint round the lamp posts the bay was moved, plan B

to here, almost blocking the stairs leading to neighbours houses, so plan C will come in to effect, move the parking bay back to where it was and take down the lamp post, easy when you know how! it will paint the markings a third time on October 11 while also installing a zebra crossing 50 yards away further down the road, a spokesman for Essex County Council said the work will be paid for by the taxpayer but were unable to reveal how much it will cost.

Do Not Mess With Fish 141

and you thought fish were fun!

this one was for German Reinhard Wuhrmann, 62 who battled for 3 hours to land this record and rod breaking halibut, the former cop needed the help of two pals to bring in the 8ft 3ins flat fish after it snapped his rod in half, it broke the previous record by 58lbs coming in at 540lbs, so a couple of pounds of salt a few buckets of vinegar and bring on the chips!

We Started The Day With Some Good News,

Wattana Computers called to say that the transformer had arrived,

so the scanner is now back on line, I must remember not to leave the transformer on the floor the next time we have a flood,

during the day and also in the evening we watched Wild China, a almost 6 hour long double DVD of the country, but what caught my attention was this, could this be mistaken perhaps for the original Yeti? 

 it is in fact a monkey,

a Yunnan snub nosed monkey, admittedly on the wrong side of the Himalayas for it to be a yeti, but I could see how some one could think it was a human,

 then we were out, 

 in the Secrets taxi,

to China Garden,  

to meet up with Russ who had recently arrived from the US, for starters Peking duck with pancakes,

 followed by a selection of main courses,

 all very enjoyable indeed,

 'Cheers!', from all of us,

 the meal could not have been better, we talked the evening away, next home,

feet up for some more of Wild China, I have used this link for the review of the DVD but it is a lot cheaper on Amazon, one of the many periods of history that I enjoy is the plant hunters that traveled the world looking for new plants around the 1900's so I was quiet pleased to see that Joseph Francis Charles Rock received more than just a passing mention, also his unique movie of his expedition there, a prime candidate for the Indian Jones character if ever there was one, then for us off to bed.

I Have Never Really Considered A Sheep As A Pet,

but apparently some people do,

paying huge amounts of money for them, bred along the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar they are from a breed called Dolan, only about 1,000 of them exist in the world, the most valuable sheep is a six-year-old owned by Majid Abdul Reyim (left) and Liu Fenghua with one of his sheep "big bosses come here in their luxury cars and load the sheep into the back seat," said Liu Fenghua, a 48-year-old sheep breeder in the city of Aksu, in the far western region of Xinjiang,

in case you are wondering what makes them popular, they have a distinctive curved nose and twin tails, as well as a long floppy ears, originally bred from sheep in Kashgar to grow quickly and to yield more meat, the breed has since become ornamental, "the price depends on the pedigree," said Mr Liu, "the darker the fleece, the better, the bigger the ears the better, the more curved the face, the better, like an eagle's beak, the best ones have a dark body and white tail," now the bad news after convincing yourself you want one would you pay £1.4 million for one? but even that would not buy it as Mr Liu turned that offer down.

There Is One Room In The House I Spend Little Time In,

the kitchen,

I find it is full of death traps for me, trying to get the toast out of the toaster with a knife or when filling the hot water container and spilling the water on the plug are just two electrifying experiences that mean I walk straight through the kitchen and touch nothing, so I found it a little amazing when I saw this kitchen on sale, designed by London-based Marazzi Design, it is called the Colosseo Oro, I have to say it looks more like a bar and a lot more inviting than our kitchen, made from 24 carat gold leaf and Venetian glass, crocodile embossed leather, Swarovski crystal lights and glitter lacquered worktops it looks so nice I thought we would have one, then I got to the bottom line, at £300,000 it is a tad out of our price range, but who knows we might win the lottery!

We Had A Few Things To Do Today,

firstly I dropped Diana off at the We Care Clinic,

every month Diana has a facial treatment,

whilst she was there I called in to the bank, again! the street sign still working, this advertisement for Tony's Entertainment Complex,

 after her treatment I picked Diana up then off to Soi Bukaow market,

 past one of the many mobile food stalls,

to the stall I bought my watch from, it appeared changing the battery did not do the trick as it still kept stopping,

the stall owner very kindly changed it over for the same model but with a black face,  

next to the stall as I waited there was a pet stall, this week a selection of ducks and chickens,

 and rather surprisingly a hedgehog,

 a quick look at the orchids,

 and one of the food stalls,

then to the coffee shop where Diana arrived with this weeks clothes shopping, whilst there as I drank my ice coffee my new watch came flying off my wrist, the strap had broken! back to the watch stall strap fixed and we were on our way, all of this excitement for a 199 baht watch,

 a last look at Soi Bukaow itself and we were on our way home,

after spending some more time putting our DVDs into alphabetical order, also Alex and Mark called round, a strange thing then happened in the afternoon, both Steve and Phil called from the UK not knowing the other had done so, it is not the first time this has happened that they have both called on the same day some times two or three weeks from one phone call to the next, it was off for our evening meal, 

 to the soup stall,

 rain awnings out as it was to say the least a bit cloudy,

 one of the other soup stalls,

 we also stopped off for some more fresh pineapple,  

during the day and evening we also had on Ice Age, great animated fun, back when the Earth was being overrun by glaciers, and animals were scurrying to save themselves from the upcoming Ice Age, a stupid sloth named Sid, a woolly mammoth named Manny, and a saber-toothed tiger named Diego are forced to become unlikely heroes,

followed by Ice Age 2 The Meltdown, Manny, Sid, and Diego discover that the Ice Age is coming to an end, and join everybody for a journey to higher ground, there are so many things to like about both movies,  

on a more sinister note Dead in the Water was the first from Midsomer Murders, while attending the Midsomer Regatta with his wife Joyce and daughter Cully, Det. Chief Inspector Barnaby finds himself investigating the murder of Guy Sweetman, the rowing club's chairman who is found floating in the river, followed by Things That Go Bump in the Night, I decided to use all the powers of my deduction on this one and name the murderer even before the first murder had taken place, the character I chose turn out to be the first victim!

Sharpe's Sword completed the evening, Sharpe is tasked to protect the most important spy in Lord Wellington's network, but after rescuing a damsel in distress a unpleasantness from Sharpe's past reappears, then for us off to bed.

Back In The Old Days When I Was In The UK,

every week Mum or Dad would put the bin out,

no great skill needed, just put it where it was convenient and it would be emptied every week, but no longer in the UK, it appears councils flush with money have inspectors looking at the placement of bins and taking pictures if they are as little as two bin lengths away from the correct place, Fylde Council decided that enough was enough in the case of Jane Pugh, her bin was confiscated by the council who would not return it till she paid £30 for it's return, this move of course cost the environment dear as Mrs Pugh drove her car to the council tip until she paid the fine,

the stand-off began in August when freelance writer Mrs Pugh found her bin had gone missing from the communal alleyway behind her house in Ansdell, in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, when she phoned up Fylde Council to report the loss, she was told the bin had been confiscated because it had been left in the wrong place, the official warned her to keep it in her back garden or face a fine of up to £1,000, after pointing out that the council’s edict was impractical as her garden was so small her bin was returned, a member of the council’s waste enforcement team also visited Mrs Pugh and agreed she could keep the bin in a smaller passage, known as a ginnel, leading off the main alleyway,

but you know how these petty officials work, council officials were secretly dispatched to inspect the alleyway five times to check she had kept the agreement, and it was not long before Mrs Pugh found, once again, that her bin had gone missing, she had put it in the wrong place, after I suspect some publicity a spokesman for Fylde Council said the bin had been removed following ‘a number of complaints’ but that Mrs Pugh could now get it back without charge,

but what a great game, at the time I was talking about back in the 1950's us street kids had a game of 'knock down ginger' you rang a door bell then ran away to ovoid a clip round the ear if caught by the householder, just think of the fun nowadays moving every ones bins making it look like an act of civil disobedience as armies of council inspectors call round to photograph them, to add to the fun you could even knock a few over!

We Decided To Organise Some Of Our DVD Collection Today,

so often I have been looking for a DVD then failed to see it,

we already have them sorted in four areas, fiction, fiction in box sets, non-fiction and BluRay, at the end of the day fiction and BluRay were alphabetized, just out of interest this is the free programme we used, http://alphabetizer.flap.tv/  just put the titles in and hit the alphabetize key and hey presto it is done, also there is a print list option, again just hit the print button, do not forget to turn the printer on, D'Oh!

after our evening meal the rain started, although everyone said the last big storm was a once in a decade affair one can not help but look to see if the water was not collecting,

 the good news was that all was well, so that was all right then!

during breaks in the DVD sorting we watched the first couple of DVDs from Ancient Aliens, more than a fare share of over the rainbow pronouncements, but there were a number of for me interesting sections, like for instance the Oak Island Money Pit, moving on,

Sharpe's Gold rounded off the evening, Sharpe is sent on a mission to exchange rifles for deserters with a strange band of Spanish guerrilla's, another great boys own adventure, then for us off to bed.