First Thing,

 And We Were Off To The Market,

 so we parked up in Friendship super market,

 there were hardly any people there, we wanted to beat the rush and the heat,

 over the road a shop was being blessed by monks,

we made our way to the Soi Bukaow entrance, where there were the usual line of baht buses waiting,

 Diana went to the shoe stalls, I made my way through the main market,

 lots of shirts,

 with fruit and other goodies for sale,

 the small fish stall in the center of the market,

 but this was what I had called in for,

a new watch, I had bought one several months ago, but the strap had broken, the price of a new strap was 150 baht, but for a new watch 199 baht, as the battery was by now already several months old it made more sense to buy a new watch for the extra 49 baht, the strap had to be made a little smaller, as the assistant took a few moments to effect the change,

I noticed the stall next door was selling rabbits, memories and visions of Christmas dinners at Uncle Harry's in my youth started to appear,

then on to the plant stalls, orchids in abundance, 

 I really liked these ones,

 as well as stalls with predefined pitches, there are mobile one like this,

 going past this one the smell of fresh orange juice was almost too tempting,

I did not buy a juice as we had arranged to meet for a coffee, whilst in the cafe I took a picture of my new watch, a genuine SENKQ,

for me success, but no luck for Diana, the shoes she had seen many weeks ago were still not back in stock,

so back to the car park, I noticed this bike whilst we were there, we have seen it around town may times with the rider treating every one to some music as he passes,

 but it looks more impressive at night when hundreds of blue LEDs light it up,

 we made a move to Walking Street for breakfast,

 the Samsung sign still working I am happy to say,

looking past the waste water outlets on our way to Pattaya Beer Garden, I had thought that the sand on the beach might have been washed away by the recent floods, but there was still some beach left in the distance,

 the view looking towards the Pattaya City sign,

 a better view looking towards Nagklua,

it seems strange to think when I first came out here there were hardly any high rise buildings on Beach Road,

 some of the local fishermen making their way to work,

 another view of the bay,

 and the City sign, 

the building built over the sea on the right is where we had our seafood meal a couple of weeks ago,

 a closer look at The Sea Zone dinning area,

 the Pattaya Beer Garden kitchen, it was still quiet early, so not many customers,

also because of the time there was a fairly limited menu, but a club sandwich for myself and diet coke,

and the same for Diana, looking at my watch I noticed it had been 11.20 before we ordered our meal, it was now 11.20 and we had finished! so back to the market where the battery was changed then home we went, as we arrived home Wattana Computers called, the new transformer would not be arriving today or tomorrow, it appears Epson do not keep any spares in Thailand, expected time of delivery one month! shame on you Epson, very poor customer service, I know I could by a no-brand transformer but as the scanner was more than a little expensive I decided to wait for the new unit, I just hope Epson keep to their word and do not drag it out any longer,

during the day I made a slight modification to our flood defenses, I bought a square of aluminium to wedge behind the Perspex to stop it from flexing too much under the pressure of water, 

I filed it down to a tight fit then tapped it home with a hammer, I will leave it in place for another couple of months till the wet season has finished,

then feet up for the first DVD from the Big Dinosaur Box, Walking With Dinosaurs from the BBC, so much information and the special effects were just right,

why do I like Fitzcarraldo so much? although the name Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, Fitzcarraldo as he was known in the film, (the locals could not pronounce the name), he was known in real life as Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald, a rubber baron who lived in Iquitos, they both did indeed transport a ship over a mountain, the difference being in real life it was taken to pieces, in the film hauled up by ropes and pulleys and under it's own steam power to the front anchor winch,

the film had a back drop of war between Peru and Ecuador, oil wells, arguments and huge problems with both local and impotrted extras, well worth buying for the story behind the making of the film Burden of Dreams, which came with the DVD I purchased, for me a great film,

to round of the evening MI5, episode #9.6, the CIA provides MI-5 with what is supposed to be a hacker-proof computer system, Cybershell, but Tariq realizes that the Grid has been hacked into already, Oops! in episode #9.7, Harry and Ruth realize that Lucas is in big trouble and take him into custody, there he reveals his true identity, double Oops!! before giving up for the evening, episode #9.8, Lucas is on the run and has taken Ruth prisoner, He gives Harry a simple choice: the Albany file for Ruth's life, Harry is determined not to let Ruth down again and decides to make the swap, could this be triple Oops?!! then for us off to bed.