Up Early,

and off fishing,

we were soon at the lake,

when we were joined by one of the local cats,

 who decided to adopt us,

 for some of the day as we ate some of Nick's delicious cake,

 and keeping an eye out for the first fish of the day,

 it was a waiting game,

 until a stray dog walked past,

 and it tried to double it's size,

 but soon things were back to normal,

Diana took these pictures, this one reminded me of stage hypnotist Kenny Craig from Little Britain, 'Look into my eyes, look into the eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes (finger clicks) you're under, [insert instructions for what they should do], 3, 2, 1, you're back in the room',

 the cat was by now starting to lose interest,

 as on the fishing front things were very quiet,

 and for some reason it was so unbelievably hot,

 then it was all action as Nick was into the first fish of the day,

 it was a good size,

 and put up a real fight,

 and was soon in the net,

 the downside was that,

 it is the one type of fish here that is not so good to eat as it is full of very fine bones, so back he went,

 in the distance the rumble of thunder and dark clouds in the sky looked ominous,

 then my first fish of the day,

 so off to the kitchen with him,

 in the far distance, 

 a couple of lotus flowers had opened,

 breakfast is served,

 and the cat and kittens knew it,

 I think they ate more than we did!

 then the heavens opened up,

 a real tropical downpour,

 as soon as the rain started it stopped again, 

 which was the signal for Nick to catch another fish,

 unfortunately another bony one, but that is how the score ended 2 - 1 to Nick,

if you want to fish here, it is the Mamak fishing park, their map above, it is off of Soi Nub Plan Wan, (spelt as it sounds), turn into the Soi from Sumkivitt, over the railway crossing and continue for a couple of miles, the road starts to go downhill, near the bottom of it you will see the road the fishing park is on the right hand side, follow that for a while, it twists and turns a bit and the fishing park is on the left next to a soccer ground, there are rods and tackle for hire and bait to buy, plus a fridge full of beer!

 then back to Nick and Maureen's for a roast dinner, 

 pork and crackling plus lots of vegetables,

 which we followed with ice cream and cheese and biscuits,

then on to the serious part of the evening after a Irish coffee, Monopoly, which as you can see I won, we thanked Nick and Maureen for their kind hospitality and made a move for home, then feet up for a episode of Garrow's Law, at nearly midnight we were then off to bed.

I Never Knew That Garden Gnomes,

could create such passionate feelings,

but some did in the communal garden at Waverley Close in Clydach, Swansea, so much so that a 80-year-old man had to be taken to hospital after suffering an angina attack after an argument, South Wales Police confirmed residents had been 'spoken to', now Swansea council has said all ornaments must be removed from the shared garden, a letter to residents from a Swansea Council housing team leader said: 

'Over a period of time officers have responded to issues raised by residents, which included threats, intimidation, accusations of theft, financial inconsistencies and damage to the communal areas, while this type of behaviour is inappropriate and unacceptable, officers have been working with those involved in order to reach a satisfactory outcome without success, regrettably, however, after careful consideration as landlords of this complex, it has been decided that all structures, ornaments of any descriptions must be removed from the communal areas with immediate effect, I am sorry that the behaviour of a small minority of residents has resulted in this decision being made, however, there is no other option available to us as landlords to ensure the health and well-being of all residents', 

does anyone have a home for some garden gnomes? if so contact the housing team leader.

I Often Post Newspaper Clippings That We Find Amusing,

so here are a few more with a slight difference,

these are advertisement placements that occur when on line ad placements get it slightly wrong,

most times ads appear on your page because of your geographic location,

or your browsing history, in any event I am sure it was not what the advertiser had in mind when the ad was placed, many thanks 22 words.

Leaving Aside The Argument,

if home solar panels will ever pay for themselves,

it appears that in America and I guess most other places home owners place their solar panels facing south, where they can best capture rays from the sun when it rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest, that way, residents collect the most power possible throughout the day, which they can use in their own homes or sell to the grid (if they have any power leftover), but critics say the panels would actually do more good facing west, where they could capture sunlight during the midday and afternoon when energy is most needed, 

while south-facing solar panels are the most profitable for panel owners, they actually raise the demand for other power sources that they simultaneously put out of business, relying on morning and evening sunlight means that solar panels aren’t producing as much as they could during the middle of the day, when communities need the bulk of their power, therefore, homes with solar panels continue to rely on other power sources to support them during the middle of the day,

but here's where things get a little turn on it's head, plants that depend on selling electricity around the clock suffer, because all solar panels are producing energy during the same non-peak hours, nuclear power plants in particular don’t have the ability to produce energy only at certain times of the day, and solar power sources often drive them out of business, according to The Times, that leaves natural gas power plants, which are cheaper and have more flexibility in terms of production, to pick up the slack during the middle of the day, so in essence, homeowners who installed rooftop solar panels to promote sustainable energy are actually bolstering the natural gas industry, probably not what they had in mind, well the easy way to settle whether your panels should face south or west, go nuclear!

Straight On To Today's Post,

as we are out early to go fishing,

 first thing and it did not look good,

 I had an appointment at the dentist at 2.30 in the afternoon and all morning it had been raining hard, but at about 1.00 the skies finally cleared,

 so in to the dentist and work began, it appeared that a lot drilling and preparation work was needed, 40 or so minuets later and all was almost done, then the lights went out, after 10 minuets the power came back, then went off again for another few minuets but soon after that and 800 baht later and I was on my way, next stop pick up Diana's laptop, so I took a short cut through what is the Soi Bukaow market,

 normally on a Tuesday and Friday all of this area is covered with a tent city covering hundreds of stalls, but other days,

  it is just a big car park,

 then to Wattana Computers, this is the side entrance, they had made the start up so much quicker and did a virus check, 400 baht later and I was on my way,

 driving a few meters down Pattaya Central from the computer shop on the same side I stopped off at the area where flowers are sold,

 lots to chose from,

 including,

 you guessed it!,

 orchids, 

 so many to chose from,

 I also spotted these on the top couple of shelves,

 cyclamen, they looked so nice I nearly bought some,

 the bromeliads tempted me as well,

 then another temptation, 

 a display of bonsai,

 I made my way through the hardware section,

 to the rear of the stalls, it appears that there are about 10 or 12 different stalls in all each selling different plant groups, but at the rear there is a bar and stage, 

 which I guess gets busy in the evenings,

 I made my way back,

 past some more orchids, 

 then spotted these, a number of mini bitter orange tree,

 we already have one, but it is past it's prime, it is all leaves and few actual fruits, so I bought this one,

 then next door another fruit tree,

 this time a lemon, when I have my morning and evening meals Diana grates a frozen lemon over them, so I thought why not grow our own lemons?

 they were soon in the bag,

 and on the bike, off to my next stop,

 the fishing tackle shop on Thepprasit Road, to buy the bait for Thursday,

 I made it home and managed to miss the showers, in the evening we had a romantic candle lit meal for two planned, with a bottle of wine kindly given to us by Barry,

  the fish were going to enjoy our meal too as they receive a few extra feeds,

 we had decided to have an Indian meal,

 when we went to the Indian take away last week, the Country Favourite we deliberately ordered extra food for this evening, 

 and it was delicious, 'Cheers!',

to keep us in an Indian mood we listen to one of my favourite Indian musicians, Bhupen Hazarika, he was an Indian lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam who sadly died in 2011, 

and this is the song that captures for me Indian music, Chira Jugamia Dhow Tuli, 

to round our meal off some brie and dry biscuits, we listen to music for most of the evening, then a episode of Lewis on TMN and we were off to bed.