We Were Out Early,

to go fishing with Nick and Maureen,

 I was still not 100% after my bout of fever but the headache was not too bad,

 the sky was overcast,

 with not a puff of wind,

 but somehow the sun broke through making it almost unbearably hot,

 things on the fishing front were a bit quiet, then Nick was in to one,

 it was putting up a good fight,

 but unfortunately not one we could eat, so back he went,

the ice cream van was brought to a halt by one of the children from one of the other groups on the lake, here is a good sales plan, give the kid the ice cream then ask the child to fetch the money from Mum or Dad, works every time!

 it was so quiet on the fishing front, there were no dragonflies or birds on the lake today, just this one lizard to photograph,

 who was camera shy, the fishing was so slow, all afternoon Nick held the score 1 - 0, so at the usual time we decided on the 'forlorn hope' the name we give to the last cast of the day, Nick confident he had the championship in the bag,

 or so he thought, he had already taken his line out of the water,

 as I did so, a bite,

 and a fish was in the net,

 it was too small to keep, but as I reminded Nick, 'it still counts as one!', as family read this blog I will not post Nick's reply! so for the second time on the forlorn hope I had at least this time forced a draw, but of course it was all good natured banter,

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!

 we made a move back to Nick and Maureen's, Diana thinking about a swim,

 on the far side of the pool, 

 an Aloe vera (Aloe Barbadensis) was flowering, it appears to have a number of healing properties for burns and such,

 the good news is that it is also easy to grow, if you keep it free from frost,

 after a starter of spring rolls Nick had prepared a chicken Panang curry with rice,

 'Cheers!',

 for dessert the pièce de résistance cooked by Nick, a lemon meringue,

 skilfully cooked,

 and cut,

 Diana received almost a quarter of the meringue,

 I guess she was hungry!

 we all had a smaller slice, it looked and was delicious,

 eyes down and tuck in!,

after a coffee on to the serious part of the evening, Monopoly!, in a cruel twist of fate I landed on Park Lake and then picked up a card 'go to Mayfair' a few more trips round the board and two hotels later and I had won, we thanked Nick and Maureen for their hospitality and made a move for home, then a couple of Columbo, a paracetamol for my headache and we were off to bed.