First Stop Today,

Malibu Travel Co. Ltd.,

 but a quick look at one of the cactus before we go,

 it has a double flower, but by the time we return it will already have been past it's best,

 as the flowers on this one last just 1 day,

 I dropped Diana off to meet with a friend of hers then off I went, to find Malibu Travel go to the dolphin roundabout and go up the slight hill towards Naklua, drive past the BonCafe which will be on your right, 

and look out for this sign on the left,

 as a further landmark just past the turning on your right you will see the Aiyara Palace Hotel,

 drive about 50 yards along the made up road,

  and there it is in Soi 16/3, walk through the hotel entrance and the Malibu office is at the rear of the passageway,

 we booked a mini bus for our upcoming trip to Koh Chang, the staff there always smiling and helpful,

the company's card,

 next stop, the huge store behind the Big C in North Pattaya,

  outside lots of garden ornaments,

 chickens with I guess welcome signs are always popular out here,

 with lots of others to chose from,

 also a few water features were here,

 and in case you needed reminding a few water guns for the upcoming Songkran festival,

 there were a few plastic pots as well, I had actually called in for some wine glasses we were down to the last one of the short stemmed ones of the six we bought some time ago,

next stop as I was in the area, Wattana Computers, just opposite the Foodland Supermarket, to get an update on the progress of transferring data from our old computer, all was not well as it kept crashing, but another few days should see the external hard drive back home crammed with pictures and other important information,

 and as it was in the same street just a short stop from them I called into the plant shop,

 I should say market,

 as it is a series of shops under the same roof,

 tempted as I was with these bromeliads, I did not buy any,

 but I had to have a look at the cactus,

 some having messages painted on them,

 whilst others have been grafted, 

 the bonsai were tempting as well, but resist I did,

 next stop Jack Levy's office,

 on Pattaya Tai,

 it did not look it, but the road was packed with traffic, I had called in to pick up the truck insurance policy, also to arrange for travel insurance for Diana's family for when they call over for a holiday,

 the just as I was leaving the office Diana called to say she was ready to be picked up, so a little more shopping and off we went back home where we were treated to another nice display,

 one of the other cactus now had 4 flowers and nice they were too,

 after our evening meal, feet up for some television, first, The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes, although a little dated, it was made in 1970 it was still great fun,

 keeping to a fun theme, the 2008 version of The Pink Panther, quite funny in places but Peter Sellers was never going to be an easy act to follow,

to round of the evening fun of a different kind of fun, if spending millions of dollars and finding little is your idea of fun, the first series of The Curse of Oak Island for us very entertaining, which we finished watching this evening, I just hope for all of their sakes in the second series of Oak Island which we are both looking forward to the island is kinder to them than in the first series, now a quick heads up, tomorrow is April 1st, April Fools Day, so do not get fooled! and with that we were off to bed.

Is There A New Monster,

living in Florida?

I should say the term monster is relative, but it could be true, in a new study published in PLOS One scientists found that two incredibly invasive species of termite, the Formosan subterranean termite and Asian subterranean termite, have started breeding, giving birth to a new race of super-strong, highly adaptable termites and guess what is to blame? you guessed it global warming, it happens like this, there are only three places in the world where both species have a foothold: Hawaii, Taiwan, and South Florida, but usually the ants' mating seasons does not overlap, in Florida, the Asian subterranean termite mates in February, months before the Formosan, but in both 2013 and 2014 researchers observed both species mating at the same time, producing large broods of hybrid termites, the researchers note in the paper that both years had warm winters in Florida, the thought is that if these two spices interbreed and there is no reason they should not as it appears it has already happened and the offspring can produce viable young a new super ant will take over, with a new devastating range, the hybrid offspring might have a temperature tolerance that stretches from North Carolina to Brazil, oh no! we have breed a super wood eating ant and it is all our fault, I keep getting flashbacks of a film called Them! but those monster ants were caused by nuclear testing, they did have global warming in those days.

Can You Eat Cactus?

well these ones you can,

every so often we post pictures of our cactus in flower, but for a change a picture of some that are edible, these culinary creations are from the website of Alana Jones-Mann, if you think they look to good to eat you would be wrong, all you have to do is follow this tutorial, edible cactus, who would have thought it?

As Regular As Clockwork,

Sunday arrived again, the weeks just seem to fly past,

 we were off for Sunday lunch, but first a few pictures of the cactus, this one should be nice in a few days, a double flower which although it only lasts a day makes up for it by being 2 or 3 inches across,

 this one in flower again, 

 with more on the way,

 and in one of the other pots, 

 this one put on a good show,

 then we were off, Mr. Tony kindly picked us up and we parked in Soi Lengkee,

 looking back towards Third Road the new building on it nearing completion,

 we made our way towards Soi Bukaow,

 towards Soi Diana,

 a look along the unusually quiet Soi Bukaow,

 entering Soi Diana look out for the Soi LK Metro sign, 

 if you want to eat where we are in The Robin's Nest as it is just before the sign,

 the chef making sure all of the trays of food for the 279 baht all you can eat 3 course carvery are present and correct,

 Diana decided against the carvery and chose the spaghetti bolognese,

 whilst Slim Jim who joined us, 

 Mr. Tony,

 and myself all went with the carvery, we had all decided against the leek and potato first course soup,

then on with the ice cream, as always all of the staff were happy and smiling,

 as were we,

 to round off the meal a latte coffee,

 we said our goodbyes to Slim Jim and made a move back to the car,

 walking past some of the food stalls at the top of Soi Diana,

 and across the still quiet Soi Bukaow,

to the hotel where we had parked the car,

then home and feet up for a few instalments of  laughter, mirth and merriment as we watched some more of the first season of Little Britain, after saying our farewells to Mr. Tony a couple from Poirot and we were off to bed.