Me And Electrics,

is never a good mix, 

even though our new printer is less than a few months old, we kept getting this message, on our last trip back to TukCom with it we were told to hold one of the buttons down for 10 seconds which we did, we received the same message and the black was now grey, so back we went again, 

 and was told this time everything would be fine,

we plugged it in and this is what we saw, as it was late and as it is the weekend so TukCom will be crowded we will call back on Monday, with anything electrical, even brand new for me, it will go wrong,

 I dropped Diana off at Tesco Lotus and parked the motorcycle in the motorcycle park at the weekend night market on Thepprasit Road,

 looking towards Jomtien,

 grey skies,

 and a bit of cloud looking inland,

 tonight opposite the bar a stall selling shorts and one selling clothes,

 although it does not look it, this was the most vivid lime green,

 work has continued on the structure,

 with most of the new work now covered in,

 the fruit stall open for business,

 the pet section still waiting for their roof,

 one of the ramps at the rear of what is to be I guess the car park, 

 the wooden supports have now been taken away,

 I stopped at the aquatic stall,

 where the owner had a new stock of redcap orandas, 

 and a few terrapins,

 not much else has happened on this side to the ramp,

 sunset over the market,

 I am not sure what they are selling, but it looks popular,

 any of these will make you stand out in the crowd,

 I have lots of Russian watches, most of which work when they want to, so I decided to buy a reliable time piece, and here it is,

 just 100 baht,

 I continued my walk to the bar and saw the fruit seller,

 sitting at the bar I looked at my new watch, it had stopped! 

 back to the stall where it was pronounced 'Kaput', by the ever smiling staff and given a replacement watch, me and anything electrical, but this must be a record even for me, to buy a product and within 60 seconds it breaks!

 it was starting to get dark,

 and tonight we were joined by the boys,

 on the way back home we stopped off at the Punch and Judy,

 we both decided against the Friday night special,

Diana decided on a cheese and pasta dish, 

 for myself the beef and beer pie, and delicious it was too, the Punch and Judy is situated on Soi 8 Thepprasit Road and nearly opposite what was once the Eden Hotel, arriving home it was feet up and relax, after watching a couple of quiz shows,

 we rounded off the evening with The Man with Two Brains, a great comedy from start to finish and with that we were off to bed.

It Looks Like A Toy,

and it sort of is,

but an incredibly powerful one, it is a Trailer Valet RVR robot-tank, it’s as easy as maneuvering an radio-controlled car, and so powerful, the top of the range version is capable of moving 9,000 pounds, they are powered by up to four powerful planetary gear motors and featuring heavy-duty caterpillar treads that allow it to do its job on multiple surfaces, asphalt, grass, dirt or gravel, 

the $2,100 base version features two planetary gear motors and is able to move up to 3,500 pounds, the $3,400 model has three motors and can handle 5,500 pounds, and the $4,100 RVR is powered by four gear motors and can easily move trailers as heavy as 9,000 pounds, they all appear to be roughly the same size and have an estimated 30-minutes of battery life, and no I am not on commission, it is just that when I remember last time I tried reversing with a trailer, it was a complete shambles, it would have been so much easier if I had one of these!

If You Are In Scotland,

or are thinking of going there,

 well to Aberdeen to be precise, you might want to go to the opening of Inky Protest, 

 a collaborative exhibition between Nuart and Peacock Visual Arts,

 which starts on Thursday, April 12,

 the exhibition will feature work by artists such as Brad Downey, Mike Giant and Ralph Steadman, Futura, Martha Cooper and Jamie Reid, all of the above from 2017, the images taken by Ian Cox, courtesy of Nuart Aberdeen, 

and as a taster a preview video.

Some Time Back,

we posted a piece,

about a festival in the city of Valencia, Spain, the annual five-day Falles Festival hosted the construction and burning of some 400 sculptures in neighborhoods across the city amidst constant displays of fireworks, parades, and enormous bubbling skillets of paella, the festival is so large it requires year-round preparation for communities to raise money to hire artisans to build each falla, and plan for eardrum shattering pyrotechnic displays called Mascletà that occur daily at 2pm,

 the sculpture was by Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel who was to build the Falla Mayor, the largest and last falla to be burnt during the celebration, and here is a video of it being burnt down by chopemdownfilms.

Back To Friendship,

never underestimate the importance of making a shopping list!

we were only here 2 days ago and we are back! it looks like the building next door will be condominiums with balconies on one of the rooms, handy for shopping for the dwellers if they are,

in the evening we decided on The Mummy, if you have not seen the movie and expect a comedy as in the Brendan Fraser type of Mummy films, you will be disappointed, this version of the genre is brutal, well acted and super special effects, well looking at these figures it should be good, but will it make the studio a profit? a wait and see I am afraid,

we rounded off the evening with an old favorite, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, at 3 hours long many people would find it a trial, but I can not think of one scene that should be cut or shortened, one of the great Westerns, and with the end of that we were off to bed.

Many Of Us Have Hobbies,

that revolve around collecting,

 in my case stamps, but here is a collection I would never have thought of, disposable hot drinks covers,

 the first question is, how many can there be?

well the answer is over 500 different shapes, designs and colours,

this collection is from Louise Harpman who works in the realms of architecture and urban design, she has gathered over 500 different examples to date, constituting the world’s largest collection of its kind, kept in museum-worthy conditions, these covers represent different things to different people, they are symbols of capitalism and modern to-go culture, they also highlight a design evolution that has been anything but linear, why, for instance, after all these years, have we not settled on a single solution? showcasing her collection is a way to encourage people to look more closely at objects we pick up and throw away without a second thought, so the next time you order a coffee to go, take a moment to appreciate the lid sitting discreetly between you and your drink, and ask who designed it this way and why, I will stick to collecting stamps.

Saltwater Paintings,

I was intrigued,

 Japanese self-taught artist Mai Hirashima, uses saltwater as paint, carefully applying it on paper canvases,

  using small brushes and thin bamboo skewers, and then applying heat to cause the water to evaporate and the salt crystallize in the desired shape,

in an interview with Japanese site Irorio, Hirashima said that she was inspired by cooking salt-baked fish and seeing how the salt adhered to the fish skin and crystallized into miniature corals,

Mai Hirashima begins the artistic process by preparing the saltwater, She then paints the outline of her composition using a paintbrush, and either letting it dry or applying heat from a stove to make the water evaporate faster, She then fills her designs, using a bamboo skewer to apply thicker layers, the artist achieves different shades of white by applying one or multiple layers of saltwater,

since she uses no adhesives or coatings, Mai Hirashima’s artworks are not only incredibly fragile, but also temporary, they are most vulnerable to humidity, which is why she usually doesn’t work during the rainy season, but her artworks will naturally degrade over time as well, Hirashima says that, depending on complexity, completing one of her saltwater paintings can take between 12 hours and a month,

so although it might be difficult to own an original, she has a series of exhibitions planned, you can check out more of Mai Hirashima’s amazing saltwater art on her Twitter and Instagram, saltwater painting, amazing!