I Am Only Making A Short Post Today

 at the crack of dawn I was at the shop, to sign for a skip, over the past few days we have been draining down the aquariums and starting to dismantle the stands they were on, today the first of the skips arrived, the next week will be very busy for us, as we start to close Kingfisheries down, a sad end to our business, but we could not compete with the Internet, so that is that.

The Holiday Was Tinged,

with a couple of days of sadness and reflection,

 

regular readers will know that the second of my 2 lifelong pals Duncan, passed away shortly before our holiday started, 

he was married to Melina, 

together they had 3 children, Holley, Jade and Amber,

here he is with one of them,

and two of them together,

and here they are now, Holly, Jade and Amber, one a fully qualified doctor, the other two at university,

we have known each other since we first meet in the 1960s at the Court School of Ballroom Dancing, and remained good friends ever since, we travelled to Thailand, the Philippines where he meet Melina, Stavanger, Aberdeen and so many other places where the oil industry took him, he was 80 years old, but for the past several years had been bed bound, the sad day was when I joined his funeral over a video link,

the second sad day was for Barry Kenyon, a neighbour when we lived in Thailand, we both had a passion for cats, he wrote various articles and every month or so would invite us to join him in a restaurant he was reviewing our going to review with us, 

he was with the British Embassy in 1995, serving as Honorary Consul in Pattaya and Immigration Liaison Officer until 2010, and indeed he gave advise to Diana and myself with Diana's visa application for the UK

He graduated with First Class Honor's in Latin, Greek, and Ancient History from Liverpool University in 1964, later earning a PhD in Sociology and Criminology in 1970, a great friend who will be missed by many, his death so avoidable, as he was crossing a road the day we arrived a motorcycle went through a red light and hit him, Barry died the next day, 

I attended the funeral in Pattaya,

so many wreaths,

 

and mourners, 

if you are not familiar with funerals in Thailand, 

everyone pays their respects to the deceased,

the coffin is then pulled round the crematorium 3 times,

before the final ceremony, below, 

these 2 photographs from the Pattaya Mail,

there is more about him here, a sad couple of days indeed.

Another Night In Walking Street,

I decided to photograph a few of the neon signs, 

and new business in Walking Street, so out of my hotel turn right and down to the street,

my favorite sign in the street, Sea Zone,

the view from Dang's Bar looking across the street, 

and to the right,

at the end of Dang's bar the ever popular food on a stick stall,

the money spent on some of these signs must be huge, 

do they work to entice customers in? who knows! but the bar owners must, 

although it was early quite a few people on the street, 

in the distance the new LED Walking Street sign,

past the Lighthouse,

and Sea Zone,

between them Master Seafood,

full face Sea Zone,

and the bit above the entrance,

new for this year, 2 young ladies sit on a bench, customers throw balls at a target, 3 balls for 100 baht, if successful the ladies fall into a vat of water, I was amazed even from 12 feet or so away at how poor many customers aim was,

 

the new Walking Street sign, 

past World Gems which seems to have been there forever, 

looking back, 

I watched the sign,

change a few times, 

then along the walkway that leads out over the sea, past a few bars on my left,

to Pattaya Beer Garden, but alas they were full and had more than a few people waiting for a table,

so back to the crossroad,

I fancied a kebab, 

so the Istanbul it was, 

a complimentary starter, 

I was glad I ordered the small lamb kebab!

which came with freshly baked bread, then back to Dang's for the rest of the evening watching tourists go to and fro along the street,

but on the way I looked in at the Master Seafood display,

and there they were, 

Alakan King crab, I was so tempted but at 1,900 for half a kilo, I decided against, I have a nasty feeling most of the weight is in the shell!

in Dang's bar I was soon joined by Vic and Joy, who I spent the rest of the evening with before I was back to my hotel and off to bed.