Another One Of Those Good Luck Stories,

that I like so much,

although this time it is a charity that has the good luck when a bag of bits and pieces was dropped off at one of its shops, the bag contained a bamboo brush holder, made between 1662 and 1722 by one of the most famous artists of the day, Gu Jue, the charity put the holder into an auction where the final price for it settled at £360,000, quiet a bit more than the guide price which was £15,000-25,000,


Janet Loud, St Peter's Hospice Head of Shops, said: 'We are shocked but delighted that this brush pot far exceeded the amount even experts believed it would raise at auction', but to be fair imagine it was you that dropped the bag of bits and pieces into the shop and you have just read over your morning breakfast how much you had just given away!

There Did Not Seem To Be Much Happening That We Found Interesting, Amusing Or Just Plain Weird In The Papers Today,

so straight on with the post,

 we had a busy day, firstly Brian called in for a cup of coffee and a chat, followed by Mark, then Alex, so the day just flew past,

 I did pop out during the day, so a quick couple of pictures of the amaryllis, the first flower is past its best,

 but the one on the second stem is looking so nice,

with one more still to open, I called round to see Noi, she takes my two bikes and truck to the vehicle testing station every year for their road worthiness certificate, government insurance payment and road tax/fund disc, as a guide for the truck, a 3 liter turbo charged diesel, was for fully comprehensive insurance 10,000 baht, this is not compulsory but it is a good idea to have it, the government insurance, road fund tax and road worthiness certificate was 3,000 baht, so the truck is taxed, insured (Government and private) and given its road worthy certificate, total 13,000 baht (£262  $411), then feet up for our evening meal and the evenings entertainment,

An Audience with Kenneth Williams, I am not sure if Kenneth Williams is well known outside of the UK, but he was well known for his part in comedy shows on the radio and of course his 'Carry On' films, some 20 of them, so many stories but then he starred with so many great actors during his life,

another comedy with an all star cast, A Fish Called Wanda, a plan to steal diamonds is beset with double dealings and a villain who loves animals, but who unfortunately leads to the demise of many! great fun,

what better way to round the evening off than Christmas at Downton Abbey? a wonderful series, Diana was clapping her hands with glee as the episode neared its end and all was panning out in this love story as she wished, but to be fair I find love stories a little off centre, but this one is spot on as there are so many other things like murder, sudden death and war going on at the same time, all to soon the story ended, the good news is that series 3 is well along the production path, so hopefully before the end of the year we will learn the fate of all concerned, then for us we were off to bed.

Friday Started With Another Early Start,

I dropped Diana off at the Dentist,

I then called over to have a coffee with Slim Jim, unfortunately the battery in my phone had decided to die but I received a call from Diana with the last few nano volts in it, but not enough power to say any thing, so I guessed she had finished in the dentist, had compleated her shopping and was waiting in the cafe where we normally have a ice coffee, so parking up in Friendship car park I made my way into the market,

 this truck might look overloaded but it is here every week just like this, so I guess it passes muster when the police see it.

 the aquarium shop seemed to be quite busy,

 lots of plants on offer, Diana was not in the cafe,

 so I made my way back to where I had parked the bike and there she was, so a quick bit of shopping and home we went, Mark called round for a coffee or two then for us feet up till it was time to go to the Friday night market in Thepprisitt Road,

 Diana likes the amaryllis,

 the new flower spike,

 the first spike with the third flower just starting to open,

 then off to the market, after parking the bike you will always hear a parrot like bird calling,

 a pretty little chap,

 as with most jungle living birds a very loud cry, it needs to be, so that it can be heard through the jungle canopy,

 although we are a bit early this week most of the stalls have already pitched up,

 it was a bit dark and cloudy, which did not look promising for later,

 opposite the bar a couple of communications companies had set up,

 this one True Vision, the company that we use for our satellite television,

 the aisles still fairly empty,

 as was the slushie stall,

 more clouds coming in from the sea,

 I am not quiet sure what these are, but they looked like grapes on a stick,

 next door boiling oil,

 I will keep clear of that,

 and these,

 some where in there there are lots of bits of chicken, delicious!

 the stall owners must have thought it was going to rain as they were putting awnings up to protect their stall and the aisles from rain,

 luckily for us it held off for the evening,

 the bar was a bit crowded, which is good for the owner,

 as well as the new roof lights and fans have also been installed,

 we were joined by Brain for a beer, also normally referred to as grand pa-pa tonight I was just pa-pa, I must have lost a few years!

 we were also joined by Brian's wife Sa and one of her cousins,

 Diana returned with our shopping, also Thomas is back in Pattaya with his Mum, another gentleman called over to say hello, I am not sure of the spelling of his name but the word Shell is the correct way to pronounce it, he has been reading our blog for some time and called over to say Hi,

then home for our evening meal and another couple from the Harry Potter box, this time the 2004 Prisoner of Azkaban, as usual great special effects in the third year of school,

to round off our evening the 2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hogwarts is hosting 'The Triwizard Tournament', a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic : Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, no prizes for guessing who wins but still enjoyable to watch, then for us off to bed.

I Have Just Found Another Pool I Think I Will Give A Wide Berth To,

given my fear of heights, good though it looks,

I think I will give this pool a miss, designed by Architect Moshe Safdie, the very same architect who designed Marina Bay Sands Singapore the Sky Habitat at Bishan offers 1+Study / 2 / 2+Study / 3 / 4 bedrooms & Penthouses, but for me the feature is the pool, it is 38 storeys high!

I know it is perfectly safe, but just the thought of standing close to the edge gives me the heebie jeebes, but do not let me put you off buying one, the features listed for the development seem to have thought of everything, flat owners will also be able to traverse the two structures via sky bridges on the 14th and 26th floors, Wong Heang Fine, CEO of CapitaLand Residential Singapore which is developing the site, said: 'with Sky Habitat, we are creating a habitat for the future; a condominium that is also a house, while structurally a high-rise apartment, Sky Habitat will give residents the feeling of living in a house, this is because of the natural ventilation, lush gardens, sky bridges and open walkways that surround them'.

Message To The Bridge,

'look out for the bridge!',

unfortunately it is thought that due to the fact that passengers and stores were not on board coupled with a high tide the luxury cruise ship Pearl NO 7, bump into a bridge in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, the accident happened last Wednesday, thankfully no injuries were reported, a bit of a oops! moment for all concerened.

Another One Of Those Days We Did Not Go Out,

we just had a lazy day at home,

 so it was feet up to watch a few DVDs, firstly Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I guess everyone knows the story by now, but it was nice to watch it again on the new television,

 we had bought the complete box set, so also in the same double DVD pack was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, again we had watched it before, but still enjoyable, Mark called over in the afternoon so we watched some of it whilst he was here,

 we also looked at Alaska: Spirit of the Wild, stunning images in this IMAX film,

 after Mark left and we had finished our evening meal Beetlejuice was next, Adam and Barbara are a normal couple...who happen to be dead but wish to continue to 'loive' in their old house, a new family move in, the couple have to haunt the house to get the new owners to move out, nice off beat comedy, the name Beetlejuice has a passing resemblance to a star Betelgeuse which just might blow up, (in a few million years),

Runaway Jury saw us into the late evening, a semi court room drama as a jury appears to be swayed by a insider, the case itself revolves around the sale of guns, should the gun maker be made responsible for the end use of its product, I guess the same way if a drunk in a car deliberately runs down a queue of people waiting for a bus do the relatives of the dead sue the drink manufacturer, the car maker, or the bus company for the bus running late?

 

finally Waking the Dead, Anger Management, the Team effectively proves that dead man was a murder victim, not a suicide and narrows their prime suspects to three inmates at the halfway house where the crime was committed, what a day we were worn out after all of that so for us we were off to bed!

Beware Of The Lampposts In Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset,

council officials think they are so weak they could fall over!

all it would take is a little bit of bunting to bring the street lights crashing down, council chiefs have banned Jubilee bunting from town centre lamp posts - over health and safety fears, Somerset County Council says every lamppost would have to be ‘stress tested’ to ensure they are strong enough to hold the lightweight decorations, which is a shame as that it will mean that shop keepers will not be allowed to hang our national flag to celebrate the Jubilee next week end,

I must admit it comes as a shock that a council would let the lampposts get into such a state of disrepair that a bit of light weight bunting would bring the street lights down, spokesman Jonathan Walter said: 'We simply wanted to hang the bunting between shops and lamp posts, what damage can a bit of string and plastic do?'


it appears that the lamppost weakness has been officially known about for some time after the town declined to enter the Britain-in-Bloom competition this year because the lamp posts were deemed too weak to support hanging baskets, strange how they were strong enough for all of the years before, but if they are so weak why were they not replaced then? just think the council knowingly let its citizens walk past these potential death traps with no concern that the weight of just a little bunting could bring them down to kill and maim.