Yesterday I Was Thinking About My Dream Car,

here is one in the frame, the Jaguar, (I have always liked Jags), C-X75, a hybrid car with a 200 m.p.h. engine under the bonnet, 62 in 3.5 seconds, 100 m.p.h. coming up in 5.5 seconds, it can go from London to Berlin on just 60 liters of fuel using jet turbine technology,

so at last a car manufacturer has caught up with one of the cars that we saw in the science museum in London last month JET 1 the 1950 jet car that Rover produced, I wonder why it has taken so long? any way I popped into the jaguar web site to place an order for one to be delivered next year when production models are available, guess what the message was I received?

It Was Raining All Day

what was worse it got even heavier towards the evening, but not to worry we just settled down to watch a couple of movies, after watching 28 Days Later it was on to 28 Weeks Later, the plague of zombies has died out so London is being recolonised, but, you guessed it, some one who appears to be free from infection starts the outbreak again which then spreads to Europe, good gripping movie although you guess the outcome, but what I liked best was the fact that all of the infected people run at 'normal' speed not just lurching about so you can dodge past them,

now District 9 is a real off the wall movie, superb special effects by the way, a spaceship hovers over South Africa, beneath it a township of the aliens is formed, a decision after nearly 30 years is made to move the alien township a couple of hundred miles away as the new comers do not respect property or ownership of goods, but one of the officials of the move opens a canister by mistake and starts to transform, then the fun begins!

then time to change and off for our meal, our first Indian meal since our return from the UK, it was poring down with rain as we climbed aboard the Secrets taxi,

and where else? to Ali Baba in Central Road,

both Diana and myself enjoy the food here and the ambiance, lots of little things and pictures to look at,

for a starter we had poppadoms, then chicken chat and a prawn puri, both of which we shared, both starters were really the size of a main course,

'Cheers!' from both of us,

then for the main course chicken tikka massalla, dry chicken tikka and peas pilaow rice, with 3 glasses of wine, one coke and one water 1,400 baht, a tad expensive perhaps but the food was so nice it was worth every baht,

then home for the last out of our Hitchcock box The Birds, great film, Diana had not seen it before and was captivated by it, as a bonus Alfred was so easy to spot in this one, a couple from Tales of the Unexpected, then off to bed.

The Day Started Out Overcast

with thunder in the distance, just as we left the house the rain started, the good news was that it sort of followed us not too hard, but I was glad I had the rain mac on, the good news was that many had decided not to chance the rain, so the hell hole under The Central Festival was not crowded at all, one of the only time we have been there and not had a problem, parking or being blocked in by other bikes,

unfortunately there was nothing on that we wanted to see in the big cinema, so fall back plan A, a ride in the 4D theater, a bit expensive at 200 baht each, but so much fun in 7 minuets, Diana was shrieking with laughter as was I, we had been on the 'ride' before, so this time we knew what to expect, this time Cosmic Coaster, great fun!

next a bit of shopping, a couple of Sudoku books for Diana, I have tried to master this game, but I have no idea how to play it, I just get a mental block,

on the way to the lift we stopped off at one of the big television stores, and there was my dream selection, two series 7 Samsung LED televisions 46" and 55" and two series 8 televisions again 46" and 55" all playing the same DVD, do not get me wrong they are all fine pieces of kit, but the series 8 46" was way above the rest, now where do I get 119,000 baht to buy it, oh and I forgot the sound system, but one piece of good news, buy the television and you get the 3D Blu-Ray player thrown in for free and three sets of 3D glasses - bargain!

now in the lift, we are going to do a bit of shopping in the food court on the ground floor,

a very gray, wet Pattaya bay,

I would have taken a picture of the food court, but as soon as I took my camera out of my pocket a security guard came rushing over 'no picture, no picture!' I guess he thought I was a spy from Tesco or Makro, shame really what harm would it have done if two tourists wanted to take a shot of some of the fabulous things on display there? but the good news inside I found this, apple cider vinegar, I have read that a couple of teaspoons of this twice a day helps with the gout and diabetes the trick is to buy organic and with 'mother' a term used to describe the ingredients in the mix, I have tried it, it tastes like, well vinegar, so I will see over the next week or so how I fare, I should say last night my foot swelled up again and walking was painful today,

the good news also was that we bought some of these delicious Australian strawberries, after the evening meal cold for dessert,

then feet up and on to the DVD's first Fracture, a court room drama that we both like so much, a lawyer in the public office destined for better things takes on a last case, but is sloppy and pays the price, freedom for the accused, the perfect murder, or is it?

another from Hitchcock, Frenzy, set in Covent Garden, London, it was great to see the market as it was we had been there just last month, but back to the film, a vicious murderer is out there, always leaving his trade mark, a twisted and knotted necktie left around the victims throats, of course the wrong guy is framed, but the truth will out, just a slight mistake, the English secretary, when describing the killer says 155lbs to the police, wrong! she would have given the weight in stones and pounds, the good news Hitchcock was easy to spot in this one,

perhaps the strangest of them all here,Family Plot, not scary or devious enough to be a murder or suspense film, but also not funny enough to be a comedy, also so predictable, Hitchcock made a cameo in this movie but as a shadow, his profile seen behind a door, then a couple of Tales of the Unexpected then off to bed.

Shaun Wright Phillips Who Plays For Manchester City

has a new toy, a Rolls Royce Ghost, costing a cool £200,000, in real terms about three and a half weeks money for him, do I like it? well yes, but then I do not have that amount of money to spend, the question is if I did would I buy the Rolls, or something else? that will be my thought for the day my dream car, what to chose, oh the agony of choice!

I Know It Is Serious,

but I did have a chuckle when I saw this in the paper, I remember many years ago Steve and myself were watching television when a guy on a scooter was shown with a plank of wood about 12 feet long being stopped for having a dangerous load, carrying it like this guy above,

I guess the shop must charge extra for delivery's, but what were the staff thinking when they loaded up the mobility scooter like this? if only he had a 'wide load' sign the picture would have been complete!

Any Plans We Had For Today

were put on the back burner, the thunder started rumbling at about 9.00 in the morning, then about 10.00 the rain started, not much at first, but then the clouds let go,

it stopped and started raining again, the sky that good old British winter time grey, the final thunder died away about 5.00 in the after noon but the storm came back again in the early evening, so it was feet up and watch a few movies for the day,

first Pitch Black, we have seen it before but great special effects, a space crew crash lands on a planet, just in time for the lights to go out and the night creatures to awake,

if anyone doubts Al Pacino's acting skills then this is for me the film to change your mind, Devil's Advocate, a young country lawyer is 'found' by a city law firm, but the 'boss' is more than he seems, the young lawyers luck better than is humanly possible, there lies the story, as an aside I have featured the infinity pool used in this film on the blog before, I still go hot and cold when the actors walk near to the edge of it in the film!

The Golden Compass, we had not seen it before but Diana was totally captivated by it, a young girl is given the last Golden Compass or I should say truth teller, which takes her on a journey to the far North, braving tribes of warriors and the King of the Bears, despite seemingly undefeatable odds she wins through, again great special effects, but then it did cost an estimated $180,000,000 to make!

our last film for the evening, The Man Who Knew Too Much, an American couple and their son get mixed up in a murder plot that is going to take place in London, their son is kidnapped to ensure their compliance, one thing we both like about watching films from Hitchcock is trying to spot his 'cameo' appearance, in this one we failed totally, but I now know he appears in the market scene where the acrobats are performing, an enjoyable if slightly too long movie, then a couple of Tales of the Unexpected and off to bed, lets hope for no rain tomorrow.

When We Were In The UK Both Steve And Myself Talked About This,

the way that chestnut trees in the UK appear to be dying, Diana and myself went to Greenwich park, the avenue from the common is lined with chestnut trees on both sides of the road, but they looked a sorrowful sight, their leaves all brown and falling off, Steve Said a type of insect had caused the damage, well he was right, it is a moth or I should say its caterpillars are, too small to see with the naked eye they are spreading from the South East, unfortunately the predators from Macedonia have no natural enemies, but if reports are to be believed the country may be renamed in a 19 year dispute about it's name with Greece, it appears there are two Macedonia's, in other words one too many, I hope this dispute ends peacefully.

This Is Another One Of Those Good Luck Posts,

you know the type I mean, a few trinkets in a box is found after one of the owners died, but the articles are now worth a fortune, like this wood carving above that was sold for £380,000!

or this Foo dog that went for £218,000, the box was found after one of the owners Mr Tim Lewis died, his wife Fran decided to emigrate and so sold off many of the antiques they had collected in their lifetimes, it appears that some of the 50 pieces came from the time of Chinese Emporour Quainlong, others were between 250 and 800 years old, it is just a pity that their true value was not discovered till after Mr. Lewis died, but was this their true value? or was it the happy times that the couple spent together looking and finding these trinkets together?

My Gout Is Still Painful,

but as it was Sunday we were off for Sunday lunch,

and where else but the Robins Nest, we just managed to beat the rain,

but some of the mobile sellers were not so lucky,

for a change Diana had a milk shake, medicinal red wine for me, it appears that even with gout a glass of wine a day is beneficial, I read it on a gout information page, so it is 'Cheers!' from me,

as usual the food was excellent, for dessert the choice is vanilla, strawberry or chocolate ice cream, or a scoop of each, as usual I ordered vanilla, something seem to get lost in the translation!

we watched a couple of DVD's when we returned, then it was out on the town,

Walking Street had it's usual crowd, but still not very busy, we bumped into Alan and Doc. Jeff as we were walking or in my case limping from Second Road to Walking Street, we had arranged to meet Mark in Lollipop, Grieg was still in the US, whilst we were there Big Jim called in to say hi,

after having a chat there we decamped to Champions, then a few friends arrived firstly Yues from Luxembourg, he is here for a couple of months, then Alan and Doc. Jeff called in knowing we would be there,

time seemed to rush by all to soon it was time to go,

Juu very kindly offered us a lift home, so it was over to the car park,

where I saw a nice bike, no not the one in front, the yamahackiequakionda behind it, not having had a drink for so long I was past caring what it was called, but it looked nice! then home to watch a few DVD's,

well actually we watched Avatar in the afternoon,

so feet up to catch up on a few Black Adders, great series although I am not a fan of the first one, for me all of the rest are so watchable,

then in a complete change of pace, 28 Days Later, a horror story of of a plague that takes over Great Britain when the loony front releases some infected caged animals, not the best thing to watch just before going to bed, but there we are, then off to bed!