Happy New Year!

New Year's eve morning, after helping Nick and Maureen and having a cup of tea at their place it was off to one of Diana's favorites,

yes you guessed it, McDonald's this one was in the Royal Garden shopping mall,

whilst there we went around some of the shops,

and to Ripley's, the scorpion Queen was there, she is trying to beat a world record of staying with 5,000 scorpions for 33 days and nights, she is married to the centipede king but he was not there today,

looking out directly from the mall,

we then popped over to see Juu, we had a few games of pool, I lost all 10 games, but the excuse was the huge quantity of Heineken that I consumed, I do not normally drink beer, the fish in the photograph is in the fish pond at Juu's house, it is a Arapaima gigas, it is now about 65 or so kilos, it will be 3 years old next June, when I gave it to Juu it was only 8" long and weighed just a few ounces,

then home for a shower and change, then out on the town! we went to Dang's bar on the corner of Walking Street and Soi Diamond, Diana and Da,

and Jeff and myself,

the street is looking really crowded now,

just opposite is a new disco called the Republica, not my scene bit some one has spent a lot of money on the outside,

myself and Mick,

and his wife Mas,

Mr. Tony then arrived,

and all of a sudden I was target number 1, Jeff had bought a load of cans of string and snow,

but some one got him back!

then target number 2 was Mr. Tony,

Mick was not left out either!

good job Mr. Tony did not go to sleep or he would have been really picked on!

Mark was also there,

Diana was not sure whether to smile or not as I think she was worried that the snow would leave a stain,

"Cheers!" from all of us,

Da, Mas, Diana and Uncashar,

at this point drinks were flowing freely and Mick decided to give us a dance show,

"Cheers!" from me,

Uncashsar and Mark,

then John Boy arrived, so it was snow all round,

David a friend of Jeff's also called in,

Da gets snowed!

the snow has settled,

Jay and Pricil were next to join us, Diana, Da and Pricil,

John Boy after the snow had dried,

Diana, Mas, Da, Pricil and Jay,

Mas, John Boy and Uncashar,

I know I still have some spray string on my head!

Jay and Pricil,

all in the street to watch the fireworks as it is midnight,

"Happy New Year!" from all of us,

then a bite to eat and home for a rest,

home was easier said than done this is Second Road,

it was packed with party goers, the traffic at a standstill, but we made it back safe and sound, sweet dreams!

When I Was A Kid In Gloucester Road, Croydon

the nearest parks were miles away,

so we went to a dead end street put piles of pullovers on the street which acted as goal posts, we split into teams and had a kick about, child's play, well you would have though so, but it appears kids are a lot dumber today than they were in my day, how so? I hear you ask, well in Moray in Scotland the council placed an advertisement for a 'Street Football Coordinator' for someone to 'assist in the planning, planning promotion and delivery of the street football project' and at a salary of £19,887-a-year, it appears the kids nowadays can not work out how to make the temporary goalposts or split into teams!

how ever what is good for Scotland is frowned upon else where in the British Isles, in another act of a brain dead council gone mad, in the Glenfield area of Leicester, county council officials warned parents that they face a £100 fine if their sons and daughters play football in a dead end street, the ban has been imposed even though no one who lives in the street complained about the children playing, a little bit more of our children's lives being taken away,

sales manager Ian Fenton, 42, who has three sons, aged six, seven and 12, said: "They are treating our children and us as if we are criminals. "We want our children playing where we can see them. We moved here so that there was a nice, safe environment for them to play in, where they could interact with other children their own age. "Playing in the street is something that has gone on for generations in this country. Now the council want to take it away. It's ludicrous."

and in a much more sinister note Cheri Wright at Swindon Borough Council has threaten 4 year old children, issuing letters to them that they will be taken to court and be issued with a Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) for the games of kickabout, a criminal record that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, 8 children between the ages of 4 and 12 have received letters from Ms. Wright,

Mum Samantha Bates was horrified when her 12-year-old daughter Danielle received a letter from the council. 'When I first got this letter I said "Danielle what have you done?" because I thought the letter was just for her and she was the only one to get one,' she said. 'No cars have been damaged and there has been no police involved. So what they are being accused of is hearsay.'

in a statement Cheri Wright, defended the decision to send out the letters, what is it with council officials? why is street football encourage in one area and criminalised in others? beats me!

After Going Fishing We Decided To Have A Drink,

so where do 4 guys go to get a drink after providing the ladies with food? well the Winchester club of course! nice and cool with very good service, it is about half way between Jomtien beach road and Sumkivit on the road that joins the two about half way down Jomtien beach,

then it was off to some of the bars at the top of Soi 17 where it meets Tepprisit Road,

they are mainly karaoke bars luckily none of us felt like singing!

then when we returned the girls had cooked the fish and bar-b-qued us some filleted pork with fresh baked bread, just what we needed before we headed out for the night, into town and the Goodfellows had put this red canopy over there end of Soi Blues Factory, we still have not been there yet, but so far I have never seen anyone going upstairs,

Walking Street is now a lot more crowded than before,

this is the tree about half way down Walking Street, which has become a bit of a shrine,

we past this Turkish ice cream parlour on our way to see the fireworks at Bali Hai pier,

the day before the fireworks lasted for 15 minuete's, but this night we arrived, I took one shot and the show was over! the display last for just a few minuets, oh well better luck next year!

unfortunately the owners of the lease in Maureen's bar have decided not to renew it for the next three years, so tonight it is Nick and Maureen's leaving the bar party, so we decided to buy some cakes for the staff at the pier,

there was also plenty of fruit on hand as well,

this is the Bali Hai end of Walking Street, a few more people than last week,

lots of balloons on sale,

and the restaurants had a few more customers,

this is a strange shop just past the big tree in the street, it sells lots of beads and necklace's and has a small seating area inside for drinkers, it always plays loud music, but I did not see more than 5 or so seats inside,

now this is more like it, the street actually looks crowded,

and of course we had to stop for a Turkish ice cream on the way back,

the guy making the ice cream has a neat trick, just as he is about to hand it to you he pretends to drop it,

he well and truly caught Diana, she thought she would have to pay for another one!

it was excellent!

we then continued along the street towards Maureen's bar,

the nearer we got the more crowded it became,

all of the ladies in Maureen's bar,

we had more than a few drinks there then it was time to call in and see Juu in Champions, then a chicken leg for me and some pork on a stick for Diana,

whilst waiting for the food to be cooked the local bug seller called past and wanted to know if we wanted to buy some, yummy!

lots of different types of meat for sale,

I just stick to the chicken in the vain hope I will not put on weight!

cooked to perfection, now home to watch a DVD or two, Cheers!