We Were Up Early,

I finished the blog and we were on our way, we were going to one of the coral islands for a day out, Diana bought a new set of clothes to wear, so a quick pose for a couple of minutes on the jetty and that was what we missed the 10.00 boat by, a couple of minutes!

so a walk back to the Bali Hai pier restaurant for a ice coffee, and of course I had my holiday shirt on, normally things out here are pretty laid back, but note to self the 10:00 ferry leaves at 10:00 not 1 minute past!

any way after a ice coffee we were back on our way,

as we sailed away from Pattaya there were a few clouds gathering,

past the headland, by now it was a little bit choppy, Diana was not feeling quiet so good,

I was surprised, the boat was absolutely packed, I thought it was the low season, but not on this trip,

a twin hulled boat had stopped about half way there, I thought it may have been a dive boat, but no flags were flying to indicate divers were on board,

although as yet there were no white horses it was not the usual smooth ride,

we were constantly over taken by speed boats,

on both sides of our boat,

also other ferries,

it was surprising how many boats were taking tourists out here,

then the 'express' boat sailed past, again it was packed, I guess in the busy season the boats will leave every half hour as well as on the hour,

near the islands at last, the trip takes about 50 minuets and only 30 baht a head,

pulling up to the jetty,

then a walk to the beach,

if your boat calls at the town instead of the beach the cutting in the distance is the road the motorbike taxi takes to the beach, a scary ride with a couple of very sharp bends in it,

a nice beach but not looking as good as usual because of the overcast sky,

as you walk along the promenade there are many restaurants selling seafood, but a bit on the expensive side,

grilled rock lobster, yummy!

the place was packed, I thought due to the time of year things would have been a lot quieter,

just as I remarked to Joe yesterday I would call him when I was having my first beer, 'Cheers!'

then our food arrived, Thai food for Diana,

and chicken fried rice for myself,

then a coconut for Diana, the food, drink and deckchair hire came to 330 baht, plus 120 for the ferry, a total of 450 baht for a great day out,

Diana then had to show off her new two piece,

storm clouds were rolling in,

we did have a slight spot of rain but it was over almost as soon as it started,

then home, we took the 4.00 last ferry, a quick change then along to the soup stall for our evening meal,

although these tables are empty there were a lot of customers this evening on the Third Road side of the stalls,

we also stopped off to buy some fruit when I noticed this mobile pizza truck, only 49 bath for a pizza, if you like that sort of thing,

home feet up, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table set out on a quest to find the Holy Grail...as told to do so by a cartoon God that lives in the clouds, great comedy,

as was the first part of The Naked Gun trilogy, The Naked Gun, full of laughs and great slapstick humour, then on to Kavanagh QC, in a much more serious vein, Memento Mori, following Lizzie's death Kavanagh takes on the case of a doctor, Felix Crawley, charged with killing his depressive,and unfaithful, wife Ann with an overdose of lithium, it must be a popular poison, this is the third or fourth drama we have watched where lithium was used, then Care in the Community, Debbie Sattenthwaite and Mark Holmes, are charged with killing their fourteen month old daughter, unfortunately the couple's evidence suddenly starts to clash as Mark changes his story, another harrowing story of inner city life, then off to bed.

Be Warned, If You Live In The UK In Kent, Sussex Or Essex,

the noise police and local council could be calling on you, if, your garden pond has a population of Rana ridibunda, (marsh frogs), Colchester Borough Council first called to Dominic Payne's garden after a compliant, the environmental health officers from Colchester Borough Council wanted to listen to the mating frogs to get a decibel noise reading, some one had complained about the noise they were making, Mr.Payne, who lives in Colchester, Essex, said the council have wasted taxpayer's money investigating harmless frogs, but then things got serious, the police arrived, in a scene that could be from the Keystone cops, police officers spent around ninety minutes chasing the amorous amphibians around Dominic Payne's garden trying to get a mugshot of the offenders, another local resident, James Kent, said he was upset to have received a letter from the police's Wildlife Crime Unit saying they would have to be removed because they are a 'non-native' species and are causing a noise nuisance, He says that the frogs have lived in his pond for 25 years, He said 'I spoke to the police and they said they need to come and capture them all and take them away because they're a non-native species and shouldn't be here,' Belinda Pearse, environmental control manager at Colchester Council, said they had a statutory duty to investigate complaints about noise nuisance, 'after investigation we identified the culprits as a rare breed of frogs, as this species of frog is not native to this country, we are legally obliged to notify the police,' Debbie Chisholm, a police spokeswoman, added: 'officers attended the area and found the noise levels to be high, it also appears these frogs are non-native so Essex Police's wildlife crime unit were contacted, this is still being looked into and steps are being taken to remove the frogs from the gardens concerned,' message to Belinda and Debbie, I am sure you have had far more complaints about chickens waking people up in the early hours of the morning, are you going to round up and depose of those as well? I mean they fit the profile, noisy, non native as they are from Asia, actually more than a few of my friends in the UK have said Canada Geese have become a huge problem, (the clue is in the name), with noise and their droppings, in America, where they are also a serious pest, the New York state parks department claims that more than 100 of the bacteria present in goose feces are immune to antibiotics, during the summer, these germs can hang around on grass for four weeks, so hopefully the police will be soon seen out and about hunting down chickens and Canadian geese!

Not Much Of A Post Today,

mainly because we did absolutely nothing! the day just somehow flew past, I was chatting on the phone to Joe, for some reason I had a mountain of e-mails, actually they are rather like receiving mail out here, none for days sometimes weeks than they all appear at once, also today I am in a bit of a hurry, we are off to the islands for a day out, so all being well a few pictures of Koh Larn tomorrow, just to say yesterday to round the evening off we watched a couple of Kavanagh QC, first The Ties That Bind, Kavanagh agrees to take on a private prosecution against Ian Vincent who is believed to have beaten 17-year old Graham Foster to death for having stolen a briefcase from his car, but better for us Jeremy is anxiously awaiting the results of his application to join an exclusive men's club to which Peter Foxcott is a member, followed by In God We Trust, set in the States Kavanagh finds himself in Florida assisting his one-time pupil Julia Piper in preparing an appeal for an inmate who is on death row and awaiting execution in the electric chair, I would have thought that the differences in the legal system would have taken some time to learn, but apparently they are the same, but one thing I could not understand was that when Kavanagh and the defendants female lawyer wanted to interview the accused they were taken through the hall of cells where all of the prisoners were kept, also the defence was conducted in the prisoners cell with a guard and all of the other prisoners in ear shot, not the best way to form a defence strategy but I guess things are different in the prison system in the US, interesting neither the less, then off to bed.

Not Quite My Taste In Cars,

but a fine example of a coach builders craft, it is a Delahaye 175 S Roadster by Saoutchik, it boasts a 165 bhp, 4,455 cc naturally aspirated overhead valve inline six cylinder engine, four-speed electro-mechanically actuated Cotal Preselector gearbox, believed to have been the 1949 Paris and 1950 New York Show Car- One of only 51 of this chassis originally built,

well I have to say I have not seen many of these in the UK but it was once owed by a famous UK English movie star named Diana Dors, She was considered one of the blond bombshells of the period (along with the American “three Ms” – Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and Marilyn Monroe), Her looks were most similar to Marilyn Monroe’s, and she played similar parts, Her acting skills were well respected, although her looks seemed to relegate her to parts that played upon her other attributes – the quintessential comedic “dumb blond,” financially, she did extremely well, ordering this lovely Delahaye when she was just 17 years old, and at age 20, she became the youngest registered owner of a Rolls-Royce in the UK,

when she died in 1984 she managed to hide away more than £2 million in various banks, more than a small fortune in those days, eighteen months before her death, after her diagnosis with ovarian cancer, she gave her son Mark Dawson a sheet of paper, which she told him was a code that would reveal the whereabouts of the money, at the same time, she told her son that her widower, Alan Lake, had the key that would crack the code, sadly, Lake committed suicide only five months after Dors died, leaving Mark Dawson a code that was now evidently unsolvable,

many doubted the story, and the code sheet certainly didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Her son persevered and hired an expert who recognized the encryption as a form of the Vigenere cipher, which would require a ten character decryption key, ultimately, the encryption experts were able to work out the key “DMARYFLUCK,” which stood for Diana Mary Fluck, Diana’s real name, they were then able to use the decryption key to decode the entire message, while it was clearly linked to bank statements found in Lake’s papers, no money was ever found, and to this day her encrypted fortune remains the object of many amateur cryptographers, if you are interested it is up for sale on Saturday, August 14, 2010 at RM Auctions +1 519 352 4575 +1 519 352 4575 web: http://www.rmauctions.com

by the way did I mention the estimate:$4,000,000-$6,000,000 US, a bit rich for me, but a nice car for somebody else to own.

Sunday, And What Do We Like About Sundays?

arriving at the Robins Nest-Ur-Rant for Sunday lunch,

it is easy to find, located in Soi Diana which runs from Second Road to Soi Bukaow just look for the dine for 99 baht board outside,

of course the Sunday lunch is a little more expensive at 199 baht but that includes soup, the main course a delicious carvery and ice cream dessert,

Diana 's favorite is the gammon ham, all of the servings are so nice, I am getting hungry just looking, lamb, pork, beef, chicken, sausages plus so many vegetables, a real feast, and yes she did eat it all, followed by ice cream too! 'Cheers!' from both of us, a great way to start the day,

another couple enjoying the carvery, this has got to be one of the great places to eat on a Sunday, reasonably priced food in a nice atmosphere in a no hassle restaurant, with a clean and well laid out interior,

we always sit at the front outside on I guess you would call it the balcony, OK you do get a few people trying to sell you DVD's or sunglasses, but watching people walk past selling their wares, well watching the day go past, makes up for the occasional seller asking you to buy something, as you might have guessed by now a real gem of a restaurant,

next stop Friendship for our food shopping, loaded down with bags and a box of wine we made our way home, but shock, horror, there was a guy asking for a voluntary contribution to the tea fund outside the bank - on a Sunday! the good news was that he had stopped so many people we just drove past, now do not get me wrong on this one, if I am speeding or run a red light, maybe driving an uninsured vehicle, I deserve to be caught and fined, but when I have done nothing wrong and all of the paperwork is in order I hate being told 200 - 400 baht or big problem for you, then back home to do what I do best on a Sunday, feet up and have a snooze!

next minute it is Diana waking me up to go out on the town,

so off we go, Coyotes still has not reopened, so a few chairs placed outside have turned the front of it into a smoking parlour, no space is wasted in town!

as we were a bit early we had a walk towards Bali Hai pier,

past the big tree/shrine on the right, it has been here as far back as I can remember that was my first visit back in 1982, if you look at the top of our blog page the picture there is one I took I think that year on the back of one of the coral islands,

a close up of the shrine,

we made our way towards Soho Square, not many people about, but then it is still early,

unfortunately all is dark down Soho Square, hopefully better times are coming,

looking along the street all is getting quieter the further we walk along it,

on our way back this is the small Soi that runs into Second Road, there are a few go-gos and beer bars on it,

but there were still a few tourists by the Marine bar taking photos of the Thai boxers, we then called in to see Grieg in Lollipop, for the first time the music had been changed since he had been there, a mixture of rock and a few oldies thrown in, just right for the old guys like me! but then Diana said she preferred this type of music to the previous hip-hop house or what ever it is called, we had more than a few in there then a quick stagger across the road to Champions, unfortunately Juu was not in this evening so a few more there and we were on our way home,

but first stop the Thai food stall for a take home for Diana,

a huge selection of food to be cooked on offer, I would guess in the UK you could not mix beef, fish, shellfish, frogs, pork and chicken on the same tray, each would have to be on a separate one,

fresh vegetables as well,

looking towards Second Road it seemed pretty quiet, by now it was about 11.30,

normally a lady is here to cook the food but tonight I guess her other half is helping out,

almost finished, then home a quick DVD, Kavanagh QC, Ancient History, how strange that just a few ago Diana should ask to watch Schindler's List then tonight Kavanagh had a episode about that fearful time in history, Dr. Alexander Beck is accused of being a war criminal and having been a Nazi collaborator in Dachau concentration camp, Kavanagh has agreed to prosecute and is very sympathetic to the elderly camp survivors but is concerned at the inaccuracies of memory after fifty years, then to bed.

We Had A Lazy Day,

just watched some television, and then to the local market for a few sweets and fresh fruit desserts for later in the evening, lots of fresh bamboo shoots, I guess this is growing well due to it now being the rainy season for the next 3 months or so,

boiled sweet corn, and lots of precooked food to take away,

Diana stopped off at the fresh vegetable stall,

tonight she was going to cook some Laab-Namtok, Laos' National dish which has made its way down from up north, so some leaves were needed for that added flavour,

also some ginger,

any basket 10 baht, Diana bought the one at the top left, which I think is a ginger root,

a few bananas to snack on in the day time, I am surprised how much they are now, only a few years ago a 'hand' 15 - 20 + would be just 10 - 20 baht, now 25 baht for just 4 or 5, inflation I suppose,

then our evening meal, with a few glasses of wine, after dessert a few DVD's, first though in the day time we watched I Am Legend on Sophon cable, a very poor copy but entertaining enough I suppose if you like post apocalyptic films, which I do, Dr. Robert Neville, a military virologist living in New York City in 2012, who is the last known survivor of a worldwide viral epidemic called KV that has infected or killed nearly all of earth's population,

keeping to that theme I just had to watch 2012, as Diana said, 'not again!', but I love the special effects,

when people think of the silent greats there is only one for me, Buster Keaton, his life story if you go to the link has to be one of the most amazing of its time, a true master of the craft, first we watched what was most probably his most famous film, The General, when Union spies steal Johnny Grey's beloved locomotive, he pursues it single handedly and straight through enemy lines, followed by Battling Butler, for me the funniest part stars the duck who keeps ducking under the boat when Buster is trying to get organized to shoot it, both immensely amusing,

then to Saving Private Ryan, so much as been said about this film I need say no more, we rounded of the evening with a visit to Kavanagh QC, Blood Money, when her husband dies in the operating theater following a car crash, Sarah Meadows believes there is a case of negligence, with Jeremy Aldermarten representing the hospital, Kavanagh agrees to take on her case, despite his misgivings as to the likelihood of winning, I have to say both Diana and myself love the character of Jeremy Aldermarten, he almost deserves a series of his own! then off to bed.

I Mentioned That Some Allegedly Ansel Adams Negatives Had Been Found Last Week,

well another contender is now in the frame, I will not go through the whole story again, but Ansel Adams was one of Americas greatest landscape photographers in the 1920/30's, moving on, Rick Norsigian bought some negatives at a garage sale for just £30, but when he had them valued ten years later he was told that their true worth was £128.5million, when he turned them into prints, Mr Norsigian relatives suggested that they resembled Adams’s hence the value of them,

but relatives of a nature photographer called 'Uncle Earl' or 'Pop Laval' have claimed he took the images, Miriam Walton says her uncle Earl Brooks, an amateur photographer who lived in California in the 1920s - the decade experts said the photos were taken - is behind the images, the 87-year-old from Oakland, California, saw the photos in news reports and called in experts to study some of the snaps she owned, specifically that of Jeffrey Pine, a much-photographed tree on top of Sentinel Dome at Yosemite, California, 'I'm looking at the picture that's hanging on my wall and I knew that Ansel Adams didn't take them,' Mrs Walton said, 'I knew my Uncle Earl took them,'

finder Rick Norsigian is already planning to capitalise on his discovery, setting up a website - www.lostnegatives.com - to sell prints made from the negatives from $45 for a poster to $7,500 for a darkroom print with a certificate of authenticity, a documentary on his quest to have the negatives authenticated is in the works, as well as a touring exhibition that will debut at Fresno State University in October, now here is the thing if 'Uncle Earl' or 'Pop Laval' did indeed take the pictures does the family have any rights to the copyright of the pictures or can Rick keep all of the money? - lawyers step up to the mark please!