Today's The Day,

that Diana is going to see her family in the Philippines,

so we have a few things to do, like shopping at Makro, my medicinal red wine stock was reaching a critically low level for one thing!

 the last time we were at the Punch & Judy a new development that was near by was mentioned, the 70 room Suksabai Apartments, as we were on Theprisitt Road we decided to call in and have a look,

 and very nice it looked too,

although not yet finished, another two weeks and it will be, a number of people have already found it and moved in, we chatted to one guest who let us take a couple of pictures of his room, he was in fact a chef who has a restaurant, one of the things he mentioned was that unlike many places you can do a limited amount of cooking in the room,

also every room has a large television, handy if you do not want to go out all of the time,

 naturally a large bed,

 and nicely appointed bathroom,

 his room also had a balcony,

 we just loved the way the towels are presented,

 we next looked in an unoccupied room, the furniture in this one was in black,

 with some rooms furnished in white,

 all with a double bed,

 as I mentioned we just loved the towels,

 as Diana said, 'they look so cute!',

 the kitchen area,

 it seems hard to believe but in just a couple of weeks this pool will be finished,

 on the ground floor some rooms have a separate bedroom,

 which means you have a couple of things that the other rooms do not have, your own back yard/garden for instance,

 a bit more space, having said that the other rooms are not small, two large televisions,

 and your own hot tub/Jacuzzi,

 I also should have said all rooms have their own safe,

this is a map of where they are, prices are from 1,500 baht a night for the normal room that we looked at, the one with a separate bedroom is 2,500 with discounts for 1 month or longer, but rooms do start from 1,100 a night depending on the season, it is I have to say a really nice place to stay, in a car or on a bike depending which way you go, 10 minuets to Jomtien Beach or the centre of town, Theprisitt Weekend market just 5 minutes away and if you do not want to drink and drive the Punch & Judy just a 2 minuet if that walk and no I am not on commission!

 then back home the red wine stock now as it should be,

 then the time for Diana to leave, up to the airport,

 although it does not look it the place was packed,

 I have to say it is one of the nicest airports I have been to, lovely displays of orchids and plants,

 and they always look so nice,

 not too many people in front of us,

 a pose by one of the figures in the departure area,

 then it was goodbye to Diana as she made her way to immigration,

 as the taxi neared Pattaya the Christmas decorations had been placed in the centre of the road, a bit blurred I know,

 but they looked very nice,

 I was greeted when I returned home, by a small frog climbing up the door frame.

 he was about half way up,

and very colourful he looked too, but this might explain how they get into the house, instead of going under the door they go over the top, they must be watching Colditz! with that I watched some television waiting for Diana to call, then a quick SMS to say she had arrived safe and sound, next for me I was off to bed.

A Normal Enough Sign,

I would have thought,

but evidently it raised feminist hackles in Sinclair Community College in downtown Dayton, Ohio, although it appears there were no women working they felt left out, as a statement on diversity on the institution's website states: 'The concept of diversity at Sinclair Community College encompasses the acceptance, inclusiveness, engagement, and mutual respect among students, faculty, staff, administrators, and members of the broader community', something had to be done,


all the workmen were told to down tools until the highly offencive sign could be removed, Sinclair's director of public information Adam Murka told Fox News that the college has a 'deep commitment to diversity' and takes it 'quite seriously.' Murka added: 'while it may not have been necessary to suggest work be stopped, we stand by our commitment to providing an environment that is inclusive and non-discriminatory',


heaven knows what she will say when she sees a sign saying 'Manhole Cover Removed' and what ever you do do not tell her there is an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s, they are the only Australian artist to have a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single in the United States and have sold over 30 million albums worldwide, their name? Men At Work.

I Knew We Should Have Waited.

after buying our television this year,

I might have known that before the years end a newer, bigger, brighter, better one would hit the shops, this is it, the mighty LG 84" it has 3D technology similar to that in theatres, both in quality and scale, with enhanced resolution roughly 4X the pixel count of Full HD, which means that it’s nearly impossible to discern a single pixel – even from inches away,

the new level of Ultra HD (3840 X 2160) picture quality makes Full HD (1920 X 1080) look like standard definition and I thought ours looked good! well thats it now where can we buy one? wait a second there is a catch, it is £22,500! more worrying after paying all of that for a Ultra HD television is the disclaimer, quote from the LG site,

'*No “ultra high definition” or “4K” video content is currently available. No broadcast or other standard currently exists for “4K” or “ultra high definition” television and the 84LM9800 may not be compatible with such standards if and when developed.'

OK money back in pocket, we will wait till there is ultra high definition or 4K video content available and is compatible before we buy!

First Thing,

and we were out and about,

 to Big C in Central Road,

 we had some shopping to do there,

 but of course had to stop at Swenson's first, I went for the normal strawberry ice cream,

 Diana decided on a Christmas super sized special,

 and very nice they both were too,

 next stop the Lukdod Shop in Soi Youmae Lane just off of Central Pattaya Road, it is the road that runs along side the Big C we had just visited,

 it is the souvenir shop in Pattaya bar none, from tiny trinkets to pieces of furniture this is the place to go, even more amazing it has grown bigger than the last time we were here, it is huge,

 we then drove along Pattaya North Road to Fascino for a few tablets, we also bumped into Keith whilst there who has just left hospital after a 3 week stay, we both wished him the best for a speedy recovery,

 well I could hardy go along Third Road with out stopping in at the Ducati dealership,

 yes I know not the 795 Monster I dream about but this one the Diavel is even better!

 after we returned home it was time to get the Christmas tree out,

 I almost could not believe it when all but 2 of the lights lit up, so we replaced those and now Christmas is here!

 for our evening meal we decided again on a bar-b-q,

 the trouble was the same as last time, were we going to smoke or bar-b-q the food?

 but soon Diana had things under control,

 tired of fanning the flames we brought out the fan to help,

 soon the charcoal was crackling and spitting away,

 potatoes and onions for both of us, sausages and steak for myself, chicken for Diana.

 a happy Diana looking forward to her trip to see her family in the next few days,

 not long now,

 'Cheers!', from me as the first sausage hits the plate,

 followed by onions,

 and a baked potato,

 by now Diana's chicken was now ready,

 

for dessert Diana had bought a mini pineapple from the market, only 20 baht and it was as sweet as a sweet thing, after watching the night sky for some time we went back indoors feet up for some television,

tonight a few more episodes of Colditz, we both enjoy this series immensely, it is still there today, then for us we were off to bed.

Could This Be The Way To Beat Traffic Jams?

the Super Sky Cycle,

it is a gyroscope called The Super Sky Cycle and is made by The Butterfly Aircraft LLC they have just been awarded a US Patent to build the vehicle on a large scale and sell it to the general public, the kit comes complete with the airframe parts, hardware, Rotax four stroke turbocharged air plane engine, digital instruments, front and rear disk brakes, handle bars, lights, mirrors, 7.5 gallon seat tank, two 5 gallon bullet tanks, folding rotor blades, 68” propeller, 30 hp MZ34 separate drive engine, the aerodynamic step, the Metro Launch System, the G-Force Magnum Landing Gear with DOT rated tires, rotor tachometer, rotor brake, and a electric brake lock, it can fly at 35mph, land in 20ft of space and has a top land speed of 65mph,


most of this I am guessing is based on the design of Wing Commander K H Wallis MBE, who alongside his RAF career, spent spare time on his autogyro invention and, in 1959, experienced his first tethered flight, with the cancellation of TSR2 and the Fairey Rotodyne, Ken was unhappy with the way things were going in aviation and also saw few prospects in the post-war RAF, so decided to retire in 1964 and turn all his attention to his design, Wallis Autogyros Limited was formed with his cousin Geoffrey and the rest - as they say - is history!


between 1968 and 2002 Ken set 17 World Records in two Classes of autogyro - 34 in all - and many are still held by him, including the speed record of 129 mph, Ken has appeared in several major feature films and countless television documentaries but his most famous was when doubling as James Bond in "You Only Live Twice", here he flew his own autogyro design - dubbed "Little Nellie" in the film - and dramatically dispatched all the enemy helicopters sent up to intercept him by employing a vast range of authentic weaponry,   

Ken's aircraft (he has 20, some above) have been adapted and employed for many different investigative roles, including aerial surveillance and photography, detecting coastal erosion and damaged underground pipelines, Police/Home Office duties such as searching for buried bodies,

but back to the Super Sky Cycle described by the manufacture as a flying motorcycle, all you need is $74,995.00, a pilot's license and you can be in the air, beat the traffic jams and still be home for tea and medals!

At Last A Day With Blue Skies,

it looks like the rain has finally stopped,

 on to today, for today's Sunday lunch we were off to the Punch & Judy,

 as we waited for Mr. Tony as we were a bit early Diana ordered a latte coffee, I went with the medicinal red wine as normal,

 after he arrived it was on with the meal, chicken pate for Mr. Tony,

 a shared prawn cocktail for Diana and myself,

 then a pleasant surprise as Brian called in to join us,

 roast lamb for Mr. Tony,

 some Thai food for Diana,

 Brian went with a beef quesadilla,

 whilst I joined Mr. Tony with the roast lamb,

 'Cheers!', from all of us,

 by the time we came to order our desserts we had already said goodbye to Brian, we all went with the apple crumble,

 if you want to try it the down side is that it is only available on Sundays,

 but it was delicious,

 that's the way to do it! as Mr. Punch would say, red wine in one hand spoon in the other,

 we finished the meal with a coffee,

 a nice piece of coffee art on the top of Mr. Tony's,

 and a latte for myself, another huge meal with great service and atmosphere, we will be back!

whilst watching television we had another nice surprise as Mike and Riza called in for a couple of hours, after they left we watched a few episodes of Top Gear, Kings of Restoration and Pawn Stars that we had not seen before, then after saying our goodbyes to Mr. Tony we were off to bed.

This Is Going To Ruffle A Few Feathers,

or not as the case may be,

I can not understand this at all, it appears a thief in or around the town of Ludgershall, in Wiltshire decided to steal some duck feathers from a still living duck called Daisy, she has had her plumage pinched, but the strange thing is her pal, Jemima, was left untouched by the feather thief, Police were called when owner Sarah Haslam went to her allotment to feed her ducks and saw that 15-month-old Daisy had been completely plucked, the mother-of-five said: 'somebody must have clipped off all her feathers – it is a crime',

child minder Mrs Haslam, 45, added: 'the police did house to house enquiries but did not find anything,' baffled by the crime, Wiltshire police has promised anonymity to witnesses who come forward with information about Daisy's dilemma, I can sort of understand some one stealing and eating the duck, but why take just the feathers and from only one of them?