I Had A Quiet Day Today,

but in the afternoon John called over for a tea and a chat,

after putting the world to rights it was soon time to meet Eric for a meal in the evening,

so it was off to a quiet Walking Street,

we decided to go to one of the restaurants at the far end of the street, so it was past the big tree on the right,

past the Right Spot on the left,

and Food Fair on the right,

to Rasputin's on the left, named after the famous or should I say infamous Grigory Efimovich Rasputin,

not a particularly good picture, but this was the inside,

'Cheers!' from us both, the meal was a tad expensive at 400 baht+ for a steak, also the new chef did not understand that starts are normally served before the main course not after it!

then a couple of vodkas at the Simon beer bar complex,

Eric had not been to Peppermints for some time so a trip upstairs was in order, on our way out we meet up with Harry, so it was decided to have another go on the magic roundabout in Soi Diamond,

I gave the camera to one of the ladies in the bar, above is the unstaged shot,

and this is the posed shot, for some reason the lady took great delight in taking this shot of the top of a seat,

and this was the lady that took the pictures, I was going to take a picture of the neon signs outside the go-go bars in the street, but was told that my camera would be taken off me by the Thai owner as he does not want tourists taking a picture of the outside of his go-go, I know you can not take pictures inside a go-go, but I had thought that the pretty neon signs outside in the street were OK, but it appears not, so I will not be going there then!

it was then off to see Grieg in Sweethearts, on our way we saw this lady posing with a young tourist,

and the lady without the tourist, after Sweethearts Eric left for a walk around, whilst Harry and myself settled into Champions for a few there, then off home and to bed.

Off To Soi Post Office,

I have to buy my ticket to the UK,

and who should I bump into there? none other than Don with his ever so friendly parrot, if you live in Pattaya you will at some time see Don on his motorbike with his parrot perched on the back of it, it is in fact a Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao), well back to buying the ticket, as usual I pay for my ticket every year with my Barclaycard, but this year it was refused, call bank in UK (read somewhere in India), as using my mobile was so expensive I used a local pay phone, went through the security checks, no problem try again, still refused, phone back to the UK (India), talked to another operative then a supervisor, it appears that a new card had been sent to my UK address automatically canceling my old one, many years ago I asked for my card to be sent here but 'security issues' were sighted as to why it could not be sent to Thailand, so I have a card here which does not expire till 06, remember we are now still in 04, but is now canceled whilst my new card is in the UK,

the strange thing is that my old card was valid for 4 years as I guess my new card is, but despite this the one transaction for my ticket home was denied, now I am stuck, I have enough money to live out here as I budget this every year, but Barclaycard have really dropped me in it this year! the other downside is that presents I want to preorder for Diana that will be there when I arrive I can not preorder, also any bits and pieces I want for my railway and of course DVD's, I will have to take a chance that the shops will have all that I want in stock as I am only going to the UK for 8 days or so,

but on a happier note I looked on the Internet to get an idea of prices, Champion travel were only 1,000 baht more expensive than the cheapest on the net so I went there, (I could not buy it on the Internet even if I wanted to, see above!),

if you want to find it this is the view looking towards Beach Road,

the shop itself,

and looking towards Second Road,

then a voice from the past called, it was none other than Harry Baxter, many years ago he along with Steve, Duncan and myself would holiday out here, drinking numerous 'sets' of a half bottle of Mekong with 2 bottles of coke,

whilst have a drink with him opposite his hotel the Flipper I noticed this tuk-tuk food stall, I had not seen one of these before, normally all of the mobile food stalls are hand pushed,

'Cheers!' from us,

back home for a shower then back out to have an evening meal with Harry,

where else than the Bier Kitchen?

steak and chips for Harry, chicken curry for me,

then a quick look around town, first upstairs for the Peppermint, 59 baht for a vodka soda, so a couple there,

a few in Sweethearts,

as we passed Lady's Shadow we were given this flyer,

and on the other side of it, I have never been there so I have no idea of what it is like,

then for old times sake a few on the carousal, behind us is the Diamond Beach hotel where we all used to stay, we had such a chat about old times, so it was 'Cheers!' to Steve, Duncan and of course Ian, how could we forget him?

then who should arrive? none other than Mr. Tony, so again a few drinks, just out of interest the last time we were here the 'sets' of Mekong and coke were 185 baht, now 400 baht, times have changed! we had a nightcap in Champions then it was time to head home,

as I arrived home the air was yet again filled with the fragrance of Jasmine, then it was time for bed.

Lets Play A Game,

see if you as a UK taxpayer can spot the difference in the two logo's below,

the old one, the new one,

the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was being forced to draw up a hit list of embassies and consulates around the globe it will close to save money, Foreign Secretary David Miliband ordered the stationery make over above, a glossy brochure which accompanies the re brand claims that the new identity – featuring the Royal Crest and a new typeface for the words ‘Foreign & Commonwealth Office’ – will ‘subtly represent the ‘‘Power to influence”’,

the new FCO brand came into effect last month with all embassies and other posts around the world issued with a ‘brand tool kit’ including a lists of do’s and don’ts on how to use the new logo, now wait for this a 80-page pamphlet accompanies the kit, yes 80 pages of print to show embassiies how to use the logo,

the image consultants also designed a simplified version of the crest for use on the FCO website – removing the Royal motto ‘Dieu et mon droit’ – ‘God and my right’ – and the motto of the Order of the Garter ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ – loosely translated as ‘Evil be to him who evil thinks’, according to the FCO, its new brand represents six words: ‘Empowering, Insightful, Principled, Persuasive, Strategic and Intelligent’,

who makes this stuff up? look at the logo, does that say all of that to you?

a spokesman for the FCO said: ‘This will actually save money over time – for example, getting rid of the need for individual embassies to hire design teams when they produce publications or exhibition materials,’ he said the department had ‘engaged’ a ‘design consultant’ he did not disclose the cost of the new stationery needed across the department’s global operations, so every embassy in the world will have to throw out it's old stationery and print the new logo on it's new paperwork, still the new logo does seem a bit of a bargain, it only cost us taxpayers £80,000!

Yesterday It Was Fresh Water Fishing,

today off into the deep blue, we had a late start, loaded up Mick and Mass's boat with fishing tackle, beer, bait, beer, petrol, beer and did I mention we brought a few beers along,

we just sat in the boat, one of the tractor guys then hooks it up,

we had to wait for one boat to be taken out of the water, all we had to do was wait a few moments,

and we were off!

past lighthouse point,

and to the other side of Koh Larn in a little over 20 minuets,

rods ready for action and a nice cooling breeze in our faces,

there must have been huge forces at work over here to shape the rocks like this, the strata being twisted every which way,

Captain Mick readying the anchor,

and me with a beer,

we dropped the fish a line, but nobody picked up!

so after some time there we decided to change our spot, near to Koh Larn is this private island,

strictly no landing here! so we went to the side of it and started fishing again, but again with no luck, by now it was late afternoon so we made our way back, another great day on the sea,

on our way back we went along the bay to gave a look at some of the boats moored there, a bit out of my price range this one!

now this is more like it, about 600,000 baht, only problem is you have to pay the live aboard Captain 5,000 baht a month,

then back to Bali Hai pier,

a side of Walking Street many may not have seem, on the left Pattaya Beer Garden,

one of the restaurants over looking the sea,

by now it was getting late, so as we took our time a few boats came roaring past us,

one of the many dive boats we had seen earlier,

one of the many fishing boats for hire,

now the tricky bit, the trailer is backed into the water,

then at speed you aim for the middle of the trailer, too little speed and your boat is not on the trailer far enough and fails off, too much speed and the front of the boat smacks into the retaining piece of metal at the front of the trailer, damaging the boat, not to mention scaring the bejeezus out of the guy that is sitting on the tractor!

but Captain Mick got it right first time, so off to park the boat up,

the fees here depend on the size of the boat, for a 5 meter boat it is 2,500 baht a month, with the boat being taken out and brought back on the trailer as many times as you wish, the fee also includes as much freshwater to wash the boat off after use as you need,

when we arrived back at Mick's house Mass had made a huge salad for us, followed by a beef Masam curry, I must admit I had more than a good appetite when we arrived, some thing about being on a boat most of the day always makes me hungry,

no sooner had I got back it was time for the Friday night market, no new orchids this week or fish for that matter,

the new stall at the end of the row was still looking good,

this week the place was packed,

I was about half an hour later than normal, but I just could not believe the crowds that were here,

then home at last, I was greeted by the most beautiful smell, our jasmine had excelled itself again, there was hardly a breeze so the fragrance was very strong, a cup of coffee, feet up to watch a few episodes of Judge John Deed then off to bed.