Shopaholic drops a bollock

I only wanted a small suitcase, since I'm off to Bangladesh on Sunday and my last one spontaneously exploded in the street the other day (AND gashed my finger, to add injury to insult). I ended up clambering around Central Chitlom and the Skytrain with a suitcase, an ironing board, an iron, and several other bits and pieces. It was rush hour too. Mind you my wallet was demonstrably lighter on the way home.

Then a bloke on the Hotel tuk tuk, which thankfully turned up just as I was contemplating the 1km walk from skytrain to apartment, made a quip which I think he regretted. He'd complimented me on my rather handsome and stylish ironing board, so I began to read out the jokey message printed into the denim-look cover. It says something like "An iron is a device you rub on clothes to remove creases" - anyway his reply was "It should be in Thai because I'm sure YOU won't be the one using it!" Well having had a stressful time on the train I was in no mood for "sexpat" insinuations, so I said "Oh I'll be the one using it alright" in a rather high-and-mighty, don't-you-know-who-I-am kind of way. He immediately muttered an apology and a "Got that wrong", and was exceedingly nice to me for the rest of the ride, and made sure he held the lift for me when we got to Lake Green. Actually I wasn't really offended but there you go.

Sandy came to visit last night. We had a good old chinwag and some beer. He stayed over at my place. Here's us drunkenly playing drums - oy, the neighbours...

My word, the look of happiness on my ugly mush. Give me six beers and I'm anybody's.

Don't know if I'll be able to blog from Bangladesh, don't suppose you care. Later taters.

Travelling

..isn't what it's cracked up to be. I'm in Abu Dhabi again, same old same old. I'm waiting at the gate. One guy's asleep next to me, meaning I'm paranoid about making any noise. Meanwhile there are four midle-aged northerners sat opposite me, complaining more thatn I do, and quite loudly. Bloke's still snoring so far, but the key in my back is turning.

On the flight from Manchester there was a young man (about 4 yrs) with that special mix of anger, volume and, above all, stamina, that can make a flight so miserable for 20 or 30 people in nearby seats that driving all the way here in a milk float seems like an attractive proposition. His mother also made the mistake of trying to cover his mouth to save herself from the disapproving glances. That was it, in the eyes of the know-all mothers looking on, she wasn't up to the job.

Ah well, the latte isn't bad, the wireless is free and I have ... 21 minutes of battery life left. Oh bugger, better check my email and sod off. Be good.

Back to Work

Just had a message from my boss in Bangkok. He wants me to do some work on a system design. Curses, now I have work to do. Also I have to go back to BKK next week. I should be pleased, but I was getting used to the rain and the cold.

Never mind, grin and bank it eh?

In other news, I just had a drumming lesson which went well. Teach (Michael - hello Mike) was most impressed with my progress since going to Thailand.

Home alone today and I should do some housework. Oh well, here goes..

New Windows

Just went out the back door to check the new windows we've had fitted, and was once again struck by the tall-and-thin nature of the house. Evidence:

Smasher, init?

In other news, we're still awaiting the future. We've been assured it will arrive, but advised to stay firmly in the present, with fond recollections of the past.

Be good.

Abu Dhabi

Trditional whinge from the transit lounge. Nothing to say, tired, grumpy. There, it's done.

Six thousandth hit!

Posting and checking this blog entry will be the 6000th hit. Not bad for a pipe-bender from Tuebrook eh? Yes I know, it's pathetic really. Still, anything to cheer us up at the moment.

I found myself with a whole day of lounging about before my flight, so I braved the heat and trundled over to Lumphini park. Got some film of a woman doing Tai Chi with a gigantic chrome sword...
Bizarre eh?
Also took this self-portrait, as soon as I got to the park. I look very stressed here. Could be due to yesterday's news, could be because I hate being so hot and sweaty. I really should work in a cool place.
I sat and read my kindle for a while, cooled off a bit, but then became unreasonably angry at the flies that kept crawling on my greasy skin. Here when you sweat it doesn't evaporate, just stays on your skin like you've been basted with a particularly salty brand of olive oil. Anyway I walked the park for a while and then went home to my lovely AC unit. Here's an arty farty panorama of Lumphini..

Bombshell

I was taken into the office today and told that the company is laying everyone off for ten days while our clients make some important financial decisions. Depending on which way those decisions go, I could be out of work by the end of November.

While I'm waiting for the axe to fall, I decided I'd rather be home than in Bangkok, so I'm booked on tomorrow's flight to blighty. Home for eight days, then see what transpires.

Be good, and watch this blog for more developments...

Pasta

Is this enough?

I just ate about 5% of it, and my belly is as swollen as a scouse Hewlett Packard worker's purse. Look it up. By the way, those are carrots, not sausages, and they were a mistake. Tasted bloody awful. I'm no chef, that's for sure.

Later taters

:(

She's gone home. I'm distraught. 40 days till I fly home. How can I make it pass quickly? By making each day identical, tick tick tick, marking time until life begins again. Depressing, init.

In other news, I returned to my gym today for the first time after moaning to the staff about the rowing machines never working. They work now, but the bikes don't, so I cancelled my membership on the way out. Bart tells me his gym, which is one stop further on the skytrain, has machines that aren't broken, no loud music, and a pool to cool off in. Costs a bit more but I believe I'll give it a go.

In other news, Lyn brought my Kindle with her, and I love it...

I've already downloaded and read one book - Margaret Atwood's "The Year Of The Flood". Reading with the Kindle is very easy, it's readable in bright sunshine (Yes we have that here) and also low light levels. Just like a real book in fact. However, with thick books you have to hold the spine open or you lose your page. This you don't even have to hold, just press the button for the next page. I swear I licked my finger to do that yesterday, bloody hilarious, and it won't be the last time.

We (wifey and me) went mooching around Chatuchak market the other day, and found an excellent section devoted to artists and their work. Lots of striking work and arty people sitiing around discussing it. The gallery was runnig an exhibition of several artists' versions of the Mona Lisa. There were about 50 in several rooms, quite bizarre. Here's Lyn getting amongst he mona's..

I'm off now. Try this while you're here....Kurt Vile - Blackberry Song

Be good.