My thanks to all my Thai/Uk friends based here!
We had really nice time and meal at...The Forest https://goo.gl/maps/7jVbb38uGYA2 There from midday to 5pm many thanks for coming and you generous gifts. A super Birthday Celebration for Phi & Nida with... Pat & Saksit Paul & Manit with Katy David and Gwan(Hwan) George and Tut
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All well here.
An additional bit of roofing built yesterday ! We ordered it in October ! It will protect the kitchen are under the house in times of wind and rain Merry Xmas to you all and best wishes !... Phil & Nida
Late 2015 and 2016. So we started with the Aussie trip last Nov Dec. Pretty good. Very good camping and excellent trees and travelling. Not as spectacular as our trip to NZ in 2014 but still very good. We had the "New house Celebration in February with Monks in attendance and many villagers coming and indeed helping. Our own "disco" as well ! Met some expats living near all very good also indeed helpful. Returned to UK at the end of March. Travel Ok and 2 nights in Gloucester before retrieving the MH from storage (excellent facility and very helpful). A few minor hiccups in April and early May 1 Stuck in the mud ! 2 Minor damage to MH had to be repaired and also new wheel spats (mudguards) needed fitting so travel to Sittingbourne for all this as well as service and MOT. We also needed to meet SSE in the house in Maidenhead and again got stuck in the mud ! Eventually all was sorted We use the Canterbury Aire which is really handy..a free bus into the city and indeed we booked our flights to Thailand at the "Flight Centre Shop" where we got a very good deal with sensible tings as well as dates. So on Friday 6h May we set off on the "Great Scandinavian Trip". We ate Reindeer Stew whilst singing "Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer..made a very tasty stew" (to the obvious tune) http://philip-clark.weebly.com/summer-2016.html http://philip-clark.weebly.com/norway.html http://philip-clark.weebly.com/finland--sweden--home.html This was simply a superb trip (and we may repeat some of it in 2 or 3 years time !) Back to the UK towards the end of August and a pleasant time staying mainly at Stroud Farm Holyport. We travelled to Malvern towards the end of September to place the MH in storage at Newent (Gloucester) again and train to Slough. Travelodge in Slough very convenient. Then the 12 hour Flight to Bangkok , Hotel for 1 night and the train to Uttaradit. All well here.. The garden a Total Jungle but now very tidy again (so no need to sing "Jungle Bells"). We did our Ususl "Visa Run to Laos" 1o days ago but now there is a new immigration office in Uttaradit and so in 3 months I ecpect to get a visa (retirement) extension wwhich only means visiting the Office. It should also mean I do not need to visit London next summer as the visa extension can be renewed every year !. So Christmas decorations and lights done today Stage 1 ( Tuesday 8th) Dismantle shower cubicle consisting of 2 glass side panel ad the curved door. The assembly was well-designed so this was fairly easy. The door is very heavy the 2 glass panels not quite as heavy. The set about cleaning off all the old sealant etc to free up the shower tray. This was quite hot work but all progressed OK Today (Wednesday). Finish off removing all the old sealant grout etc also unnecessary skirting which prevented the shower tray going right into the corner. This has worked and now the shower tray goes under the tiles we fitted (3 years ago) to assist with this. So clear waterproof paint next (shower tray out again) Also varnish the floor with "yacht varnish" to preserve the wood. Then replace the tray and use a) white grouting b) Skaflex c) Sealant Finally a picture of the garden now fairly tidy
Just this morning we have now burnt 95% of the wood, twigs, grass, weeds. All that remains is a small amount now in our "bonfire area". It took us from 7:30 to 10:30 to move and burn. Yesterday we had a very large pretty butterflyin the garden. We get many quite big black and white butterflies but this one was significantly bigger ! No need for captions !
It takes time to both cut trees/bushes and grass and this leaves with a good deal of material to burn. Before photos Today's photos (below) The house itself just need a good dusting but as we use dust sheets and store smaller items in polythene it is more a case of unwrapping.
Good coffee percolater unwrapped and used today. Smoothie maker already in use. Minor food shopping in local market 2 days ago and we have found some decent fish "pangasius" it is a large fish and cut as steaks but then I bone it before cooking. As you are probably aware the much revered King died on Thursday Gloucester to Uttaradit.
Wednesday 28th Sept - Motorhome in store and train to Slough. Stay in Travelodge. Very convenient and the room was quite large. Thursday 29th - Part-exchange my aged samsung tablet for a newer 2nd hand model...Much better and OS upgrade as well. Bus to LHR T5. Friday 30th - Arrive BKK on time. Taxi to Hua Lum Phong station to buy our ticket for saturday. Hotel OK Saturday 1st Oct - Train 8:30 am to 2:30 all OK. Wednesday 5th Oct -. Visit bank in Uttaradit to re-organise accounts and major shopping. Meanwhile Nida has been doing her "Slash and Burn" on the jungle/garden ...It takes about a week to get it back to sanity. House tidying and cleaning as well. The weather is hot and humid with quite a lot of rain/thunderstorms...for the locality a welcome change from the drought conditions of the last 2 years. The main dam (SIRIKIT) is nicely full which will help with hydro-electric power and maintaining river levels as we enter what is referred to as winter (dry and cold !) https://goo.gl/maps/bRUgek3Lgnw |