6th Additional episode, with Bangkok beasties

29th June 2006
Yesterday afternoon and last night Sheila and I had a movie marathon as Adam and Rosalind went out to dinner there was no football on.
The movies included:
‘Sleepless in Seattle’ with a very young looking Tom Hanks, definitely a two ‘hankie’ job that one.
The next starred Angelie Jolie as a FBI special agent where an evil twin was a serial killer. I can’t remember the title of the movie, but I have formed the opinion that she is not good acting apart from acting as Angelie Jolie.
The third was ‘Fallen’ starring Denzil Washington, he is a good actor and is was quite a good movie with him as a New York cop fighting the forces of evil and I don’t mean crooks.
The last was a bond movie starring Timothy Dalton was James Bond, James Bond he is not; enough said! Then it was to bed, but we could not get the balance correct last night between turning the air-conditioning off to be quiet and turning it on to be cool; so last night I did not get any sleep, but what the heck just eat a few more lotus. Adam and Rosalind got home just about midnight, but then chatted until about 0230 so a normal sleep for them.
In the morning I arose, ‘abluted’ earlier than usual and decided to visit the dogs on my way to getting the morning paper. I like the made-up word ‘abluted’, but one of the things that I detest is the current linguistic mangling that is in vogue in Australia at the moment where a positive statement is turned into a negative by the addition of the word ‘not’ at the end. “I so love him not”, “She is so much my best friend not”. STOP IT you must be blind you wankers.
I feel better now having given vent to my feelings on that subject, which was one of the many thoughts that accompanied my insomnia last night.
Back to my morning sojourn, first it was the dogs that I have at last taken some pictures of, and are featured below. They were a bit shy of having their photographs taken, but a little roast pork went a long way to encouraging them; a bit like super models.

SORRY PICTURE INSERT FUNCTION IS NOT WORKING I WILL TRY AND ADD THE LATER






The two ‘fluffy’ ones are my favourites. Rosalind tells me that they are not real Soi dogs, who are the mangy looking ones that look very much like dingos.
When I took the camera back up to the apartment I persuaded Sheila to take a picture of the ‘KITE’ and it’s manufacturer/pilot.


Then Sheila showed me a view from our bedroom, of the apartments opposite where the workers were flat out doing the fit-out of the building. I have heard about lying down on the job, but this was the best example I had seen:







It also made us more conscious of the need to dress before we leave the bathroom, even though our windows are covered in reflective materials, I hope.
On my way to the ‘Tops’ supermarket I noticed a shell and a centipede type ‘insect’ near a gateway. I thought that the shell looked similar to the picture of one in the paper the other day with a caption stating that it was a rare tree snail. I decided that I would pick them up on the way back and take some pictures of them. I also told Khun Noy, after I had disposed of them, that I had found them in the kitchen. Khun Noy was appalled to think that they could have been found in her kitchen. I have not yet owned up to the fact that I wanted to use the kitchen bench to act as a frame for my pictures and the reason I found them was I put them there. Maybe I will own up when she does not have a sharp knife to hand. Then again I might not as Khun Noy is keen on Thai boxing; doing it not watching it. Some of the beasts of Bangkok are on the next pages.



I used a normal sized postcard to indicate the size of the beast, with my spectacle case behind the card.



My other adventure was in ‘Tops’ where I made an application for a shopper discount card. Wow another wild time was had by all; but I do enjoy the process of trying to integrate with the community and it is always pleasant to have a lovely young Thai lady help me complete the application form that has very few English prompts on it, but lots of spaces that have to be filled. The fact that I had not taken my passport with me caused some consternation until I provided my New South Wales driving licence, it had my picture on it and lots of numbers that were slowly transcribed to the form. I was issued with my card and shown how to put it into a machine near the entrance and from a slot underneath appears a docket in English telling me the special buys for the day. Now whenever I purchase anything at the supermarket I can respond with pride to the enquiry “Tops card?” Apparently I can earn discount, and points towards very special gifts like a plastic mixing bowl with flower motifs. When we leave I will give my card to Khun Noy so that she might redeem any points that we will accrue. I don’t want to be stopped at Customs and accused of smuggling Thai artifacts.



MY shopper discount card, in reality it is the size of a normal credit card, but I think it deserves the full-size treatment.
Rosalind went to gym in the morning, then after lunch Sheila and I went to the postbox around the corner to post some cards, and also use my discount shopper card at the supermarket wow what a wild bunch.
While I compiled this Sheila and Rosalind went for a foot massage, and in the evening watch Narnia, if I got the English version. The saga will continue: