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The life and times of a single and hopeful Englishman.

Thailand Thoughts - Part 1: It's a very long time since I last did a blog and so much has happened since then but I'll tell you about them another time. This is about me and Alyssa's trip to Thailand which was supposed to be between the 13th and the 27th of November. I won't try to bore you with long blogs but will try to break it all down into smaller chunks. The events of the past few weeks will stay in the memory for a long time to come.

We were due to leave for Bangkok on the 13th of November at 9.30pm but our plane was delayed for 45 minutes. We had actually arrived at the airport at 4.15pm after setting off from Alyssa's place just before midday so had plenty of time to gear up for the long flight ahead. Our airline was EVA Air who we travelled with the last time we went to Thailand 2 years ago and the flights are usually good but long because they're non-stop.

Anyway we didn't take off until about 10.30pm and the flight overall took about 11 hours but because of the time difference we arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 4.30pm the following day even though my stomach was telling me it was time for breakfast. I didn't sleep during the flight as the planes are quite noisy and I feel that I can overcome the jetlag better by waiting till we arrive.

We arrived in good spirits and the Baan Siri hotel wasn't too far away from the airport. After checking into the hotel we went to our room and unpacked. The room was nice although there wasn't a main light but lots of lamps. The TV had a selection of Thai and English speaking channels with a decent selection although there was no music channel of sorts.

The following day we saw the start of the 6 day funeral procession of Princess Galyani Vadhana who has actually passed away in January but the funeral was covered by most of the Thai TV channels. The Thai royal family are very well loved especially in Bangkok and in most places you visited there seemed to be at least one photo of the king and queen.

To be continued.........................

Tags: thailandholiday

Sunday December 14, 2008 - 12:38am (GMT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for January 18, 2008: Hello there! Long time no see it's been a very long time since I wrote down my thoughts and a lot has happened since then but the best thing is for me to is to just mention the highlights.

In July me and Alyssa went to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and it was generally a wonderful experience with three days of quality motor sport with plenty of excitement and for the first time ever that I've been to a major Formula One event and hopefully not the last. Generally it was a great time apart from the hotel we were staying at realising that there was a Grand Prix 20 miles away and upping its charges to £110 per night. With Alyssa's haggling skills we managed to cut the price significantly for the first two nights although the Saturday night was still £110 even though there was no different to the quality of the service. So we had to wake up at 5am on the Sunday morning and make our way to the Northamptonshire track from Peterborough and we managed to get there in good time despite both feeling a bit tired over the three days. On the first day the stewards decided to close some of the gates early and that meant some fans borrowing a 15 foot ladder to get over the entrance which also had some barbed wire on the top, fortunately I forgot about my fear of heights and got over safely after some hair-raising moments. Finalnd's Kimi Raikkonen went on to win the race in his Ferrari and subsequently went on to win the Drivers Championship on the very last race in Brazil.

In September we went to Donnington Park for the weekend to see the Renault World Series and saw some great racing over the weekend taking into account the we arrived late both days because of the heavy traffic, the course is very close to East Midlands Airport so that in itself caused a few problems.

Moving into mid-December and that was when me and Alyssa celebrated our second anniversary together, the photo above was taken at the Angelics Christmas Party at Pink Punters back in 2005, since then we have fallen more in love and during this year are hoping to move in together on a permanent basis.

I've been on internet radio between radio stations for over 3 years and have enjoyed doing the shows most of the time but a hacker managed to get into the website at High Life Radio and the management had no choice but to close the station down. I've been thinking of retiring from radio for a while because the numbers that listen to my shows have fallen rapidly, maybe it's because the shows are not that good anymore or that people have other things to do on a Thursday night but it seems pointless me doing shows if nobody wants to listen to them.

My football team Lincoln have been struggling greatly this season after failing in the play-offs in May. After getting thrashed 4-0 at home to Shrewsbury on the opening day of the season in August there has been very few high points and a change of management and style has brought a slight improvement but there is a long way to go and a few new players needed if the threat of relegation is to be removed.

In 3 weeks time I am due to move from where I am living and at the moment I am not close to getting a job in Peterborough so am left with the prospect of staying with my dad until the situation changes. Someone is supposed to be helping me find a temporary place in Lincoln until I move south but things are moving much too slowly. I might be offline for quite a while as my dad as pay as you go dial-up internet and is thinking of moving to broadband but is weighing up the costs as he is retired. I'll be online at the weekends with my sweetheart Alyssa so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me straight away.

Take care everyone and a late happy new year!

Friday January 18, 2008 - 02:25am (GMT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for January 14, 2008: Hello again, time to put up a new blog after not having much to say over the last 8 months and I'll write one in the next day or so.

Monday January 14, 2008 - 03:00am (GMT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for May 17, 2007: Hello again, its Thursday the 17th of May and the time is 1.30am, now I can hear you all shout why am I not doing something else like sleep for example? Well my mind is a bit active so the best way for me to relax is to write down my thoughts on one of these blogs.

Work is going ok although today was very slow and very little happened apart from one trust sending us a £1,000 cheque towards one of our projects so it was cream cakes all round...well Eccles Cakes to be precise but who cares?? :)

Life with Alyssa is going well as usual and she has been busy recently looking for a new place to live but the mortgage is only big enough for a decent flat. She has her eye on an ex-council one which to be honest is bigger than where she lives now where you can't swing a cat without breaking the walls. Its based in Orton Malbourne which is in the south of Peterborough about 7 miles from where she lives now in Eye and much nearer to the city centre, Tescos and her place of work. I will in due course be moving in with her although the thought of looking for a new job in a new city seems quite scary with the usual fears of nobody wanting to employ me which would make things very difficult despite all my work experience and NVQ qualifications.

It's make or break for my football team later on tonight when they take on Bristol Rovers in the second leg of the League Two play-offs which is live on Sky Sports and hoping to reverse a 2-1 defeat from the first leg and also which happens to clash with my radio show too so I'll be watching it in the background while pretending to be a world class DJ. Manchester United won the Premiership title as expected and they will be hoping to do the league and cup double against Chelsea on Saturday in the FA cup final and my thoughts will with Liverpool next Wednesday when they take on AC Milan in the Champions League Final for the second time in three years and a repeat of the last time would be great when they came back from 3-0 behind to draw then win on penalties.

Lewis Hamilton iis currently top of the Formula One Championship after coming second on Sunday in Spain and the race was won by Felipe Massa with Fernando Alonso in third. Hamilton has shown that he can drive a good car well and seems a world champion of the future while Felipe Massa has done well lately but has to prove that he can win races from behind which is something he hasn't done yet and thats what sorts out the boys from the real champions. Kimi Raikkonen who failed to finish on Sunday has still a lot to learn in a Ferrari and I don't think at the moment he is good or consistent enough.

One of my Aunts died about a fortnight ago through lung cancer and her funeral was last Monday. She was called Janis and was a very nice lady from the times we met especially on a Thursday when we sometimes went to Morrisons together and to see her trying to push a huge trolley always made me smile. She was far too independent to ask for any help but although I didnt see her that much she will be missed, Rest In Peace Auntie Janis.

Last Tuesday it was my ex-girlfriend's Penny's birthday and she is currently in Portugal (lucky girl) with her partner. Next Wednesday is my mum's birthday which I won't forget. It was mine last month and I have to admit its hard to believe I am 42 although I am no spring chicken.

Anyway I'll do another one of these blogs very soon, take care and be good.

C'Mon the Imps!!

Thursday May 17, 2007 - 01:56am (BST) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
A Touch Of The Blues: In case anyone is thinking just want to say that I am not depressed or down or anything like that. Today's subject is on a sporting theme and as far as that goes at the moment its not looking good for any of the teams I follow. My local team Lincoln have gone into freefall winning one of the last 10 matches but are still in the play-offs but are in no great shape to do anything in that competition although it would be fantastic to see the Imps play at Wembley.

For the last month it has been the Cricket World Cup in the Carribean and England have struggled so far to qualify for the Super Eights which is the stage before the semi-finals. many people have said the tournament is way too long which is true in my opinion and many of the games have had poorly attendances because many of the locals could not aford the high ticket prices. Anyway it seems the current England team have lacked any motivation when they really needed to and this competition could see many of the current setup playing their last game I hope as many of them are simply not up to the task as they are about to be thrashed by South Africa.

One breath of fresh air is the current Formula One Championship which has seen three races and three winners and a three way tie at the top of the Championship between the winner of the last two titles Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Britans latest hope Lewis Hamilton who is in his first season after winning the Formula Two title last season. His attitude so far is a breath of fresh air showing a level of maturity well beyond his years and long may it last and although he is not expected to win the title this season I hope he does well enough to give him a platform to go and succeed in future years.

Anyway that's all the sports news for now, other news coming soon. .......

Tuesday April 17, 2007 - 08:36pm (BST) Permanent Link | 0 Comments