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  1. #1701
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    ^^ you can make your own Gammon from pork leg using salt. Plenty of recipes and pork is cheap in Thailand too.

  2. #1702
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    Congrats to David88, even at 99kg you are still the winner which I guess is only justice after you were so cruelly robbed last time. A box of Turkish Delight is on it's way.
    Quote Originally Posted by David48atTD View Post
    Graciously accepted


    Now, I've got you @ 102.5 the day you leave Mother England ... still a worthy weight!

    (blame the weight gain, not of the many SnK Pies washed down with gallons of Cider ... but on your toenail growing back ... those suckers are heavy)
    Cough ... we doing this one Mendy?

  3. #1703
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    Great thread Mr Mendip. Little tip on the supermarket wine front: Yellow Tail Shiraz. About Ł6 a bottle. Appreciated by wine connoisseurs world wide. Well all the pisspots I know anyway.

  4. #1704
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    Quote Originally Posted by David48atTD View Post
    Cough ... we doing this one Mendy?
    Cough... no!

    I'd love to, but no scales unfortunately. I think you may be sadly disappointed anyway, I had to put a new hole in my belt today. On the thin end!


    I've had enough now and just want to get moving before this Omricon spoils all my plans. It's freezing cold here and my mum seems to be immune to it. The heating goes on for about 12 minutes every morning and not again until 6pm. I keep advancing it but every time I walk past the boiler it's been turned off again. I wish I hadn't left my cold weather gear on the boat now.

    It's funny, right now it's hard to imagine what it would be like to feel hot... but I know that, Omricon permitting, in 10 days it will be hard to remember what it was like to feel cold. It's amazing how quickly you adapt. Well, I say it's 'funny'... it's funny for me cos I'm getting the fukk out of here in a week but I don't think I'd find it so funny if I was here for the entire winter!

    Anyway, at a complete loose end today I went to the local Coop, just for something to do.

    There's still loads of empty shelves but I've moved on so won't comment on the possible cause of that. It may just be because that Dillinger has moved down this way?



    Looks like Armstrong may have called in as well!



    If the worst happens, at least I have something to look forward to. I once saw the Wurzels live around 35 years ago and it was a great night out. I would recommend this to anyone living just up the M5 a few miles, a bit pricey mind.



    I took the long way home to pass some time and do some reminiscing. First stop was Thatchers Cider Farm shop.

    It's bloody closed on Mondays, but here's an apple orchard close-by.



    Here is the western end of the Mendip Hills. Crook Peak at the right of the pic is 191m above sea level. This is about the same as Korat (200m above sea level) which seems amazing since I can walk up Crook Peak in an hour but the ascent to Korat from Bangkok seems to go on forever. I was supposed to be going for walks up to Crook Peak with a mate and his two Collies, but he's just had a colleague test positive for Covid and has to isolate. Bugger.



    This is the dam at Blagdon Lake. It was built around the turn of the last century to dam the River Yeo and create the lake.



    During my teens I spent hours and hours fly fishing at this lake, both from the bank and from hired rowing boats. I have great memories of this... there was a group of around 6 or 8 of us... we used to camp out, spend all day at the lake from sunrise to sunset. Great memories. Even got a girl to join me occasionally!

    The view eastwards from the dam.



    And the view to the north, up Butcombe Bay. There were loads of water birds about but some of the splashes were from trout rising. More memories.



    I'm pretty sure the black birds are coots but I'm not sure what the black birds with white wings are. Shutree?



    This is a typical lane around this way. It's easier driving at night when the lights tell you if anything is coming the other way... unless of course they forgot to put their lights on. Memories of speeding around the back lanes to make a pub before last orders and get included in a lock-in came flooding back.

    Very close to this spot I found a dead hare in the road one night on my way back from fishing on the lake. It was still warm so I took it home and we had jugged hare for a few days. It's skin and ears are still up in my mum's loft with my fly tying gear.



    It's not all apples and cider around here... a Somerset vineyard!

    I've never tried Somerset wine but it can't be worse than the stuff I've been finding at the back of my mum's larder.



    An old manor house. I used to call in there occasionally to ask permission to go ferreting on their land. It was never a problem so long as guns weren't involved... and so long as I dropped off a rabbit or two at the end of the day. Ferreting's only done in the winter and those were the days when I could stay outside all day long in the cold.



    The ploughing done... ready for the frost to break up the soil with the Mendips in the background.



    This is the field behind where I lived to about the age of 10. The hedge along the right marks a small stream where we used to catch bullheads and eels, and the occasional small trout. It's pretty well empty of fish 45 years later. That solitary tree in the backgound, just to the left of the dog walkers, looked the same 45 years ago. Memories of climbing that bugger...



    To improve my melancholy I popped in to the churchyard to see my dad's grave on the way home!

    It's a beautiful church, dating back to the 15th Century.



    And a tree fully laden with mistletoe! Christmas is coming up.



    When I got back home I had a cup of tea with half a square of home-made tiffin. You can't beat a bit of tiffin!



    And later my customary evening tea with some old photos to maintain my maudlin mood... where have the years gone? Salt and Pepper were my first ferrets. They're buried in the rose bed.

    Quote Originally Posted by Top Cat View Post
    Yellow Tail Shiraz. About Ł6 a bottle. Appreciated by wine connoisseurs world wide.
    ... with some half decent wine for a change... thanks for the tip Top Cat, although it was Ł7.50...



    This looks familiar... in less than 2 weeks I'll have 6 pairs of eyes watching me while I eat. I can't wait for that!



    But to be honest, these memories and melancholy are all very well... but this isn't my home any more.

    That was then and this is now... a couple of days drifting around the bars on lower Sukhumvit next week will snap me out of it!
    Last edited by Mendip; 30-11-2021 at 03:55 AM.

  5. #1705
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    ^ the Wurzels - they used to play in the Magpies pub every year out the back in the field with a stage and cider tent, last time it was Ł5 inc a pint of either medium or dry.

    Now old jolly Jack was a hardworkin' chap,
    And he longed for the chance to be free,
    Stuck a pin in the map as it laid on his lap,
    And he stuck it in gay Paree.
    It were quite by chance that he heard of France,
    'Cos he'd never been away before,
    He was straight off the boat, with his ten-bob note,
    When his heart fell through the floor.


    Chorus: Oh, I'll never get a scrumpy here
    No, I'll never get a nice mild beer
    Give me England every time, my dear
    'Cos you never get surprises livin' in Devizes
    However hard I bloomin' try
    Seems I'll never get a hot meat pie
    In old Somerset's where I'll die
    When I die.....


    So he made his way, in complete dismay,
    Where the folks all goes at night,
    And standing there was a girl so fair,
    Her eyes were shinin' bright
    Put 'is hand in his pocket, and it felt like a rocket,
    Glowin' in his hand like a flame
    So he winked his eye, and she give a cry,
    "Have you chicken?" "No, I'm game!"

  6. #1706
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    That new variant is a fast moving development, I'm praying for a winter furlough although I can't see it.
    Realistically there's no way the UK is gonna entertain another lockdown.
    I hear what you're saying about country lanes and night driving, so much safer.
    Looking forward to those sukhimvit pics
    Shalom

  7. #1707
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    Very close to this spot I found a dead hare in the road one night on my way back from fishing on the lake. It was still warm so I took it home and we had jugged hare for a few days
    Roadkill, you ate roadkill!

  8. #1708
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post

    It's funny, right now it's hard to imagine what it would be like to feel hot... but I know that, Omricon permitting, in 10 days it will be hard to remember what it was like to feel cold. It's amazing how quickly you adapt. Well, I say it's 'funny'... it's funny for me cos I'm getting the fukk out of here in a week but I don't think I'd find it so funny if I was here for the entire winter!
    Lovely post there Mendy.

    ---

    Re the cold, drop by your local Charity Shop, buy a bit of warm gear on the cheap.

    Keep your Money for your Honey

  9. #1709
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    The ploughing done...
    Speaking of which, how long will you be quarantining in BKK?

  10. #1710
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I'm pretty sure the black birds are coots but I'm not sure what the black birds with white wings are. Shutree?
    I'd agree with Coots and the others possibly male Tufted ducks. I cannot make out the tufts on the pics. Nev is your man here.

    Here is an Internet pic:

    -male-tufted-jpg

  11. #1711
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I wish I hadn't left my cold weather gear on the boat now.
    Erm, it will be December tomorrow. So did you just abandon your cold weather gear or leave it for someone else to use? That is expensive clobber.

    At least you have moved on from drinking vinegar. You only have a few days to enjoy it, I'd be grabbing some French or Italian bottles. You will be back in the wine desert soon enough.

  12. #1712
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    It's freezing cold here
    FWIW, in this part of Isan the air has been distinctly chilly in the early mornings. I kid you not, no aircon the last few nights and going outside at 6 a.m. it has been chilly. To the extent that the gf wore a long-sleeved T-shirt this morning. Once the sun ges going we are enjoying dry, bright days.

  13. #1713
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    ^ My favourite time in Isaan... as soon as the temperature drops below 30 the wife will be wrapped up like an eskimo and the winter duvet put on the bed. Let's hope it stays cool through to late Feb at least... then one day you wake up to the 'hot as hell' season, just like that.

    Ii's looking good for work back on that same boat next year Shutree so I left a fair bit of stuff onboard. This was mainly in case I turn up for a trip next year but my bag doesn't make it... in which case you can spend the entire trip in the clothes you arrive in. Very amusing when it happens to someone else but a real b@stard when it happens to you.

    You're usually offered a few donations of underwear and T-shirts to see you through the trip but it's still a pain. I always offer a pair or two of boxers if a colleague is stuck in that predicament but I never get any takers!

  14. #1714
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    How low does it go up in Isaan in the depths of "winter?"

    I've been in Laos in December and it was jacket on many nights (much colder up in t'ills obviously), but I've only ever been in Isaan for one night in the cold season (Nong Khai for a night in mid December, same trip) and that was late teens/early 20s, so it was perfectly pleasant.

  15. #1715
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    We'll get down to 13 or 14 degrees at night in Korat, cool enough for a jacket/fleece to sit by the pond outside. The day times are high 20s, breezy and with clear skies... glorious for a Westerner, fur coat weather for a Thai.

  16. #1716
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    Quote Originally Posted by hallelujah View Post
    How low does it go up in Isaan in the depths of "winter?"
    Well looking in his gallery, he's bought two selection boxes and a Thai sized pair of Santa's little helpers to give the gardener a 'twirl' and a nudge up the 'fudge' the 'twister'


  17. #1717
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    ^ Ho ho ho!

    What can I say, I like Christmas!

    And that was a sarcastic laugh by the way... you need a hobby...

  18. #1718
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    Quote Originally Posted by hallelujah View Post
    How low does it go up in Isaan in the depths of "winter?"

    I've been in Laos in December and it was jacket on many nights (much colder up in t'ills obviously), but I've only ever been in Isaan for one night in the cold season (Nong Khai for a night in mid December, same trip) and that was late teens/early 20s, so it was perfectly pleasant.
    Hal, this is my seventh winter and they have varied a lot. Now, end of November, is the earliest I can remember it turning cool. My first winter was Nakhon Phanom province, beside the river. Tesco had scarves, gloves and woolly hats by mid-November but it stayed warm into the new year. I teased the locals about the woolly hats. Then, one night in February it turned cold. I went to bed in my clothes and next day bought a cheap duvet and stll had to sleep in T-shirts. Children from farms were arriving in school wrapped in blankets. Most did not have hot water at home. At night I went out for dinner with a fleece over a couple of layers and with scarf and gloves. It was cold overnight, single figures Centigrade for a short while. Daytimes very comfortable in the sun. Then last winter here in Nongbua it seemed not to get cold at all, only the cooler more comfortable weather that Mendip describes.

  19. #1719
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    ^ Do you not have a thermometer?

    About 20 fukkin degrees I bet

  20. #1720
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shutree View Post
    one night in February it turned cold. I went to bed in my clothes and next day bought a cheap duvet and stll had to sleep in T-shirts.
    Its Bear fukkin Grylls

  21. #1721
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    I know its cold when I go outside in the mornings and my Thai family members have a small fire burning and they are all huddled around it.
    So I have on occasion checked the local temperature on the net and it is usually somewhere between 18 to 20 degrees Celsius.
    I have in the past five years worn long pants about 5 times and a jumper/pullover about the same but normally just get around in shorts and tee shirt like in the hot times.
    I really don't think I would like being anywhere when it gets down to zero like the warmth.

  22. #1722
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    1 or 2 degrees above freezing is luxury here.
    It's that damn incessant drizzle that cheeses me off.

  23. #1723
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    Jeezus, what a bunch of pussies. Talking about being cold in Thailand and Laos.


  24. #1724
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    Quote Originally Posted by bsnub View Post
    Jeezus, what a bunch of pussies. Talking about being cold in Thailand and Laos.
    Hey when you have not felt below 80F in the mornings and 95+ mid day to sunset you get a different perspective on cold. If you came here in hot season in April you would really be shocked. March-May is 85 for a low and 105+ for a high each and every day.

  25. #1725
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shutree View Post
    Hal, this is my seventh winter and they have varied a lot. Now, end of November, is the earliest I can remember it turning cool. My first winter was Nakhon Phanom province, beside the river. Tesco had scarves, gloves and woolly hats by mid-November but it stayed warm into the new year. I teased the locals about the woolly hats. Then, one night in February it turned cold. I went to bed in my clothes and next day bought a cheap duvet and stll had to sleep in T-shirts. Children from farms were arriving in school wrapped in blankets. Most did not have hot water at home. At night I went out for dinner with a fleece over a couple of layers and with scarf and gloves. It was cold overnight, single figures Centigrade for a short while. Daytimes very comfortable in the sun. Then last winter here in Nongbua it seemed not to get cold at all, only the cooler more comfortable weather that Mendip describes.
    You should move south and get yourself closer to Bangkok. I had socks on in bed for a week once and then it was back to cracking the flags and 30 celsius for the rest of December and January!

    It was indeed amusing seeing the locals in fur-lined parkas, scarves and woolly hats during this time though!

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