5 years on - still no nicotine

While sitting at my computer this morning I realised that it is now five years since I smoked a cigarette. At that time I was on retreat at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. I had applied for a job in York after 10 years living and working in Thailand. I thought to myself that as cigarettes in Thailand were less than £1 per packet but were at least £5, possibly as much as £7 per packet, depending on the brand, in England, I had better think about stopping.

I'd never really tried to stop before, thinking it would be much too difficult. In the end I just stopped. A day or two of craving then nothing at all. And this after more than 30 years of smoking.

Since that time I've seen a whole new industry spring up making 'electronic cigarettes'. I see these are very popular, but have the smokers really given up smoking? I think not, merely changed their way of taking nicotine.

How do I feel? Much fitter, no cough, clean smell. I wish I'd done it years ago. 

Khao Soi - my favourite Thai meal

We recently travelled from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. It's a long way so we needed to stop several times for food. We were with my brother-in-law who works for EGAT (Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand). In his job he travels all over Thailand and is great for knowing the best places to eat. He recommended a restaurant in Lampang which serves a really great dish of Khao Soi, sometimes spelled Kao Soi.

I had eaten Khao Soi while living in Bangkok. The shop which used to sell it though fell victim to the riots of 2008 and I have been longing for a dish since that time. So, as you can imagine, I was very pleased to hear we'd be stopping at a restaurant well-known for this speciality of Northern Thailand. I usually choose to eat chicken breast and was a little disappointed to hear they only served chicken legs here. It tasted amazing though and I washed it down with a glass of guava juice. I asked for an extra portion of crispy noodles, as I like that part the most. Then my brother-in-law ordered another bowl for me of just the curry and noodles. I ate the lot. It really is that good.

On the return journey, three days later, we stopped at the same restaurant (Khao Soi O-Ma) and had two bowls again. Yes, I put weight on during this holiday.

Below you will find a link to a recipe for it. Enjoy.

Link to Recipe on food.com

Back from Thailand and full of resolutions to post at least once a week to this blog.

Just returned from Thailand. Not as warm as may think at this time of year. We visited many places and took a lot of pics. I'll drip feed them over the next few weeks rather than all in one go. 

Working on a new website - posts may be a little sparse for a while.

 

Hi, big changes in my life. New job, new house! Two of the most stressful things that can happen in one's life apparently.

I appear to be enjoying the challenge though. Nothing too stressful so far. Usual niggles with tradesmen, solicitors and building societies. But, nothing a grown man with the support of his family can't deal with.

Maybe it's because I've just returned from a week's retreat at a Buddhist monastery.

I'm also working on a new website for our family business. Have a look and see how it progresses and morphs over the next few weeks.
http://aeioukeducation.co.uk/

 

Latest orchid photos

 

A few months ago I posted a couple of photos showing some of the orchids from my bathroom. I promised to post more as they bloomed. The latest crop of flowers from one species were particularly magnificent, so here is a photo. For the botanically minded it is Dendrobium compactum, a species native to South East Asia.

A budding designer in the family

My eldest daughter has just started secondary school. She seems to be enjoying it so far. One of the last things she did at primary school before the summer break was to design a logo for the local church. We didn't think anymore about it until we passed the church recently. You can imagine our surprise when we saw her group's design outside the church professionally produced and full size. What do you think?

The Zugspitze - top of Germany

The family recently had a well earned holiday in Germany and Austria. One of the places we had been told was a must see was the highest mountain in Germany - Der Zugspitze. The mountain is by no means the highest I've climbed, but it is certainly the most spectacular. The sense of exposure and vertigo inducing drops on all sides at the summit were truly awesome. Those who know me well will know that I don't use that adjective lightly and reserve it for places and experiences that really deserve it. The Zugspitze most certainly fitted that category.

That's me in the orange t-shirt. The photo was taken by my wife from the buildings near the summit across to the highest point. To reach the very top you need to use a via ferrata or iron stairway: very scary with no safety equipment and a pair of trainers!

 Once again the guy in the orange shirt with the blue rucksack is me. The drop from this point is about 1 kilometre straight down. You cannot tell from the picture but my legs were a bit wobbly here.

Reunited with my wife further down the mountain. A great day. I took a little piece of rock from the summit which I am going to mount on a plinth with a little plaque in German saying where it came from. Photos later. 

Butterfly Central - by chance

Took this at my local garden centre. Didn't  have a good camera with me so just grabbed the opportunity with my mobile phone. I think it turned out all right. I must take a rooted piece of this plant (Sedum spectabile) from mum's garden next time I visit if it is this good at attracting butterflies. I'm pretty certain they are small tortoiseshell butterflies. (Aglais urticae)

Return to blogging

After some months away from blogging due to work pressure I'm now back to the blogosphere. I work full time at teaching as opposed to mornings teaching and afternoons doing things digital. The digital side of things has been taken away from branch level in the main. Not really sad about it.
I've also discovered a new hobby for all the family - geocaching. See www.geocaching.com for details. More when I have a spare half hour or so to do it justice.

Maths and 10 year olds

As someone who can barely remember what I had for lunch each day for the last week I am struggling to check my daughter's maths homework, despite being an accountant for more years than I care to recall. We have recently been looking at the differences between area and volume today. I became more than a little agitated -at one point I looked skywards and must have transmitted my dismay to my daughter. Looking on the bright side of things she patently has no problem with English because her reply was "I'm not stupid dad, just partially confused" 

Pointless Signs: Harewood House Yorkshire

The first in an occasional series focusing on signs that, quite frankly, would have been better left unmade.
I was enjoying a rather pleasant Saturday afternoon walk in the grounds of Harewood House in Yorkshire. The house itself is owned by a noble family closely related to the Queen and is well worth a visit. The grounds however, like so many gardens and grounds of the once grand country houses of the nobility, have seen better days. The fact that there is not a staff of twenty gardeners anymore is probably the main reason for this. There are some good walks to be had though, and the walled garden and lake on the far side of the estate looked as if they would provide a quiet few miles of walking.

Back to my walk, I was ambling along the path skirting the lake when my attention was caught by a small notice about 20 feet off to the right in the surrounding woods. Being a rather inquisitive sort of person I naturally took a detour from the path and went closer to read what it had to say. You judge for yourselves if the notice was worth making.

   

Abbot Park Farm Campsite

The family have just returned from a great little camping holiday in The Lake District. The second holiday under proofed polyurethane this year. The site we selected was a great find. I am so happy with this site that I am, in some ways, reluctant to publicise it. We arrived on a Wednesday evening and pitched the tent. Our new tent takes about 45 minutes to put up, a far cry from my days of two man North Face tents that took about 4 minutes to pitch. A little while later our friend and her daughter arrived from Birmingham - that made three tents on the site. The next morning the other tent left and we were just two tents for the next night. One more family arrived on the Friday - so not the busiest site in the Lakes.

The site has only basic facilities, shower block, dish-washing block and no electrical hook-ups. However, what is there is spotlessly clean and of a good standard. The prices were reasonable too.
The jewel in the crown though was the tearoom attached to the farm, great cakes, cuppas and soft drinks at reasonable prices. They do breakfasts by arrangement too. They will also charge up phones etc, and freeze your ice blocks.

The farm is near to Ulverston and is at the southern ends of lakes Windermere and Coniston. there are lovely walks nearby on moors, lakeside and forest. I had forgotten how pretty the English lakes can look.
We enjoyed it so much we are going back for a few days in September to do some walking on the moors at the back of the farm which look over Lake Coniston. It really re-charged my batteries and I look forward to another session - truly away from it all soon.

http://www.abbotpark.co.uk/index.html

There I was thinking the cost of telecommunications had dropped...

I recently ran out of charge in my mobile phone battery and had to phone home for a lift from my wife. I managed to locate a public phone in York railway station. I rummaged in my pocket for some change and deposited a ten pence piece in the slot. I then dialled the number and... nothing. I read the directions in case the procedure had changed since last I used a phone. It was then I read with horror that I needed to deposit 60 pence in the slot. No matter I thought, I'll only be a minute, I'll get 40 pence change. Wrong; it took the lot!

A call of about 40 seconds cost 60 pence. Cherish those free minutes from your mobile operator and keep the battery charged up, you can't afford a public phone box. 

Time to Stop

I tell you, it's been a trying time
We've been trying to tell the time

It began at quarter past nine just fine
By quarter to ten they began to whine

The journey from digital to analogue
The tale I'll tell you via this blog

They seem to have a mental block
Regards the mighty shiboleth 'clock'
   

Salute to Chocolate

Terry’s, Cadbury, Suchard, Lindt and Rowntree

Devout disciples of the mysterious chocolate god

Expensive? Yes – all the best in life is never free

Chocolate: heavenly luxury from a really ugly pod

Even Hershey from that far off, once colonial shore

Tastes, to me, like a thousand things in one

Sweet, smooth, meltingly soft, all at once, never a bore

A thousand times better than a cup of tea with scone

Fry’s, Mars, another two. How many know the secret?

Do they alone know the black art of the chocolatier?

Are there others yet untasted? Let me in, don’t keep it

I’m going to get some now. I love chocolate, I’m sure its clear

My Tropical Toilet

A pink phalaenopsis hybrid

Much as I love English country gardens and the range of plants that can be grown in Britain I miss tropical gardens. I had a garden on the roof of my house in Bangkok, and grew a huge variety of orchids, palms and other tropical flowering shrubs and foliage plants.

Of all the plants I grew orchids were my favourites, and I had a fairly big collection. These were given to my father-in-law when I left Thailand. They now decorate his garden in Kanchanaburi in Western Thailand. I am going to Thailand for three weeks in December so will visit his garden then. Meanwhile here in the UK I have taken steps to add a touch of tropicality to our house here.

I have purchased or been given about twelve varieties of orchid, mostly phalaenopsis hybrids. After a little experimentation I have found that the bathroom is the best place for them. Most have re-flowered or continued to bloom since acquisition.

I will feature one variety of orchid at a time as they come into peak flowering condition. Meanwhile, here is one bathroom windowsill of phalaenopsis hybrids and a close up shot of one of the pink flowers.

The Modern Youth Hostel

The family are just returned from a wonderful weekend in Wales. We had intended to ascend Mount Snowdon, but we were thwarted by the weather. We eventually only got to just below the summit ridge. Every cloud has a silver lining though and we received a full refund of our train fare.

Our accommodation was the converted coaching inn at Bryn Gwynant. It is set in 40 or so  acres of woodland and informal gardens with stunning views out over Llyn Gwynant.

The last time I stayed in a youth hostel was probably in 1998 or 1999. Things have changed
for the better in the intervening years. It was much more like a hotel than the austere, rather boarding school - like, hostels that I remember.

We had a family room that would have slept 5 people comfortably and en-suite bathroom. Gone is the cook-it-yourself breakfast complete with individually labelled milk and cheese in a communal fridge. For a very reasonable charge you can have a buffet breakfast and a chef cooked plate of full English, or in this case Welsh, breakfast.

The view from the dining room was wonderful, I don't know of any Travelodges or Premier Inns with a dining room panoramic view to come close.

We have decided to return to Bryn Gwynant and explore North Wales in more detail.

The UK's prettiest power station?

                                                    The UK's prettiest power station?                                                                                                                                                                                                           

I would never equate pretty with power stations. To be reminded of their ugliness I need drive only a few miles south to see Drax coal-fired power station in South Yorkshire; a truly monstrous blot on the landscape. Necessary!, I hear you shout. Yes, of course, but let's have more of the type I saw in Wales this weekend.

Nestling on the valley floor under the shadow of Gallt y Wenallt, at 619m a foothill of its loftier neighbour Snowdon (1058m), is this delightful looking, slate built power station.

Hydro electricity has always struck me as eminently clean and suited to this country. Here, in Wales, we can see that it does not have to be intrusive at all. Surely not many people would object to something like this in their own back yard? I don't know how many of these would be needed to replace the power currently generated by Drax, but the price is worthwhile in my opinion.

Wales this weekend

Off to Wales this weekend. I intend to ascend Snowdon on Saturday; 5 am start from York. On Sunday we'll spend a pleasant time walking in the valley near our accommodation. That accommodation is an old coaching inn converted to a youth hostel; first time I've stayed in a youth hostel since the mid-nineties. Pics and a review of the youth hostel coming soon.

Latest rant - standard of English again I'm afraid.

While living in Bangkok this sort of letter was very popular with the ex-pat community. It seems I've now turned into Victor Meldrum in England too. Below is a letter published in the 'The Press' , York's answer to the Bangkok Post.

Further to the letter from Mrs A Chelton of Wednesday 6th April I write to further bemoan the falling standards of English in the UK.


I worked for 12 years or so in South East Asia, returning to England about two years ago. I have been wondering where the ability to use reported speech has gone in the intervening years. When I left people used: said, replied, asked, commented, etc. On my return It seems the whole country uses a single, all-purpose word – like. I overheard on the bus to town last week the following by way of illustration.

“I seen her do it and I'm like “Get out of here” and she's like “I know, it's good int it?”

When I left, the acceptable way to order a drink was: Can I have … ? We now appear to be extras from Friends and ask: Can I get … ?

It's not a dictionary I need, more a phrasebook. I don't know whether to blame teachers or television but I do know I don't like the new English my ears are assaulted with each day.

More to come, I have noticed several large potholes at the end of our street...