Merry Christmas!!

Wow, sorry for the late wishes. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone.
We have had visitors, the family Vertkas and therefore have been busy. This of course is only an excuse for an inexcusable oversight.
I hope you did have a great day.

We did and we also got the chance to Skype with the family.
A very merry Bangkok Christmas.


Sawasdee Krup

December already

When you look out our kitchen window here in BKK it is very hard to tell that Christmas is only 19 days away. We do have our Christmas lites up already and the tree is decorated. Both of them in fact.

But it isn't the same as back home in Canada. From our kitchen window there it would be a view of our flower garden, put to bed for the winter, all the trees and bushes standing in their winter silhouettes to a backdrop of cedar trees. And maybe, just maybe a lite dusting of snow. Oh Canada!

Not here. Only way you can actually tell from the weather is that it only gets up to 32 degrees. Humidity is down. Normally 75%, now only 60. So a little cooler, and especially at night. Much easier to sit out on the deck and have a beverage or two.

This is the big tree, couldn't get it in the house cause it is too tall and it looks awful if you cut the top off and stick a star on it. So we just left it out on the deck.
Diane is convinced that we will have presents under this tree come Christmas morning. We will have to wait and see!! I am not sure what the Santa rules are for Bangkok and Palm Trees?

This is the smaller tree that we have out on the balcony off the living area. This one when turned on at night does bring a feeling of Christmas. And of course we can always turn the air con up to 21 and we will be freezing our ashes off.
That is one of the funny things about the fam now. We sit around in 27 or 28 degrees very comfortably. Having the air set at 25 makes it way too cold. I guess we really have acclimatized.







We have Kyle and Lindsay here for a few days before they travel off to other parts of Thailand. They depart on Wednesday morning for Chang Mai. Then on Wednesday evening the family Vertkas arrive. A long awaited and much talked about trip. Tammy has this one planned down to the nines. Woa be the airplane pilot or other official that might get in front of this. Could be very nasty for them. They are actually in the air flying here as I write this.

So our little Christmas in BKK is shaping up.
Of course this is the first Christmas that Diane has ever had away from her family. No brothers, sisters or Ma and Pa around. Little bit different. But rest assured Lena and I will take care of her. And of course we will think of you and skype and stuff. It is different for me as well, cause I have been involved with the Brooks clan at Christmas time for 24 years now. Wow.
And although I do have a reputation for Christmas dinner and such there will not be anything so special this time around. Just the special that goes with it being Christmas dinner. Perhaps we will adopt a Jamaican tradition. A friend told me that they always set a place at the table for friends not present just as a reminder. Touching and thoughtful tradition for sure.
.........................

Merry Christmas

I was looking for some kind of little segue I could do here to begin this next part of my blog.

It is after all my blog. I may have been pressured into actually doing it by little red haired girls and the like, but I am blogging nonetheless. So I usually put up pictures and other things to my liking, trying a little bit to play to my audience but not all the way. My blog remember.
Anyway, I have received numerous Leaf cat calls and the like that it behooves me to mention those poor suffering souls from Toronto and nether regions.
I am a huge hockey fan as you all know. And I do watch a number of games a week, especially here in BKK where I have NHL Game Centre. I can watch any game I choose, not like back in Mississauga where I can watch any game I choose as long as I choose a Leaf game. If I don't choose a Leaf game I wait until the Canucks or Oilers or Flames are on at 10 pm.

So dear Leaf fans I am aware, perhaps painfully aware that the team is finally, yes finally, god help us all, finally!!! having a season that looks like they will make the playoffs.

And I have upon suggestion and consultation reviewed my schedule for my return to the Great White North but sadly must report that the sock drawer is still a mess and therefore I will miss the cup parade. So sad. Don't think the worse of me please. But do enjoy the moment. And please beat the b's whatever you do. I could not stand to see them win two.

What is this pic all about you  ask???

 

Well this is a picture from September, 2011. The lads at Centre Molson were putting the paint on the ice for the upcoming season and something is different. The centre ice line now has a number of Canadiens logos making up the line. For your information, there are 24 logos on each side of the blue dot. 

Representing the 24 Stanley Cup banners that hang from the roof.

Sawasdee Krup

Werking Girl

Lena has landed work. Not only that but she will actually be working two jobs which will have her at school for 7 days a week.
Job one is M - F. She works 9 to 11:00. Pretty cool.
Job two is S & S. Sat is 9 to 4 and Sun will be 9 to 12. Not so cool
But it is all about making some money and keeping busy. So this is what she has decided to do.
One of the groups is pre kindergarten, so age like 3 years. Soooo cute.

Water is still all around us. Many of the routes out of BKK are flooded and thus it is still a major topic of discussion. Politically it is going to grind away at the country for months and depending on what happens next rainy season, it could get uglly.
Major foreign companies had moved full bore into Thailand in recent years. Big players being car manufacturing and electronics manufacturing. A definite Japaneses tint to the business model. And of course these companies bring suppliers to the country as well. An example you know of is Celestica. They have a plant here to support the work for their big customers. The upshot of this is that the flood has had a significant impact on a number of these companies. Plants are shut, there are pics showing cars sitting in a lot, like the one beside Ford on the QEW. And the cars are under water!

 

 

 This is taken just last week, the one taken in early just barely showed the roof, so you can imagine what the inside of the plant looks like. No cars coming out of  Honda Thailand for a while!

Auto parts are still in short supply and affecting production for Toyota and Honda in Canada. Clear indication of the global market place we live in. And now these big companies are being wooed by neighbouring countries. Countries that now argue they have the people skills, low wages and do not have the flood risks. So unless Thailand can do something obvious to spell the floods in future they may be down to strike three with some of these global players. A big if for the Thai economy.

U are up to date. Enjoy, talk soon
Sawasdee Krup

Dry and getting dryer

Well we went away for the Remembrance Day weekend.  A beautiful trip to Koh Samui. A gorgeous island in the Gulf of Thailand, way down south on a latitude similar to Ho Chi Minh but to make it more familiar with Americans (people from the Americas, not yankees) it is at a latitude of approximately 9 degrees north, which is the same latitude as San Jose, Costa Rica.

Diane, Lena and I spent a leisurely three days at the Four Seasons there. Tripped into the fishing village of Samui, a little shopping area, fare number of restaurants and small boutique type hotels and rooms above the bars type of accommodation. Most of the hotels in the area are still a little isolated from any tourist type areas as Samui is just starting to turn into Phuket. It was one of the first islands to start to get developed, mostly because of the airport built there.

They tell stories of how the island is still a major coconut producing areas of Thailand. When parents died and it was time to pass along the properties the oldest often received the plantations and growing areas of land in the interior and on the mountains. Younger children and women got the beach and less valuable land. Ahahaha, guess who's rich now and who is still sluggin coconuts for a living!
One of the many ironies of life plays out here as the tourist trade begins to expand.

Our weather was reasonable, still a bit of the rainy season holding on down in the south so we lost a bit of beach time to rain, but not to worry, we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Now we are back in BKK and glad to hear that the water is beginning to subside in many areas around the city. Still have a long way to go for many to be free of the flood, but it is a beginning. As you may know the season from November to end February in this area of the world is like a desert. It seldom rains. The reason they flood the rice paddy in September, it starts the germination of the rice and the water gradually reduces as the plant grows.
To put some perspective to the flood, I have some pictures of my golf course.
Here are some I took back last fall when I first joined the club in November of 2010.

This is a shot of the club house taken from the front edge of the 18th green. Just over that bunker and a little to the left is the practice green.





Here is a pic of the practice green taken by the golf club in better days and used on their website. The picture is taken from the second floor balcony of the clubhouse. You can see the bunker on eighteen top left of this picture

Now here is a picture of the club house taken by a friend on November 1.

 There are stairs that lead into the pro shop in the middle of the picture. The putting green is easily 10 feet below the top of these stairs, which are not visible in this picture at all.

 To arrive at the golf course you drive down a lane way from the main street. Now you need a boat as you can see here.

Just past this main entrance is the par three course which borders on the main road. The first hole you see from the lane way is the 9th hole shown here bottom left. The chap who took these pics entered via the lane way then cut over to the par three course, so that is the same hole to the right. Covered with 10 feet of water!

 Here is a picture of the Golf Academy, with the driving range to the right. The range teeing area is covered. You can see that the water was over the top of the windows in the bag storage room.

The club is located aprproximately 45 minutes north of my apartment. Obviously the flood water never made it to my home. It has been diverted to areas east and west of BKK. The impression is that most of the water will be past BKK or away from the golf course by end of November. Of course the golf is done here for many months afterwards. I do not see how they can get grass to grow, cut and groom to form fairways in less than a month, never mind the greens. Which at Bangkok golf club were exceptional. Some have said it will cost a minimum of $75,000 per hole to rejuvenate. And the high season has begun. Korean and Japanese golfers are looking for places to play. With the loss of so many golf courses to the north, Thailand golf courses will be a very chaotic place come January when most of the Asian golfer normally take their holidays to this area.
Me, well I have to try new ground. As it was my membership to Bangkok Golf Club expires on the 15th of November. I haven't played there since October 20 as of the floods which actually came to the golf course area on the 15th.
Trust to say my hardship is not as bad as the people who live in the area and are traveling around in boats, canoes and punts of various kinds.
Good news is that the waters are receding and the family here is dry.

Coming up the fam is into a month of minimal travel. Most likely just to Pattaya condo. Lena looks for a job and Deeds settles into her role as helper.
We look forward to our next two sets of guests. Kyle and Lindsay and then the family Vertkas for Christmas.
Wow, Christmas talk already! Has it snowed where you are?

Hockey is shaping up to be a post kicker. Kinda thinking the Habs should back off right now and get into the Nail Yakupov sweeps. You know the last time the Habs picked first? 1980. Doug Wickenheiser. Shoulda taken Hayley. Much better player.
We'll see what happens. Fighting it out for the last playoff spot again no doubt. Or maybe Markov is the kick we have been waiting for?
Sawasdee Krup

Who knows??

Yeah, that is the only thing you can say about the Great Flood of Thailand of 2011. Will the water actually come into the centre of BKK. You can scour the web read all the newspaper clippings and reports you want but you are no closer to revealing the truth. Only time will tell.
They are sooooo screwed up over here that there is no way to tell. The city of BKK has a governor, not sure if this is a higher rank than mayor but in any event he told the Prime Minister to pound salt the other day. Refusing to agree with her and allow her to open a sluice gate that would allow water to flow quicker to the sea, thus perhaps alleviating some of the flooding in the north a little sooner than the suggested 2 months they are talking about now. His position was to not allow inner BKK to get wet. (we are kinda in inner bkk, so I thought his standing up to her was cool). Now they say that the story will be told by this Friday. Of course they have said that about every Friday or Satruday since the middle of September. Truly they have no idea. I do know that people to the north are under water, my golf course among them.
Of course I have no idea what they mean by the "north". Is that north of BKK or north like Chang Mai? For sure it still includes Ayutthaya. News is hard to come by and means even less because they talk about districts and areas and such that I have not been able to figure out or even find on a map.
Suffice to say that you now start doing what is right for you. As so many locals have. Today I bought a jug of water, 20 litres. Normally I would pay to have this delivered to my kitchen for 70 baht. About $2.25. I found a truck on the street and the guy was delivering water jugs to a hotel. I asked him if I could buy some. 400 baht he said. I bought two. That is 800 baht = $24.00 for water that before the flooding began cost $4.50. Don't care. Don't wanna be rationing water or worrying about it. So I overpaid and the fella who delivered it wants to come back again next week. And if things don't chill as far as the flooding goes, I may just give him a call.

A positive occured last week. I found a golf course and a game with a few friends from the washed out course. Played twice last week and playing again for sure on Monday. Some relief for me. Out of the house and stretching my legs a bit.
News from the group. Lena had her wisdom teeth removed at the hospital on Saturday. So it is all soup and sleep for her.
The three of us are scheduled to fly to Koh Samui on Friday and spend a weekend on the beach taking it easy. Looking forward to that.

Hockey beat bears mentioning. I haven't received the official parade route from any Leaf fans yet but I hear that the route will definitely go down Bay Street and finish at the ACC. That will be in June of course and I may just be back in town. But I think my sock drawer, what with all the traveling and all, will need rearranging so I am not going to be able to make it. Sell my spot to one of the suffering masses who have waited forever for that day to come. Oh and bonne chance mon amis...

Grey Cup soon. Not even sure who will be in it but as always I know it will be a barn burner. I will try to download when it is posted. Last years version only has three seeders so it would take until next year to download so I had to past.

All for now. Hey daylight saving time ended. You are now exactly 12 hours behind again. Makes it easy, and also gives me a little bit of space to settle in to watch hockey in the morning. You have to believe me that it is the coolest way to watch hockey. 7 in the morning. Game is over by 10 and  you tee off at 11. Wonderbar.
Sawasdee Krup

Singin in the Rain

Yes, we are still singing, even when it is raining. And it has rained here a lot. But first first I have to tell you we are all OK. No trouble, no real problems with the floods. Everyone is fine. Pictures back home look bad and it is but not for us, so much.

What you have probably seen is the worst of it and most of that is from north of Bangkok. Bangkok is protected by dykes, flood walls and canals to divert water east and west of the city. There is a flood in Thailand headed for Bangkok, not like a wall of water but some slower moving version of that headed towards BKK. Most of it was to be diverted by the aforementioned techniques. The flood problem will be the Chao Praya River which flows thru BKK. It is at the brim. And is carrying most of the flood water to the sea. As the wall of flood water advances it all must now flow down the Chao Praya.
The problem is exasperated by high tide. The sea pushes back water as the tides come in slowing down the flow of the river. How does BKK handle this on a normal day? With canals, just like Venice does (thus the Venice of the East moniker). As the tides roll in they push water up the canals and this stops the water from spilling into the streets.
During a flood they used to open up the canals from the north and just let the flood waters flush through. If BKK gets wet a little so what. Faster than trying to sand bag your way to dryness. Most years in the past this worked. However, canals are disappearing to developers and others who complain about them so most of the smaller canals have been discontinued, filled up and disconnected from the system. It is now all up to the River of Kings to handle the load.

On Saturday at around 6 pm the highest of the high tides (all u maritimers know what this means) will coincide with the wall of flood water traveling down the river. Result will be the river over flowing its banks. The effect to us will be minimal for reasons explained later. But here is a map that shows the potential flooding areas in BKK.

The red line is the  River. We are in the area called Wattana, middle of the map approximately. Below us is  Klong Toey. The line separating the two is Sukhumvit Road and our apartment is on the left top of that line up towards Pathumwan. So a good distance away from the river itself. But you can see that the learned Dr Seri is predicting 21 to 50 cm of water in our area. (That is about 10 to 20 inches of water) Not a lot, especially if you have been here. You know that the street curbs are 12 inches high. They get that kinda water here folks. No surprise to them, they are at least partly prepared. As a footnote, our apartment  lobby is about 6 or 7 feet above street level so if we don't wanna go anywhere we won't get wet. Worst case is that the water should take about 1 week to clear since there still is a lot of water behind this initial surge. So we need enough drinking water and noodles to last a week. Got that so no problemo. Also have enough beer and wine to easily last a week so check there too.

Toughest part about the flood is no golf now for 11 days and counting. Last time I played we drove through water up to the rocker panels on the car to get into the course. Not anymore, road is not passable by car. So you will continue to see some of these kinds of pics coming out of BKK over the next few days or so.



And this is some of the bad. Peoples houses inundated with water. Shops and businesses closed, with no income for families.




Some of the good from a flood?



Well take a look at this dude, dinner swimming right up to your door step, what's wrong with that??

In explanation that the flood may not be such a bother to us is first Lena and Deeds are headed to Singapore this weekend. Lena could not get on Deeds work visa train like I did so she has a normal tourist visa. Only good for 30 days and then you have to leave the country to get it renewed. Last time Lena and I went to Hong Kong for a few days and got a 60 day visa from the Thai Consulate there. This time she will only get a new visa at the airport when she re-enters Thailand coming back from Singapore. This process is what is called a Visa Run. They even have companies here that run bus tours to the Burmese or Cambodian borders to get you a 15 day top up on your visa. Only 2,000 baht ($60), includes lunch and an all day coach ride. Leave at 6 a.m. back for dinner. Catch the bus in front of the 7-11 on Sukhumvit Soi 12, cash only!

And me, well on Saturday morning before the tide hits I am off to Pattaya to spend some time in the sun and splash in the pool. No floods there. And my high school buddy is back from his tours and I hope to be able to talk him into a game at some Pattaya course I haven't played yet. Doesn't sound that bad does it!!

Only real fear I have with the flood here in BKK is the potential loss of electricity. How do I watch hockey games with no power or internet?
I don't get any junior games over here cause I haven't figured out a way to crack into Rogers local cable broadcasts. (I have with nearly everything else btw) And because I can't I haven't had a chance to catch this little sniper play a game yet. But you know I will as soon as I am back in the Big Smoke, or maybe up in Barrie with the rest of the fam. Dieing to see Steve play. Go Petes Go.

In other news Lena is finishing her Teaching English as a Second Language training course today. She has worked real hard at this and I really do admire her. Result is that she has met a friend to hang with, which was one of the real goals. A number of job opportunities have been talked about but nothing concrete yet. Gotta hope that she can nail something to save a little cash to do a few trips on her own or with her pals coming in Feb.
All and all things are still very good in BKK. Floods aside.

We empathize with the people here. We have a couple of Thanachart work colleagues coming to stay with us for a week to help them out as their places have been flooded and are uninhabitable. Least we can do with this big place we have. Thanks for listening. Take care.
Sawasdee Krup

Guess who's working four days a week!!

Here is the happy project manager getting some cash outta one of the new Thanachart ATM's, was previously a Siam City ATM, the fact it is red gives that away, not anymore though. They are all being resigned and probably painted to orange.

So Hooray, I have my wife back. And to prove it she has cut the family income by 20%. Or is it that the income previously was actually at 125%. Well whatever, the bottom line is that Deeds is back to something a lot more normal for me and her. Deeds cleared the four day work week with the powers that are, at least they think they are, cause there was nothing going to stop her from going back to 4 days.

You remember I told you that she hadn't work 5 days in about 10 years and we wondered if it was possible. Well no more wondering. She did 5, well and good and now she is back to 4 where she belongs.
That proves that everything is normal again.

So a few trips are being planned and some necessary relaxing. Some of that started at this years verison of the Maple Leaf Ball.
Here are pics that we stole or borrowed. Enjoy.

Oh yeah, so what about grey suit, blue suit. Here is the proof.




 BLUE SUIT, or as any Hab fan would say Bleu. Don't appear to be too happy about blue suit in this photo. Thinking about what I have to do to wear the grey one before I head home. Maybe I need to get a job. Then I would have to wear it.

Although, in the photo below the fearless adventurer looks pretty good in a blue suit. Got two ladies hanging off me so I ain't doin that bad.

Here are some pics of the ladies showing off the new frocs that they had made special for the occasion. Funny how they get to have new dresses made and I can't even wear the other suit that I have because it appears to be the wrong colour?!

 So that was the Maple Leaf Ball version two for us. Thanks to Edie for taking and sending along the pics.
And you gotta know that Deeds did a little silent auction shopping. Winning all she went after. Even with a little controversy on one of her purchases. The best of the night I might add. A set of diamond earrings and a necklace. Canadian Diamonds by the way. Canadian Ice is their brand name. I guess a girl is entitled to a bobble or two for working so hard. Also picked up a beautiful Topaz ring for Lena, two nights for two at the Four Seasons in Koh Samui, (already been to Four Seasons Chang Mai from last years purchase so why not take on this one). And of course as Deedles will tell you all of this was had at bargain basement prices with the cash going to good causes, charities, etc.

A fun night had by all.
Sawasdee Krup

Congratulations Deeds

Wow, wowwow, wow. What a week it has been for our little Deedles. For the last seven days Deeds has been working major big time. Started last week as the senior team moved into the "Command Centre" up at the data centre on Ratchada. Everything had actually been run through at least once, timed out, samples taken and processes double checked. Those were all done over earlier weekends or overnights. Deeds had a part in some of those as well.

So here is a little choreography for you. On Thursday evening she was out until 10ish, Friday out the door at 7 a.m. and not home til midnight, even though it was scheduled to go to 2 a.m. This was actually a real good sign. On Saturday she went in at 5:30 a.m. That night I went to bed at a little after midnight and she wasn't home yet, that evening went until 2 a.m. But by Sunday they were coasting. Deeds was scheduled back in at 6 but took a snoozer and went in at 8. Things were going great all systems seemed to be ready and even more so the people were ready.

Deeds was actually home early on the Sunday, around dinner time. They had completed the conversion earlier than plan and at 3:49 in the afternoon I got an email from her announcing that the two banks were now one. Hooray!!

Deeds has really worked her butt off for this and now she is beginning to take some of it all in.
This is one major accomplishment folks.

Now we hope work becomes a little more mundane. The next tasks are to decommission the integration teams. Help the bank do planning for Phase II. Chart an infrastructure set up that will serve the bank for years to come with a Project Management Office, procedures, etc.
Now we are not off the hook as far as troubled waters go, there may be one or two issues to deal with trying to establish the PMO but in comparison a cake walk. She is through the scary bits, with flying colours I should add.

This Saturday is the Maple Leaf Ball. I hope I get to wear my other suit! Remember I got two for the price of one. Only been to one fancy dress em up party so I haven't had an opportunity to wear the grey suit yet. We'll see what my fashion director says about grey to a fancy dress em up.
I'm taking side bets if you care. Just post your thoughts. Vote 1 for Blue suit, 2 for Grey. I'll let you know what happens next week.




HOCKEY,

....... yes it is back.




On Thursday the Habs travel to Hog Town to take on TML. What an opener. Then the biggest game to be played west of the Rockies in 15 years. The Habs play the Jets on HNIC. Woo hooo. Both will be easy viewing for me. Especially the HNIC game on Saturday. That game airs here on Sunday morning. We'll have front row seats. Cook up a mess of sausages and eggs, home fries and beans.

Yeehaw. Sorry y'all gonna miss it. Probably havin a bar b que or some such. Well I tell ya, nothing like hockey for breakfast. Perfect.

So there is a little catch me up for ya.
Hope all are well.
Lena started school this Monday morning. Taking her Teaching English as a Second Language certificate. (TESL). Maybe she'll blog those details for ya.

Deeds and I are starting to plan more little vacations.
Oh yeah did I tell ya, she is probably going to working four days a week here in Bangkok. Hahahaha, just like in Toronto.
I think the girl is getting ready for retirement.
Ooops, did I say that out loud?
No, only kidding. I think she will work three days a week for a few years then retire like her mom. Who by the way still works two or three days a week and probably will until they put her in a home (only kidding about the home Barb).

See ya soon, go Habs go.
Sawasdee Krup.

Nine oh nine

Today is the 9th of September.
One year ago we were scramblin to get our stuff together because we had decided that we would do an 18 month stint in Bangkok. Remember we departed, or tried to depart on the 19th, actually ended up leaving on the 20th. So here we are nearly a full year as expats. Living in Thailand. Home of a million smiles, and surprisingly ours is still included in this count. Yes we are doing OK. Even better now that Lena has taken up residence with us.
Life is a routine now, sorta. Deeds is working her butt off. This weekend she has three 14 hour shifts to put in as the bank goes through loan conversions. Deeds left this morning and won't be back until Lena and I are both in bed, around 11:30 tonight, same again tomorrow, ditto Sunday. Lena and I have decided to go up to the beach for the weekend. Just chill and relax. It will be Deeds turn next weekend as she gets a break from conversions and testing, etc. Then of course it is the stretch run. The weekend of Sep 30 the bank switches over and goes live as one brand new bank. A big bank by the way and our little Deedles right in the middle of making it happen. Kinda makes ya tear up a little doesn't it.  Well the breaks that we will start to take after the middle or so of October will be well earned for that girl. And we already have some planned.
We do have visitors coming in September. Snow Chick Edie and her friend are arriving, I hope they don't expect to see a lot of Deeds, cause it will be tough to pull off. Speaking of visitors, I did a count the other day when all the out laws left. Twenty (20) that is how many people we have had sleep at our place in the last year. That is a pretty good sleep over rate. Maybe we should apply to the Thai government for some kinda assistance program what with all the tourist promo we are doing for them. Hosting people, dinners, tours, cruises, street food. All adds up, even in Thailand. Would be interesting to put a number on that to see what kind of impact Deeds job posting had on the GDP of the country!! Gotta be say $1800 per person X 20 = 36K. Not bad, and we have 10 more scheduled to come. So could be in excess of 50 grand. Wow.
So a year being overseas has definitely changed me. My golf game sucks now. Wasn't that great before but now it is atrocious. Can't break 90. And I'm blamin all of that on the Kingdom. Not getting older or eye site or any of those other ailments my comrades seem to aflicted with. Nope it's Thailand. Plain and simple. Too hot to practice, can't find a teacher who speaks the Kings English and the days are too short! Three undisputable reasons. Thanks for agreeing with me!
I will have to let Deeds fill in the blanks on any changes it has made to her. Career wise I think it is going to be obvious. What she has accomplished and the fact that when it is over she will be taking her first summer off of work since Lena was born and to remember when she last had a summer off, I mean not even pumping gas you have to go back to the days when they were playing Paul Anka on the radio and the Leafs were a hockey team. Long time ago.
Yeap our plan is for Deedles to not go back to gainful employment until October of next year. Get back in May and play golf, do some traveling in Canada, don't want to stray to far from home, just relax.

So we have guests in September, Bob is here in October.
The three of us have been invited to a work colleagues place in Phuket for a long weekend in October and we have the repeat performance at the Maple Leaf Ball.

This should be a rousing evening for the family. Deeds will have been through the conversion and the new bank will be live on the converted systems by then (Oct 8). This could be a reason for all to go wide.
So a busy schedule for us expats and hopefully the weather will start to cooperate. It rains, monsoon style torrential rains, every day. Usually around 5 or 5:30 for about 20 minutes. It usually rains overnight as well. This is predicted to stop in October. Can't wait for it to end and just get hot and dry.
Talk soon
Sawasdee Krup

Down the Chao Praya River - pics

Ok if you are starting here you are way way benind, go back a post or two and pick up on the story line.
This is the end of a long, hot and wonderful day in Thailand for the ladies. It is day two, first day they went to the Chatuchak Market. The pics on this post are from the lunch cruise down the Chao Praya River.
Take a look and enjoy....