We Made the Bed!

For reasons i will report on later, we decided to build our IKEA bed. I meant to take a photo at every stage but of course I couldn't. Here are the photos I did take!

DW

Yellow Tie

I am the one wearing the yellow tie!

My group in Dar es Salaam this week.

DW

Speed, Distance, Time Left, Petrol Consumption

Average Speed

This is not complicated but it's what I did as I was travelling from A to B on a long bus journey: I set up a spreadsheet to deal with the following.

Although there should have been nothing to worry about, I wanted to be sure that I would make my connection at my destination.

So I wanted to know how fast we were going. There were kilometre posts on the road side for most of the journey and my phone has a stopwatch utility. I found the speed of the bus by combining the distance travelled, one kilometre; and time taken to travel it. I could check our speed whenever I wanted to now!

Then I wanted to know how long it would take us at the last recorded speed to get to our destination B. All I needed to know was the distance to B and then use my knowledge of speed to estimate the time remaining. I could find the distance to B every now and again from the sign posts on the road that told us!

That's all I really needed to know but then I enhanced my spreadsheet by adding these calculations too:

Time to cover one kilometre:

In minutes
In seconds

I considered creating a table to record all of the speeds I found together with distances remaining etc but decided that was academic!

Finally, this spreadsheet can cope with kilometres or miles ... and can convert from one to the other.

Petrol Consumption

As I bought a new car recently I decided I would keep a record of all of the petrol I buy for it. I have also kept a record of the kilometres driven. I record the litres of petrol bought, odometer reading at the time I bought the petrol, cost of petrol, type of petrol: my car can use either E20 or gasohol 91 petrol.

My very simple spreadsheet shows all of the above data and the calculation of kilometres driven per litre of petrol and average cost per litre.

At this stage there are very few data points and the consumption averages have yet to settle down.

Duncan Williamson

Water, Water ... Anywhere?

The water for the house comes from the ground. So they are drilling for it today. As you can see here!

DW

Point to Point

Since i moved to Thailand i have travelled to Saudi Arabia, Mexico, England and Bangkok. All of those journeys essentially started in Bangkok.

Today i am taking a 6-7 hour bus journey to get to Bangkok as I wend my way to Dar es Salaam. 

The bus left 30 minutes late, which is not much of a worry as it can easily make up the lost time en route.

Any stress will come as we approach Bangkok. Last time I did this journey there were horrific holds ups at major road works near Bangkok. 

Whilst i am confident that my schedule has some slack in it, i like to control such things but when I can't I get tetchy! Anyone who has travelled with in times of loss of slack knows what I mean.

So far so good, then: free biscuits already  eaten and free bottle water started. 😁

DW

PS we were well on our way to the bus station when Namwan told me I'd left my jacket behind. Very unusually for me I turned the car round and got said Jacket. Clot!

Kitchen Work has Started

They have started fitting the kitchen now and the skirting tiles are going on ...

DW

Furniture Number One

The first piece of furniture we have built for the house: chest of drawers for the master suite. Being used before we move in, to tidy the space we're occupying at the moment 😁

DW

Book Review: We Bought a Zoo

Benjamin Mee wrote this good easy read. Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson starred in the film of the book.

Surprise number one: the film is set in the USA, the book is set in England and France. The zoo is in England.

Mee is or was a journalist so his writing style is good, his story flows and develops stories and characters very well.

The story gas several prongs that include the death of the father, who we never meet; the death of the wife, who we do meet and the outrageously unlikely prospect of going from journalist to zoo owner and manager!

They do it! That's not much of a spoiler really as they made a documentary series on the Mee's rehabilitation of the zoo and there is that film to go on!

Mee tells stories of cowardly dogs, wild and very dangerous animals as well as people stories.

There's the big cat under sedation, being carried to the surgery ... when it wakes up 😳 everyone scatters as you can well imagine. Mee is left in its sights and groggy as the cat is, it is still a lethal killing machine. All ends well but it is the kind of story that keeps the book going.

As i was about half way through the book i thought that the stories of leadership, raising money, organising the family, learning how a business works, knowing who to hire and why made this as much a business book as a family tale. Much to learn here by your BA (BS) and B Com student.

The book us a few years old now but well worth reading: family and business points of view alike.

DW

Torrential rain Stopped Play

It rained and rained and lashed it down overnight and none of the building team came to work 😔

There was water in the dining room to mop up and dust to sweep: easily dealt with.

Then we spent an hour or so enjoying the peace and potential of this house. Reading my book, checking emails and so on.

We are looking forward to moving in!!

DW

The Rats Dug Deeper

We went to collect the car today from the Toyota repair shop to be told we couldn't have it yet.

The rats had done far more damage than everyone had thought and it will take more time to sort it all out.

😡 We've got to go back to Bangkok on Thursday!!!

DW

T'tiles are bein' laid

Here you are ... they are laying floor tiles now.

The fuse box was installed today ... about 20 fuses/switches altogether.

Progress!

Here's a Universal Truth

When you are carrying out a significant task or project or some such, everyone who has access to your work will tell you what you are doing wrong or that you are just creating problems for the future.

Very few, if any, if these people will say to you, i would like to help you here ... and then, actually give you that help. 

Of course, such help is often not needed in the slightest!

DW

Miss Mozzie Regrets

If you are a mosquito who bites my legs and feels they might like to read my book, too, take heed ... I will probably do this to you ...

DW

Channel V ... down wi' d kids!!

Channel V is on in the room and i take a look every now and again. This is what i see:

After a maximum of two seconds, the image/scene changes

The singer or group is singing on a stage in a studio or somewhere

The singer/group does, right, forward and backward steps to comprise the dance

They might grab their crotch st some stage

The same two second rule applies 

After a short time as they continue with their dance they will have suddenly changed their clothes from black to white

Each singer takes it in turn to face the camera and tries to look cool or worldly wise as they do so

The good news is that all of the singers look clean and tidy but of course there are still tattoos here and there.

Don't worry about baseball caps either: when worn, they are worn at a raunchy angle!

Not much originality boys and girls!

DW

The 9:15 am ...

This is the 9:15 am Gold Class service from Bangkok to Sisaket and it has just left on time.

DW

Two to the Power of what?

We had planned to tavel back to Isaan on Sunday or even Monday but things changed, as sometimes happens. That meant that we had to book our places on the coach by phone, go to 7-11 to pay for them, all quick quick.

Namwan did everything of course and when she told me it would cost 1,024 Baht for both of us i said,

That's two to the power of ten ...

Namwan: what?

Me: 1,024, that's two to the power of ten. Two to the power of ten is one thousand and twenty four.

Namwan: What are you saying?

I took the piece of paper she was using and wrote 2^10 ...

Namwan: Ah! I see. 

Then she said, You can teach me English but you will never teach me mathematics!

Let's see!

DW

T' Tiles 'ave Come!

There are tiles on site now. For floors, walls and columns. For example:

They did it again!

On the way back to Bangkok i said to Namwan, don't be surprised to find a new nest on the balcony where the old one was.

Sure enough, the adult surviving bird has found another mate and here is their new home ...

DW

Beetlemania

I had the beetle, the camera and the time. Oh! And the torch.

Here's what one might do with the aforementioned!

DW

Today's Nursery Update

The birds are doing well now and their eyes are beginning to open.

We are still feeding them on bread and water but found some ants today. Let's see if they like them.

They eat huge portions i have to say!

DW