Fran: the wedding

Daughter Fran got married on Saturday ...

DW

Oi! Oi!

Some people just don't see the world around them do they?

There I was posing and that old man just stuttered past.

DW

Luanda Done!

In the airport waiting to leave Angola where I have had a good week. I couldn't take many snaps but here are some.

DW

In flight snaps

The usual snaps!

DW

Buriramtastic: the video

Here is one of the videos I made of the Buriram v TOT CAT match the other day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up2TahzeqdQ&feature=youtu.be DW

Buriramtastic

I think the level of football is about English league 1 but the atmosphere was equal to the premiership. Organised singing that goes on for beyond 90 minutes.  We left at full time but the choir stayed and carried on singing.

Three decent goals but the opposition was very weak. Two goals were lobs. The second lob almost from the half way line that the keeper had covered.  The ball floated for a long time and as it was about to land in the keeper's arms, the poor lad slipped. 3: 0! The first lob was done really well.

I don't know any of the players but my man of the match turned out to be an Englishman: Jay Simpson. Well done!

Can you spot the ball in photo three?

DW

From Manaus to Buri Ram

Look at this! Find it on a map.

England Unwin

Here i am watching England about to lose to Italy in Manaus.

DW

Doha Airport

Doha Airport has been like a zoo for years. Until now.

After so many trips in which I thought, why do I need this. Moreover, why did we put up with it?

I suppose we were just waiting.

Well, it's definitely better and these few snaps give just a hint of what they have done.

Ginger as I live and Breathe

As I was walking through In Battuta Mall yesterday I saw a cat that looked like a fully grown version of our own Ginger. She saw me taking her photo and immediately came to me to say hello!

Nice!!

DW

Visa ... NO!

I have been swanning around for decades and whilst i have not been everywhere, I have travelled extensively.

I came to Bangkok almost a week ago to get a visa to enable me to go to work in SA.

I did everything and presented it to the agent. The visa agent presented my application to the relevant consulate.

Cut a long story short, they refused me a visa.

No reason. No explanation. No help.

That has never happened to me before. I have had many visas for SA before. Many.

I had three jobs lined up for SA this year ... all evaporated now.

DW

Don't you Just ...

So, your car is ready, parked properly and next to a wall. That wall is about three quarters of a door's width away from the car. You noticed that.

You open the door and make sure you don't hit the wall with it. You make sure the door stops moving in the middle open position.

Don't you just hate it when you do all of that and then crunch, the door decides of its own free will to open fully and as it tries to do that, of course it hits the wall.

Another small chip in the paint work ><

DW

Thailand Coup

I am a guest in Thailand and i am happy to be here.

I have lived in a wide range of countries and although i have lived in a war zone and in unstable countries, i have never lived under curfew before or in a country that is undergoing a coup.

I am happy to say that all i have seen is peaceful people leading peaceful lives even though virtually all power is now in the hands of the military.

I saw the motivation for a coup after months of political paralysis at the hands of people with various motivations.

Thailand relies on tourism to a great extent and i really hope this business does not suffer. Bangkok is the centre of attention and will remain so. The rest of the country should remain calm and relatively free.

Thailand has undergone many military interventions and i hppe no one is killed here and that life can go on as normally as possible.

My long range photo shows soldiers around the MBK Centre, Bangkok.

DW

head in head!

I did this ... using some of the features of Photoshop!

DW

hot dog?

i can across this the other day!

DW

legs alive!

it's Bangkok. it's an hour and a half until curfew time. it's foot massage time!!

DW

Pongo at Three and a Half Months

here she is ...

DW

Bookkeeping Coach Book

These are the links you need from Hodder, the publisher; and amazon, a bookseller, to help you to buy the book!

https://www.hodder.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781471801587 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bookkeeping-Accounting-Coach-Yourself/dp/1471801586/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1399766934&sr=8-16&keywords=Duncan+williamson

I would love your feedback on this book as and when you have bought and read it.

DW

Bookkeeping Book

my latest book has been published now:

Natwest Bank: sack him

I have to say that I find the level of service and competence of the online and business teams is well below what anyone needs. I don't suppose I am alone in receiving consistently dire service.

My conclusion is that these people need a lot of training and whoever is at the head of these teams probably has no idea of what is happening and should resign.

DW

Natwest Bank: why bother?

Twice in the last year Natwest Bank has caused me problems with international payments. Now there's a new one.

Case 1 was investigated by the complaints department and ended with their report containing outright lies from a business team member. I responded to them, they did not reply.

Case 2 cost me money as they made a big mess, transferred weeks later than planned and effectively stole money from me. I lost a business opportunity too that probably cost me £2,000. I talked to Imran about this two weeks or so ago. In the end he essentially called me a liar. I told him I had documented the whole process, which I have. He told me three times that he can find no evidence for what I was telling him. As usual, rather than listening, he tried to talk over me and said things that just weren't true.

Case 3 NEW! A waiter snapped my debit card. A few days later and my credit card chip failed. After going through umpteen people, all with varying degrees of competence and listening ability I was told they could not make an urgent transfer to me because of "all the bank holidays in your region". I asked, what bank holidays? I got back on the phone to them and they then promised to make the transfer immediately. I told my wife, just watch: I think I have just been fobbed off. No immediate transfer made. There IS a bank holiday here, on Monday 5th May ... six days after I made my urgent transfer request. But guess what, the date they gave me for the arrival of my money? 5th May ... just when I can't get it. I am about to check my account again now but I am not holding my breath.

Another Satisfied Visitor

Bora wrote to me last week and asked for my Excellent help. I responded by saying, ok, I can do this on Monday. She replied to say, Wow! I didn't expect you to reply!!

It was an interesting problem: a database with over 41000 rows needs to be interrogated using four variables. I offered two separate solutions: use and sort on an Excel Table and use SUMIFS()

Both solutions worked a treat and Bora was delighted I am happy to say.

Good stuff!

Duncan Williamson

Froggie. You could have looked the other way!

Froggie was just sitting there as I had a peepee. Didn't see him until I had finished!

UPDATE 24th April 2014 ... I found Froggie on the floor in the dining room this morning. He looked very unwell but not dead. Within an hour or so he had died. He dried out very quickly.

This is the second frog to take up residence in the toilet. We caught and evicted the first one!

I have forgotten what I was going to say!

I came here to talk about something specific but got sidetracked for a while. now I cannot remember what my topic was!!! ok! Istanbul. Siri and I went there this week: I was working there. nice city. easy to get around. very busy city. lots to see and do. my work went well, too! I will remember my topic soon!! DW

Solved!

We suffered a massive lightning strike the other day that tripped the fuses but did no damage except that our wifi system fell apart.

Engineer came, changed routers and we had a connection BUT iphone, ipod and ipad couldn't connect. Grrr!

Did some research and found a lot of discussion that left me miserable.

Then I found a post that said, reset your network settings on your devices ... so I did ... it worked and we are all connected again.

I then researched a problem with the Find my iphone utility and found that if you set dates and times to help to get you more lives on candy crush, it won't work. Put the correct date and time back and all is well!

DW

Fighting and Accidents

I met a Scouser a few years ago and we spent a few breakfasts together at the hotel we were both staying at. This man was full of himself and his achievements although I could not say whether he was exaggerating or lying. What struck me most, though, was his fighting stories. Every other day he told me a story about a fight he'd had or how he flattened someone who'd got on his nerves. These were not childhood fights but recent fights. The man is in his fifties!!

Now I spend time, fortunately infrequently, with a Scandinavian. When I first met him he told me a story about the time he punched a man three times for a reason I can't remember. Oh oh! I thought. He doesn't tell me fighting stories any more but he tells accident stories:

The paramedic story ... He told that story twice and each time it was different

When we meet now he tells me he witnessed an accident on the road today, for emphasis it is usually a big one! He suggests that he stops and gets involved in some way but I think he does that when he sees that I am not overwhelmed

Last night he put himself at the centre of the story when he told me he came within a gnat's nadger of smashing into a buffalo on the way from town. The buffalo here are big animals and a collision with them, at speed, would be bad news. Did it happen? Of course not!

DW

At the Printer's

I was told yesterday that my bookkeeping book is at the printer's. 'ray! DW

Two Snakes Day

I have seen snakes around the house, on the road, in the bushes. Yesterday I saw TWO snakes around the house. One small, grey/brown, slithered under the gardening things at the back of the house and I left it alone.

A much larger, grey speckled snake, was meandering around the house and I couldn't ignore that one. I have tried to identify both snakes but without success so far. With this one, whilst appreciating that it eats mice and rats and so forth, I took the view that it could be poisonous and a threat to the family. I dealt with it.

No photos!

Duncan and Namwan

Sunglass Hut NOTHING

You know those cushions you get on earphones? Those foam rubber covers, I mean. Well, did you know they make for great substitutes for the lenses of sunglasses. Here is the proof.

DW

Tactless but we don't care!

We had a couple of house guests in February and it went disastrously. Nothing we did was wrong but they, man and woman, had serious relationship problems. Seeing as how they are who they are, everyone was dragged into the fray in one form or another and it became acrimonious for some people. In the end, if I never see the woman again, because of what she did and said, it will be a day too soon. The man is a very self centred and immature man who was probably guilty of inappropriately touching at least two if not three females and I pledged that if I saw them arriving I would lock the doors and refuse to let them in: he has caught me unawares twice. That's the introduction! The second part is that our dog died a week ago and everyone knows the story. Namwan has started thinking about a replacement dog more than I have but she was destroyed for a while when Reddy died. Last night that man arrived at the house with a puppy and announced that it's theirs and his woman had insisted and got it. I didn't recognise the breed and asked what it was ... no answer!. Will it grow big ... small. Is it a pedigree ... no answer! Trying another tack, have you got the certificate for it (Thailand Kennel Club is what I meant), blank stare, the certificate, the piece of paper ... Oh yes! we've got that. I am interested in the little thing to the extent I want to know if it is safe for our cat for that dog to be in our house. They sat and sniffed each other for a few seconds and seemed fine. In the future, the cat will become exceptionally territorial so the dog must learn that if ever it returns! For me, the conversation was over ... but then, as Namwan was showing no interest in the dog at all because of what I said in the introduction, the man put the dog on the settee next to her so she couldn't miss it. She touched it, smiled and that was enough, he took it back. From a psychological point of view this was a monstrously tactless thing to do: to take a new dog like that to a house that might still be grieving. Then to force the dog on to someone who is clearly not interested told me ... I've got a dog, have a look at my dog, what do you think of my dog, have you got a dog??? It's a bit like what happened when this man went shopping: he would return with his bags and wherever we were, living room, kitchen or somewhere else, he would take the items out one by one and say, I have bought bread ... tomato sauce ... sausages ... all ghastly but it's his motivation for doing this that told me more about him than what he bought. There you are: off my chest now! DW

Reddy the Dog

He was sick for just two days but in that time Reddy, our not quite 6 months old labrador retriever, deteriorated so quickly he couldn't be saved. The vet seemed good and we cannot and will not blame him.

The blame lies with the flea or tick that bit him and gave him whatever it was that killed him.

In true parasite style, we noticed that very soon after Reddy had died, these insects started crawling out of his fur. We had seen a couple of those fleas on him over time but we had no idea what they could do.

Anyway, nice dog, fantastic temperament. Just not meant to be with us very long.

The photo comes from the day we collected him.

DW

Reddy Hospitalised

We were watching Reddy all day and whilst he was very iffy, he seemed to be improving slowly. Then he had a catastrophic event where he passed a lot of blood. That turned his situation into an emergency. We cleaned the place up, washed the poor lad and set off for the local vet. The vet is a young man and seemed very confident and competent. Shaving the leg to get the drip in, finding the vein, injecting various chemicals and taking blood for a blood test ... They kept him overnight and as we left he was just a floppy doormat on the floor. We called this morning and he has not vomited any more but his poo is still flowing. He is rehydrated now and behaving a bit livelier ... so that's good. I will report back later: we should bring him home this evening. DW

I got the cat and the Horned Beetle

Here are a couple of lovely photos of Ginger the cat. I thought you might also like to see the horned beetle that seemed to be losing the will to live around the back of the house this morning too. All photos taken with a macro lens! DW

Reddy the Dog is Sick

Reddy the dog is sick: not looking good for him at the moment. Small progress overnight and he is taking water. But, he still feels the need to get into the house to share his little messages when he can! Spread the joy!! Looks bad but he has been locked out and on the patio all morning!! DW

Tiny Kitten Becomes Less Tiny Kitten!

Ginger the kitten has taken to eating meat and fish and prefers it to the condensed milk and egg solution we used to make for her: we put her food on a plate and she walks all over it: fish face, fish neck, fish feet. As she spreads the food about she thinks she finished it and comes wailing that she's still hungry. So, we push everything back into one lump, put her back on the plate and off she goes again!! She put on 20 grammes from Sunday to Monday and that's excellent. She really is thriving now and is around 250 grammes. The funniest thing Ginger does is to see her own reflection in a glass cupboard door and then start looking for the other cat!! I held the shiny side of a DVD in front of her the other day and she dashed behind it to find that other cat! DW

Coffee Reserves

I ran out of coffee yesterday. Jar empty. I have had to raid my coffee reserves: my stash of coffee sachets plundered from various hotel bedrooms across the piece!

DW

It is the cat. It is the cat

Not Last Night ...

For some reason I remembered this ditty from my childhood. It comes from a book that John Sutcliffe* and I found in Todmorden public library one Saturday morning. Why this snippet has stuck with me should come shining through the verse! Not last night but the night before Two tom cats came knocking at the door I went downstairs to let them in They knocked me down with a rolling pin The rolling pin was made of brass They knocked me down and kicked my arse I just did an online search for this and have found many variants but not this exact one. The Opie name springs to mind as the possible authors or collators of the book we might have used. My mother howled at this one, by the way: thought it was very funny. *John was my all time childhood best friend and sadly he died several years ago following a simple motor bike accident near Skipton: A true accident, no one's fault, just bad luck. DW

A Petit Peregrination, nay, Perambulation!

Here I am with Reddy the dog wandering around with camera in hand this morning. The insect was at home, however: DW

Jealousy

A situation arose this week that I have been thinking about and it concerns the destructive force of jealousy.

I am planning to write something here about it.

Later

DW

Flash, Flash ... You're in my way!

Around 27,000 people a year are killed on the roads of Thailand. That's a lot by any standards. The following is a true account of some of what you might see on Thai roads. On average, Thai driving is not too bad. People say that driving in Bangkok is dangerous: it isn't. Not so dangerous that they should ban all traffic. No, the truth is that in central parts of Bangkok, there is so much traffic that it moves at very low speeds where dangerous driving is very difficult to accomplish. In the quitter parts of Bangkok, maybe it's a different story. Let's go out of town, now. Drive along the major single carriageways of Thailand and you may suddenly face the situation of a bus or lorry or car coming at you, in your lane, flashing its headlights at you. The message is simple: I am overtaking one or more vehicles but I cannot or will not get back into my lane before I smash into you. So, get out of my way. The first time that happened to me was when I was rounding a bend and a large single decker bus was having at me. Fortunately there was a hard should of sorts and with that split second warning I was able to get out of the way. This has happened to me a few times over the last 12 months or so and whilst it is a shock, so far I have got away with it. I tend to give way because these incidents have happened on fast roads and/or when the opposition driver was clearly driving quickly. Be warned, be ready. However, last weekend I went to Chong Chom market and on the way there there is an army check post. It is unusual for the soldiers to stop anyone but there are half barriers in the road to ensure that all drivers have to slow down. As I approached my barrier, a pickup truck was coming at me and he started flashing his headlights. Since we were going at relatively low speeds I decided to call his bluff and I did not move out of his way. We did not crash or even have a near miss because I achieved my objective of getting him to stop and then I moved out of his way in time. I could see by the driver's face as I slid past that he couldn't believe what I had just done. Then again, I cannot believe that drivers here feel able to put the lives of many people, including themselves, at risk with their flash, flash mentality. DW

One's Accouchement!

I clicked on a link to an article from the year 1853 yesterday: it was about Queen Victoria's "late accouchement". I confess, I had never seen the word accouchement before so it was good to learn that! However, the purpose behind pasting the article here is to contrast the style of writing from 1853 with the style of today's newspapers. I have not attempted to translate the words into more modern speak because some people say that my writing is 19th century style anyway! Here it is, make of it what you will!! THE QUEENS'S LATE ACCOUCHEMENT We did not announce fact of Her Majesty having inhaled chloroform during her late accouchement, because we did not think the profession justified in prying into the domestic arrangements of the Palace. As, however, another journal has thought fit to comment on the subject, we may now mention the particulars. Dr Snow administered chloroform to the Queen, in the presence of Sir James Clark, for the last hour of parturition. A handkerchief, on which a small quantity of chloroform had been dropped, was held to the face. Her Majesty was never completely insensible, but she expressed herself satisfied with the anodyne effects produced. Should farther information be required, we are confident Dr Snow will, with his usual courtesy, afford it to all such as consider themselves entitled to ask it. Uneasy, indeed, would be the head which wears a crown if Royalty might not avail itself of all those means for the alleviation of suffering which Providence has placed within the reach alike of rich and poor. Who would desire Her Majesty to suffer one avoidable pang, that she might satisfy the morbid sensibility of the timid, or the domineering coarseness of the bigot? If the employment of chloroform be hurtful in parturition, then should the profession unite in forbidding its administration to the humblest mother in the realm; but, if its use be advantageous, surely no one has a greater right to its benefits than that gracious lady under whose benificent rule we have the happiness to live. If it be desired to retain popular feeling in favour of that freedom which the British press now enjoys, the sacred pale of the family circle must be exempt from our criticisms. To this exemption there must be no exception - not even in favour of the Palace. We mention especially the home of our beloved Sovereign, because certain persons have been accustomed to allow themselves an unwonted license, when commenting on what is reported to them from its precincts, taking advantage of the fact that the Queen is the only lady in England who can be insulted with impunity. Medical Times and Gazette, May 21 1853 Source: www.thetimes.co.uk DW

Fabulous Photography

Trust me, if you like macro photography you will love this site. Anna Laurent is a scientist and photographer and she wanders around taking fantastic photos of seeds! Start here with seed pod gallery one then two, three ... then look at her landscape work. Well done Anna! DW

WIFI Upgrade

If you are going to install a CAT wifi system, it pays to have an expert from Denmark staying with you as it's installed.

The system is complex as it involves the erection of a 15 metre mast,  pointing to various stations, routers and so on.

Morten installs these dystems in Denmark on a big scale so he is able to work with the engineer here to sort it all out.

The benefit of having Morten here is that it's the weekend, the main station us causing a problem but with his skills he is able to get the system up and running in a stable way until tomorrow, Monday.

Let's hear it for plucky Denmark!

DW

Dog Star? Star Dogs!

Last night I went out side to make a video of the night sky. I saw some software that can take photos and videos of stars and enhance them. The results can be stunning.

Let's forget the first two attempts in which I forgot to open the shutter and recorded two minutes of nothing.

As I set up and started to record properly, meme the dog arrived and nudged the tripod! Then doggie arrived and, being much bigger, muscled in and I had to protect the camera and restrain both dogs as they jostled for position and then meme brought a tennis ball and wanted me to play with her!

Lattie the dog arrived next and she started a mock fight with doggie, as usual: they fought really near to the tripod ... again, I was filming and concentrating on that ...

On the soundtrack you will hear the struggle I had and my exclamation that Bernard Lovell never had such problems!

Nightmare!!

Saw

Sausage Skins and Reddy Parts 1, 2 and 3

Sausage Skins

I bought some vegetarian sausages last week and I said today they were
a bit tough. Anyway, I decided to cook some more and started frying
them. Someone asked me, why are you cooking them in their plastic
wrappers? Gulp! I ate those wrappers last week!!

Reddy the dog 1

Yesterday morning Reddy was out in the garden and as I came out of the
kitchen door I was just in time to see him taking a flying run at the
kitchen garden, not having seen the netting that keeps animals out and
he came flying backwards in shock as he bounced off it!! Where's the
video camera when you need it?

Reddy the dog 2

When Reddy came into the house after having bounced off the netting, I
said, you look fat today Reddy. About two hours later we learned that
he'd shared a huge bowl of cooked rice with another four month old pup
and was so full that he wanted nothing more to do with his bone, did
not want to leave his bed and when we encouraged him to go for a pee
pee outside, he couldn't bring himself to leave the living room.

Reddy the dog 3

So, he's learned to escape again. We have had several weeks of
contentment because Reddy got too big to squeeze through the holes in
our defences. Now, though, he is big enough to leap over the gate.
Grr!

This morning, 6:30 am, he was outside and whilst it is easy to get him
to come close to me, providing the other family dogs come too, getting
him that final two metres into my clutches is another matter. That
training incomplete so far. So, I slowly went after him saying, stay,
stay ... he's unsure so he stopped for a second, ambled away slowly
but surely, stopped, ambled ...

Then I did something I have not done since I was twelve: I Rugby
tackled the beast! I hit the floor fairly softly but kept hold of
Reddy's midriff. Then I went flat and all four other dogs, thinking
this was a huge game, came over and started licking, trampling ... all
over me! I brushed the other dogs away and still managed to hold on to
Reddy, I am happy to say and got him inside within a minute of my
heroic feat of athleticism!

A good job there was no video camera there to record this unsightly
event, however, as I was never a good Rugby player!!

DW

It Happened Again

In England I had a rubbish broadband connection but paid top price for it.

Here in Thailand I have done it again. At the moment, though, I am using a connectoon that gives me hope. Relatively very fast and seemingly stable.

I am investigating it!!

DW