Jungle Freedom Fighters

to spend a clear, crisp, autumnal Sunday morning than having a fire with the remains of the climbing frame and tower.

What started off as this…

eventually ended up as this…

With a little help from Oli…

 

The initial plan was to sell it on eBay but they weren’t selling for much if at all so I decided to just take it apart and worry about what to do with it later.  Turns out it’s quite fortunate I didn’t sell it as the whole thing was rotten when I started to take it apart.  Bit of a death trap really…

It’s that time of year again

Oli desperately wanted a father/son caricature. How could I resist?

We went over to see the Big Bhudda today and then had lunch on Chaweng beach, picked up some bits and pieces followed by beer and a curry. Smashing day

We checked out of noisy road dog poo beach bungalow and moved up into the hills of koh Samui. Private pool (sometimes), biggest hotel room I have *ever* stayed in and absolutely stunning views over to Ko Phangan. Bit of a trek to the shops but ho hum. Off to big bhudda and Chaweng today. 

We made it to Koh Samui. Beautiful sunsets just like we remember but the place has changed massively and not in a good way 🙁

We headed into the Phi Phi national marine park by speedboat. We popped into a few beaches but Hat Maya ( where the beach was filmed ) was just ridiculously busy. Even the main Phi Phi Don beach was pretty rammed. Quite disappointing and annoying in many ways 🙁

We took a speedboat out to a series of islands in Krabi province. Did some snorkeling but the conditions weren’t ideal. I’ll link to a video when I get it all sorted out.

Wedding over we took the first opportunity we could to escape the chaos of Bangkok City and fly out to Ao Nang beach in Krabi province. Massage, snorkeling, streetfood and beer. Not necessarily in that order. 

A morning in Lumphini park looking at the monitor lizards and then a crazy tuk tuk ride home. Quick dip in the pool before heading out for a dinner cruise on the Chao Praya River. 

Mooching along Khao San Rd buying sarongs and other assorted tat…..and beer. Arrived via tuk tuk from Wat Poh where we couldn’t get in because we had shorts on. 🙁

For some reason the fish preferred the old feet of Emma and I. We were in hysterics with the fish nibbling away. Strangest feeling ever

My last night in London for a while was spent in the usual style at my favourite dumpling joint

Each year I tend to try to accomplish something.  In 2016 the ambition was to visit the theatre every month.  As you can see, I accomplished it.  There were a few close calls when I only made it to the theatre by the 29th of the month but nevertheless…..boom!

BTW – Harold Pinter plays…shit

 

 4.9 sq metres of flexifoil goodness

We live on an unadopted road.  Over the past few years it’s been getting more and more bumpy.  For the past couple of months I’ve been regularly grounding my car when coming in to park so I finally decided to fix it.

I got 4*1000kg bags of MOT Type 1 delivered

and hired a roller.  I was going to use a whacker plate but where’s the fun in that?

it was then a family effort to get to stoney sandy mix out of the bags and into the right places.

It doesn’t look too great and it isn’t perfectly flat but my car no longer bottoms out when I park it.

Lessons learned:

1. The MOT Type 1 tends not to be mixed too well which doesn’t set properly.  Mix it in the barrow before dumping it in place.
2. It’s bloody hard work getting a tonne of stones out of a bag.  Use a machine to do it next time.
3. Make sure your supplier also has MOT Type 2 which you can order a few tonnes of to give it a nice smooth finish.