Tuesday, December 30, 2008

2008 The year that was

A bit more of a stable year this time, I needed that!


January saw me get my teeth into my new job, it involved working outside on site, getting dirty and meeting loads of new mates.

Febuary and March followed the same pattern, no curve balls or bolts from the blue, I like that. I also started working on the website at work, I now know how easy it is to do a website! I have created my own http://www.chrisslife.co.uk/ take a peek at it, its a work in progress but a few good tit bits in it.


April and may saw us back as a family in Thailand, we had a good time, however a relaing holiday for me it wasn't, i've just booked for next may and this time i'm definately going to relax more.

August saw me discover face book, its been great. I have found old friends and relations including my cousin Darren.


All this year Elizabeth has been getting bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter, September was a bit of a busy month, we moved to our new house which we love and Elizabeth had her 2nd birthday, we had a great party for her.


October and November saw me back on site, we built a warehouse at Mickleover. I learnt hell of alot and can't wait until the next one we build. The site work in the cold saw me catch a bad chest infection and then a cold and bad sinus, so as I write this i'm struggling with my health a little. Christmas was quiet, but that suited me.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Thai Smile


Here's the latest thing to make you feel better when the Boys in Brown extort money out of you!

It is the latest version of the famous Thai smile - motorcycle policemen with a bright red goofy grin painted onto their white anti-pollution masks.

For the first week of the year - and longer if people seem to be smiling back - highway policemen in Thailand will wear the masks "to lift the mood of motorists," according to police officials.
"For our highway policemen, we have the policy that the police must be friendly and smiling all the time, but the problem is, when we're tired, it's hard to keep smiling," said Colonel Somyos Promnim, the Highway Police commander.

Maybe if they didn't rip you off at toll booths and always take the sid eof Thai's then maybe people would smile at plod more.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Another christmas done!

The after christmas day is always a bit of a downer, only 364 days till the next christmas.

We got up at around 7am and has predicted Elizabeth had way too many presents, a full wheelie bin full of wrapping and packaging, special thanks to everyone who sent her and Nuch and I a present.
We had lunch at Elaichi Restaurant in Belper, even though its an Indian, I had traditional christmas dinner. Unfortunately it wasn't up to scratch, i'm not sure what I expected???


The afternoon and evening was as predictable, drink, sleep and watch TV, you can't beat it.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Robbing, Bastard Landlord


Well not the landlord, but his agent. Just before we left our last place Nuch dropped a hot iron on the carpet, it left a burn mark the same shape. We tried to repair the carpet and in all fairness I made a complete botch of it.

I knew I would have to pay something out of my deposit and so waited to find out. Well the company called Managed Exit eventually told me that the cost would be £481.00 + vat!!! They want me to pay for the whole carpet even though we are only talking a six inch square.

The upshot is that they have now said £481 inc vat, so i'm only going to get £100 back, so i'm not going to release the bond which is held at an independent deposit holder. I'd be prepared to go halves, I know that some monies are owed.

So watch this space!
19th January. Today I had a letter from the deposit protection scheme (DPS), they informed that the agent as not complied with the terms and conditions of the deposit. They went on to say that I would be entitled to my deposit! Not sure what means, i'll contact them and find.
So watch this space again.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Thailand Time



While i've been working my ass off, Thailand has been through some mega upheaval's.

The most striking of all was the occupation of the two main international airports by protestor'e aligned to the PAD organisation. This lawless band of middle class thugs and their paid muscle breached every conservention of lawful protesting when they more or less held 300,000 tourist hostage in Thailand. The harm they have done to the country will only come and bite them on the arse next year when tourist will vote with their feet and go elsewhere in the region were the political regime is more stable, maybe somewhere like Burma or Cambodia!!!!

The old PM as been booted along with his party the PPP, they were found guilty of vote buying, der! this is Thailand, if you can get a few thousand baht for voting for the party you'd have voted for anyway, then why not!

Today, a new PM has been voted in. Abhisit Vejjajiva the young Democrat and Bangkok Governor as finally become PM. Even though his Democrat party came second in the last election, he as managed to get (buy) enough votes from smaller opposition parties and get the job. Although i'm not happy with this, give the bloke a go and see what happens to Thailand. He was born in Newcastle , so a bit of Geordie humour and fight would be helpful.



The old PM Thaksin Shinawtra is still stirring the pot, with several address's to his party via video he says he should be allowed back into power. Maybe he should, he was deposed in a military coup, and although he was alledgedly corrupt, he seemed to want what was best for thailand's large poor community. What as soured it a bit for me with Thaksin is he said that Britain would pay for revoking his visa, bring it on thaksin!!!!


Lets see what the next month brings to Thailand, hopefully a bit of peace and quiet.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Work


Over the past five weeks the number of entries on this blog jave been few and far between, the reason for this is that i've been working like a bastard!!!!

We have been building a new warehouse near Derby, i've been there from digging the footing out all the way to putting the finishing touches to the building. Its been very rewarding and as you can see from the picture, its a big piece of kit.