Well, dear readers, as I write this to you, I am 2 hours away from landing in Bangkok.
I wanted to share with you one of the few benefits of …
Being deaf as a post
I refer specifically to the ability to live in a world of my own at 40,000 feet from the sea.
I have recently taken delivery of the latest and greatest pair of hearing aids. They are connected to an app on my phone which controls them. One can select one of 4 hearing environments like general speech and music etc. The program options have been available with the hearing aids I have used for quite a while. Only recently have I used aids that are controlled by an app. It tells me the % life of the battery, changes the volume level. I can also mute the microphones. This is a godsend in a noisy environment like an aeroplane. I have also recently been introduced to a black box called a TV adapter. It connects to a sound source like a TV or an aeroplane’s entertainment system’s headphone output. The really neat thing is that the Tv adapter sends the sound, by wireless, directly to my hearing aids.
So, my world on the plane was:
Perfect!
Aussie passports don’t like water
I found this out when I checked in at Coffs Harbour at 5:30 am last Thursday. My photo page had become damp around the edges – it had an old photo sepia look to it. The Qantas check in agent had to phone Sydney to see if they thought Bangkok immigration would let me into their country if my passport had an aged look to it. I thought that it was a bit unnecessary as I am an old man and a sepia look was rather distinguished. Anyway, she came back and said she thought I would be OK. I was not worried because being a belt and braces man I always carry a spare *.
My arrival
After I arrived in Bangkok I took the monorail from the airport to Makkasan station which is closest to the apartment that I have rented.
I exited the station using what I thought to be the right exit, alas, the Thais all, without exception, drive on the other side of the road to us in Australia. So, all the taxis were going in the opposite direction to the way I wanted. Well, that is not totally true. All the taxis were standing still in traffic facing the wrong way. I asked a young lass if she knew of a good spot to get a taxi. She asked me where I wanted to go and she said I was a longish walk and she would help me with my cases. She lived nearby. Off we set, it turns out she sold drugs, just like my taxi finding friend in Madurai in India a few years back. I should clarify, before the young people who read this newsletter get excited. The drugs she sold cured things, like, diabetes and cholesterol etc. She was a nurse turned sales rep for a drug companies who sold drugs to hospital.
So, I found the way and it was about 2kms over reasonable tracks and pavements.
Yesterday, after I settled in I found and up market supermarket that sold products that I could understand (A lot were in English) I bought the essentials like eggs, bread and milk etc.
Today I found a different supermarket with some English text products but the best bit was that I joined their loyalty scheme which gave me some extra bargains. The best was 2 pineapples for the price of one and one cost AUS $ 1.95. In fact, I got some chicken (3 nights) noodles, pineapples and cooking oil all for Aus $7.50. I wish somebody at Woolworths would read these newsletters and take note.
OK, more later bye for now.
* The spare passport is actually for the UK but it works in Thailand as well. I am not sure how long my UK passport will work for as it has EU on the cover. You may have heard that the UK want to take their bat and ball and not play with Europe anymore.
I think that soon the UK will have one less topic of conversation when they finally decide whether to leave from or stay in the EU.
Getting into a routine.
Now I have been here in Bangkok for over 4 days I can safely say I am into a routine. The weather here is hot and humid, as soon as one ventures out from the air-conditioning the humidity hits you.
By the time I return back to the apartment all my clothes are wringing wet, so then I …
- Empty my pockets.
- Lay out the banknotes on a bench to dry, they are soaking wet. I did thing of giving them a wash before I dry them but that, of course, would be illegal. i.e. Money Laundering.
- Remove all clothes and lightly wash them.
- Into the washing machine, rinse & spin cycle, 1200rpm 20 minutes.
- Hang clothes to dry in bathroom. They are all dry in 4 hours – shirts in less time.
- Drink copious quantities of water.
Thai cooking course.
By now I hope you will have seen the photos so here is what happened. The course was run upstairs above a bicycle hire shop. The owner Ray, a dutchman found less and less people wanting to go for bicycle rides in 36C heat. He got larger premises and opened a cooking school as well as the bike rental.
I was fortunate in that there should have been 3 students but 2 cancelled so I was the star (only) pupil.
The chef was Cherry, a young lass, who got married to a German trainee doctor 2 weeks ago. She had just come back from her honeymoon in Germany. She and her husband hope to live together in Germany but before she can get citizenship, she has to pass a German language exam. “We have way of making you talk” comes to mind.
I won’t bore you with the menu as you can get that info from the photos. The cooking course was excellent, the food was a typical tourist selection but no less good for all that.
What is the collective noun for a number of cancellations?
One of the collective nouns for giraffes is a “totter”. I am going to adopt that word for the collective noun for cancellations because I like it.
Now, it will not surprise you to know that I have had a totter of cancellations lately.
1. This was a flight cancellation. It was my flight from Bangkok to London. I originally booked with Jet Airways. They are the second largest airline of India. About a week after I booked the flight, I read that they were in financial trouble. They could not afford to pay all their pilots. The pilots kept working but since then the money situation has become worse. Now over 20% or more of their planes are grounded so they were forced to cancel flights. Until they pay their lessors, their total debt is $1 billion US, they can only fly domestically. So, sadly, my flights came into the firing line. I was promised a full refund which has since been paid. I booked an alternate flight with Air China via Beijing. On the Beijing to London leg I think I have the last seat available. It is in the last row of the plane; I may even have to help serve the meals.
2. The second cancellation was a full day train and river trip. The reason given that it the New Year. Perhaps the tour company did not know when the new year was this year, maybe it was surprise. Again, a full refund was promised.
Today was a great day, I visited the Grand Palace and it lived up to the name. You will see the photos in the usual places.
Yesterday I saw my first Thailand rodent. It was a rat up a drain pipe. The old saying, indicating fast speed, in action.
I am now at the Miracle airport hotel near Bangkok airport. I am here for few hours before I check in at the airport for the flight that leaves at 1am! I picked this hotel as it was near to the airport and it had a free shuttle.
I caught the Rail Air monorail to the airport and followed the instructions that said the meeting point was between arrival gate 3 and 4. I saw 3 such meeting points and mine (3 and 4) had 35 name boards of hotel pick-ups. I think there was over 100 pickup boards plus numerous other people with boards randomly walking the airport. Amazingly it seemed to work
I am sure things will happen in England and when they do you, dear readers, will be the first to know.
Just a quick word about airports and how to recognise them.
You know you are in an airport when …
• The shops are equally at home in Regent St or 5th Avenue.
• Cadbury chocolate is Aus $23 for 33gm and not $5 for more than 300gm in Woolworths.
• Water is 91 baht and not 10 baht in the 7-Eleven.
The Rail-Air coach from Heathrow to Reading
I have caught this service many times before, it is convenient to get from Heathrow to Wokingham via Reading. The coach leaves every 20 minutes from the main coach station at Heathrow terminal 2-3. There is an indicator board in the waiting area. One waits until the coach arrives and the bay the coach has arrived at is displayed and then one walks to that bay to board the coach. The coach arrived at 1:30pm and I and 2 others immediately went to bay 10 as indicated and the driver had shut the door and was about to leave. There was another Rail Air employee at the stop and she told the driver to wait. She apologised to him for holding him up. He said he was due to leave but he reluctantly opened the door and let us on. He said to me he was late. I asked him how I could get to the coach any quicker as the bay had only 2 minutes ago been displayed. The indicator board said wait in the lounge. He said we should be at the stop 5 minutes before the bus left. I told him that was impossible as the bay number was not displayed until he arrived.
By his logic we would never get on the coach as we would always wait for the bay and always miss it.
He grumbled a bit as more people got on the coach that I had delayed. He was even more sighful (new word) as there was a lot of people at the next stop at Terminal 5.
I was completely surprised when he wanted to carry my bag off the coach at Reading and got my bag off first also. He then apologised for his remarks at Heathrow, I said we saw the situation differently. I shook his hand and we smiled. We both lived happily ever after.
Beware! The perils of shopping in foreign lands.
I was in the Dairy aisle of the local Sainsbury’s supermarket and I was looking for some low-fat Yoghurt. I saw a brand that I recognised from a previous visit. I choose the 3xCherry and 3xStrawberry packet. After dinner I picked a Cherry tub and when I opened it, I was greeted with a Cherry flavoured Rice pudding. I did not know such things existed. I have let a sheltered life. When I checked the packaging, I did spot the tell-tail hint in capitals, namely ‘Rice’. Caveat Emptor which one will know as Buyer Beware.
I love American Airlines!
Let me tell you a story to explain.
They board the plane in groups from 1 to 8. Group 1 is 1st class, Group 2 is Business class etc. down to Group 8 being the cheapest economy seat. Needless to say, I boarded in Group 8. I checked in online 24 hours ahead of the flight departure. I was offered to choose my seat but the cost ranged from GBP23 to 88. I decided to let the computer pick a seat for me. This it did, in terms of the seat position there are 304 seats on the Boeing 777-300ER. The best seats are first class and the worst last row of economy. I think I rated mine 300 out of 304. When I arrived at the baggage drop, I asked if the check in lady could find me a better seat. She soon came back and said “You have bought the cheapest economy seat and we cannot reallocate those”. She suggested I try at the boarding gate but she doubted if they would reallocate either. I contented myself that if the plane crashed it is generally acknowledged that the last row of the plane is the safest.
As you know I like to do things in a timely manner so when the departure gate was announced I high-tailed it to try my seat changing luck. I asked the young lass who checked my boarding pass if she could give a very old man a better seat near the front. (Better for flying but not so good for crashing). To my surprise and delight she allocated me an aisle seat in the economy 2nd row. She said there was also and empty seat next to me for extra storage.
That, dear friends, is why I love American Airlines.
I was surprised when they did not offer any classical music albums in their list od audio offerings.
This, of course, did not phase me as I travel with more technology than you can poke a stick at. I was able to listen to hours of my kind of music direct into my ears with no nasty noise of engines or children being tortured.
The Joy and Pain of the New York subway.
Yes, dear readers, the New York subway is both joy and pain.
The Joy is that it is the largest subway system in the world with 472 stations on 27 different lines. On many lines there are local trains that stop at every station and express trains that miss some stations. Many of the lines run 24 hours. Times Square has interchanges with 11 lines.
The pain (see Joy)
I made one mistake, I got on a N line train which I thought was a Q line train. I only went one stops and caught a Q line train at the next stop.
Some stations do not have ticket offices only ticket machines. These do not dispense tickets to old men at $2.75 for 2 rides but only $3.00 tickets to under 62s.
In 3 days, I did not master the subway system but, in the end, we rubbered along together.
I walked up the Empire State building (a bit)
I had planned to visit at 8am when it was not too busy. It took a while to find the building because it looked like all the others in the block with the top half shrouded in mist. I did not think that $35 to have my head in the clouds was a good buy. Judy often says “Your head is in Cloud-Cuckoo land” (That it would appear, is also in the clouds)
I did a major replan and went to the Guggenheim museum and then the Metropolitan museum of Art instead. I took a free impressionism tour which lasted 1:15 and was great.
By the time I had seen these two and walked in Central park the day had turned out sunny so I returned to the Empire State. The queues to the Observation deck on the 86th floor was quite long by this time. There are two sets of lifts involved, one to 79th floor and the other from there to 86th floor. Having queued for a long time to get to the 79th I opted to walk the last 7 floors to the 86th. There is an observation deck on 102 but it was closed. The views were great, lots more people that in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I am very glad I did get to the top as the views are fantastic.
One of my New York highlights.
Has to be my visit to B&H Photo at 9th and 34th street. They have been trading since 1973 My first purchase was a pair of Sony wireless headphones from them in the mid 90’s when wireless headphones were not available in Australia. The shop spans a whole block and is at least 3 floors of goods. They stock a wide range of photographic, computer and home entertainment items. They even have a department devoted to drones. They are Jewish owned and therefore cease trading on Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.
I wanted my camera checked for a moisture stain on the focusing screen. There are 20+ staff at numbered sections of the counter. The chap I talked to was very friendly (like all New Yorkers I met) he was also practical as his advice was do nothing. We chatted a bit and we parted friends.
I looked around for a while and then decided to buy a couple of lens cap tethers to tie the lens cap to the lens. I decided on 2 as the cap of my long lens is quite heavy. $3 each plus tax – the last of the big spenders I hear you say. The lady who served me gave me a ticket. I had to pay on the ground floor and when I had a payment ticket, I collected the goods from the downstairs also.
I walked around for a while longer, I watched an 8K TV. This is the latest standard of high-quality TV. It is said that there is no point in developing any higher standard as the human eye will not be able to detect and higher quality than 8K.
By this time, I had decided to get 2 more tethers for my wide-angle lens and as luck would have it, I saw the chap I talked to first. He made me a present of the 2 tethers so saving $3 plus tax.
A good end to my pilgrimage to B&H photo.
Times Square beat me!
I have had a great time in New York, I found the people of New York friendly and polite, always helpful and I loved their accents. Now I go via Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited #49 train to Chicago. I checked out of the hotel and took myself plus 2 suitcases and a backpack by subway to catch the train. My hotel was in Flushing, the home of the US tennis open. It was a short walk to the station so I hauled my luggage with no problem. Flushing Main Street is the start of the line but the train was already full when I got on so I stood/staggered for the 30-minute trip. I had intended to change trains at Time Sq. but the 11 lines that intersect there were too much so I took a cab. I think the driver was a bit startled when I wanted to sit in the front. He said most people sit in the back as it was the law but he was happy to break the law for a chat. The fare was $9 and half that was the luggage cost. After booking my large suitcase through to Chicago I went in search a supermarket for supplies. I found a $2 shop near the station in West 32nd street which sold food, groceries and all the $2 items one expects in such a shop. Next door was “The largest buffet in New York” or so the sign said. You can see a photo. You filled a container from the hot cold and salad bar, it was weighed and one paid $10.99 + tax per lb.
I had a good window seat on the train with a spare seat beside me (again – it is my charisma?) I began to wonder if it was a subway train as it did not emerge from the tunnel for 12 minutes. We hugged the shore of the Hudson River for over 2 and a half hours. The river was were US Airways flight #1549 landed after a bird strike in Jan 2009. The event was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie “Sully”
The Art Institute of Chicago
I really liked the interesting collection of Paperweights; you can see some examples in the photos I have posted.
The Chicago Symphony
I attended their performance of The Overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. He composed the overture literally just before he conducted its first performance from the piano. The Mozart Piano Concerto No 20 in D minor, K466 with Mitsuko Uchida, Piano and Riccardo Muti Conducting was beautiful. I was struck how unaffected Mitsuko Uchida was, she just sat played the piece without any undue emotion. There was also a couple of pieces from The Fairy’s kiss and the Firebird by Stravinsky.
I sat next to Patricia, a Professor of Art History who said that Riccardo Muti was much more down to earth than the last conductor Daniel Barenboim. Sir George Solti was conductor for 22 years prior to Barenboim. The musicians all seemed to enjoy themselves. I wonder if it had anything to do with their winning pension concessions after a 6 plus week strike? There were some nice touches, the lights were left on during the whole performance so one could read the free 63-page program. The orchestra is 128 years old and supported by donors (21 pages of them in the program). Many gave in excess of US $150,000 annually. I had a great view of the piano keyboard from the 4th row.
In the interval Patricia and I had a discussion about hearing aids and we exchanged cards and I have sent her some information and thoughts.
I still love American Airlines
One of my abiding interests is the weight of my luggage when I travel by plane. I spend much time packing and repacking my 2 suitcases and back-pack. I do not subscribe to the “Travel light” school of thought. The trip from Chicago O’Hare to Albuquerque had a normal baggage limit, ) which I was under of 23kgs (Cost $30 at the airport). The self-service boarding card print, luggage tag print and baggage payment were easy and efficient. I waited in line (you do not queue in the US of A) at the baggage drop, when I arrived at the front my case was whisked away, sadly I blinked and missed it going. Well done American Airlines.
I browsed the magazine stand on the way to the departure gate and I noticed a publication called “Weed”. It had an hairy man on the cover with a kind of glazed smile. He looked a lot like the presenter of the ABC gardening show, Costa Georgiadis. There were three copies of the magazine, none were in the gardening section so I did my good deed for the day and moved them to the right place.
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Some USA observations
- • The Hallmark movie channel appears to specialise in medical adverts. As a rule, each medical ad spends a third of the time explaining what the product does, then the rest of the time explaining all the risks.
- • Here are the warnings for SYMBICORT an asthma treatment. You don’t need to read it all but I think that you will get the message.
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• SYMBICORT combines an ICS, budesonide and a LABA medicine, formoterol. LABA medicines, such as formoterol, when used alone can increase the risk of hospitalizations and death from asthma problems. When an ICS and LABA are used together, this risk is not significantly increased
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• Do not use SYMBICORT for sudden severe symptoms of COPD or asthma
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• Before you use SYMBICORT, tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you have heart conditions or high blood pressure, and all the medicines you may be taking. Some patients taking SYMBICORT may experience increased blood pressure, heart rate, or change in heart rhythm
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• Do not use SYMBICORT more often than prescribed. SYMBICORT should be taken as 2 puffs 2 times each day
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• While taking SYMBICORT, do not use another medicine containing a LABA for any reason. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist if any of your other medicines are LABA medicines
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• Call your healthcare provider or get medical care right away if:
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o Your breathing problems worsen
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o Slowed growth in children. A child’s growth should be checked regularly while using SYMBICORT
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o Eye problems including glaucoma and cataracts. You should have regular eye exams while using SYMBICORT
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• SYMBICORT may cause serious side effects, including:
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o Using too much of a LABA medicine may cause chest pain, fast and irregular heartbeat, tremor, increased blood pressure, headache or nervousness
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o Fungal infection in your mouth or throat (thrush). Rinse your mouth with water without swallowing after using SYMBICORT to help reduce your chance of getting thrush
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o Pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections. People with COPD may have a higher chance of pneumonia and other lung infections. ICS may increase the chance of getting pneumonia. Call your healthcare provider if you notice any of the following symptoms: increase in mucus production or change in color, fever, increased cough, chills, or increased breathing problems
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o Immune system effects and a higher chance for infections. Tell your healthcare provider about any signs of infection such as: fever, body aches, feeling tired, vomiting, pain, chills, or nausea
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o Adrenal insufficiency. This can happen when you stop taking oral corticosteroid medicines and start inhaled corticosteroid medicine
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o Increased wheezing right after taking SYMBICORT. Always have a rescue inhaler with you to treat sudden wheezing
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o Serious allergic reactions including rash, hives, swelling of the face, mouth, and tongue, and breathing problems. Call your healthcare provider or get emergency medical care if you get any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction
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o Lower bone mineral density can happen in people who have a high chance for low bone mineral density (osteoporosis)
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o Slowed growth in children. A child’s growth should be checked regularly while using SYMBICORT
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o Eye problems including glaucoma and cataracts. You should have regular eye exams while using SYMBICORT
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o Swelling of blood vessels. This can happen in people with asthma. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have: a feeling of pins and needles or numbness of arms or legs, rash, flu like symptoms, or pain and swelling of the sinuses
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o Decreases in blood potassium levels (hypokalemia)
o Increases in blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia) -
• The most common side effects of SYMBICORT include:
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o COPD: throat irritation, thrush in the mouth and throat, bronchitis, sinusitis, and upper respiratory tract infection
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o Asthma: throat irritation, headache, upper respiratory tract infection, throat pain, sinusitis, flu, back pain, nasal congestion, stomach discomfort, vomiting, and thrush in the mouth and throat.
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• In a local supermarket there was a whole aisle, both sides devoted to potato chips and popcorn of all flavours. There was only one type of sugar free drink, Diet Coke.
• When one crosses at an intersection whether legal or not, traffic does not try to run you over.
I think you get the message …..
•Hallmark are showing Christmas movies in a countdown to Christmas! I have just watched A Bramble House Christmas.
•A bit harsh on the legal profession – The sign on the entrance to the New Mexico State Capitol building “No Solicitors”
Chicken Happy Hour
A couple of days ago I was buying some groceries in Walmart. I waited at the cooked chicken counter while another chap was being served. He worked in this Walmart store in Logistics. He said that cooked chicken was half price between 6pm and 7pm. The assistant was having trouble finding a price code to make the discounted price. When my turn came, she filled a plastic container half full weighed it, go a price label and then filled the container up. Tonight, my chicken stocks had run low so went shopping (for other things also) at 6:20pm. The same assistant was not working but a young lad was serving cold meats so he came and obliged. He did not know anything about hot chicken and I was trying to persuade him to live dangerously and indulge in “Chicken Happy Hour”. I luckily spotted the manager talking to an assistant so I naturally bailed him up (I think that is what you do in the US of A). He said that Happy Hour for Chickens was from 7pm to 8pm so I pulled the race card and told him I was Australian and how he could make a very old Australian very happy. He instructed the young lad to go and get a yellow discount machine. I told him as he was manager, he would not get promotion but he was worth more money and he had made a customer very happy. He seemed to like that and shook my hand.
Gee! ‘Americains’ and real nice, Y’all.
Actually, seriously they really are very nice people. A pleasure to talk to.
Great Museums
I have seen some great museums in New Mexico. I went to the History museum here in Santa FE yesterday and had a great tour guide. I learnt a lot about the Spanish invasion and the Pueblo Indians.
There was a printing shop in the adjacent Palace of the Governors that the guide said was worth a look but it was roped off and not open. I used my charm (brute force?) and asked at the reception desk if I could see it. The print room curator, Tom Leech, opened it up and I had a great time chatting to him and his staff. It has quite a few hot metal presses which are still in use and they create books to sell. A recent one was a reprint of the first book of cowboy songs with engraved wood-cuts.
Tom made the paper for the front and end pages. Here is a link that shows him at work.
I think a Margarita will fix it.
Saturday was not a good day for me.
As part of my walking regime I parked in a church car park (Yes, I did ask) and walked to the Railyards markets. I looked at some stalls and wanted to take a movie of an accordion player. When I got out the camera, I realised that the camera card was back at the motel so I walked back to the church and went home. I picked up the camera card and tried again. I took the movie and looked at the rest of the stalls.
Next was a trip to the Gas station and on the way the car told me it needed its oil changed. I got back to the motel and phoned the car hire company, they said they could swap it for a Honda. It was 1:30 pm and they shut a 2:00pm. I did get there in time only to learn that they had made a mistake and the Honda needed an oil change. The only vehicle they could offer was a pickup truck. A photo of it is among the latest photo uploads. It is a Ford 4×4 F250 Super Duty. The Super Duty® has the only high-strength, military-grade, aluminium-alloy body in its class. 6.2 litre V8 engine. It would appear to pass anything but a Gas station. Petrol consumption would have been twice my current car. Needless to say, I passed on the pickup. I am going to swap the car at Albuquerque on the way to Socorro and the VLA (Very Large Array – A set of radio telescopes that work as a super large single scope)
Since writing that I have negotiated a $100 discount on my hire for inconvenience.
Even more observations of the USA
Sadly, most bakeries cannot make more than one type of bread. It comes in different colours but they are all of the same lack lustre pappy consistency. I bought some rolls labelled “French Bread” if the French ever found out it would surely rekindle the America and France unofficial war between 1798 and 1800. This period, the result of a diplomatic faux pas, is known as the Quasi War. Its contemporaries knew it as “The Undeclared War with France”. I think it might lead to a declared war.
Most drivers in the USA I have found to be good and patient except that is in El Paso, Texas. There, I encountered many bad and impatient drivers. It may be linked to the overall poor living conditions, compared to New Mexico. I did not see any specific border signs, walls or fences as such but I did drive down a highway adjacent to the border which had a very high solid wall. I did not see a “Donald Trump” signature on it but was probably built before his rise to fame.
I had a fright.
I have ben driving very carefully here if the USA. I use Ken a.k.a. My GPS Navman to ensure I stick to the speed limits within +- 2 mph. Imagine my consternation when a State Trooper pulled up beside me on a two-lane highway with a grass median strip with lights flashing (red and blue here). Naturally I pulled over. I was so pleased when he ignored me and pulled into the median strip and faced the other way. Phew!
Last Friday I had a great time at Old Tucson which is a permanent movie set a replica of 1860s era where over 400 movies have been filmed since 1939 when more than 50 buildings were built in 40 days for the movie Arizona starring William Holden and Jean Arthur. Many of those structures are still standing.
Other movies were The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, The Last Round-Up (1947) with Gene Autry and Winchester ’73 (1950) with James Stewart and The Last Outpost (1951) with Ronald Reagan. The 1950s saw the filming of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).
I have just seen an advertisement on TV for the website, https://www.needtoimpeach.com/. Currently there are 8,077,193 Americans who have signed their online petition. The other web site I found https://impeachdonaldtrumpnow.org/ has only 1,446,381 signatures, it may of course catch up.
A spontaneous Boot opening.
This has happened twice now overnight. When I saw the car in the morning the boot lid was open, twice. Naturally, I have car no:3 now. A larger one that the previous 2, a Nissan Altima. Very nice it is to.
A shopping channel
I was channel surfing this afternoon and I happened on a shopping channel. There was a program on for one whole hour about a cooking device – air fryer. I could not believe that anybody needed more than five minutes to describe it.
My new car
The new car has all the regular modern driving accessories on it. Automatic lights, cruise control etc but the one thing I like is Sirius satellite radio. The car has 123 channels of music, comedy, news and live sport. The service offers over 140 plus channels. It is crystal clear audio; the car is now a stereo system on wheels. Perfect!
A truly amazing show.
I have just seen a Paranormal Mind Reading Magic show by Frederic da Silva. It was absolutely amazing, he performed for around one and a half hours and I have no idea how he performed any of his illusions.
I would like to describe first the one I was involved in.
Frederic used many members of the audience for his illusions all were picked completely at random by other members of the audience by throwing balls or rings. Some people declined to go on stage and gave it to their neighbour. Every time he invited a member of the audience up on the stage, he always asked their name and if they were with anyone else. Everyone had at least one other person with them and their name was announced too.
He got one chap from the audience and sat him in a chair on stage. The chap was told to think of a time and write it on a small card and seal it in an envelope. This he did and the chap held on to the envelope. I was sat in the centre of the first row and Frederic asked me if he could use my watch. I agreed. He asked me my name and if I was with anyone else so Barry, I said and no “I am alone”. That, I thought sounded sad so I added “I meant I was alone in the US but I have many friends in Australia”. Further “I did not want everyone to think I was generally sad and lonely”. Everyone laughed and Frederic smiled. Another chap on the stage took my watch and started to change the time. The chap who thought of the original time after a few seconds said “Stop”. They were 20 feet apart.
Frederic guessed the time that was written on the sealed card 11:03, and that is the time my watch was wound to. In the photos you will see I photographed my watch when it came back to me. You can also see my watch in the hand of the winding fellow.
The book, “The Da Vinci code” and an English Dictionary was passed around the audience to make sure they were genuine. In another illusion Frederic gave, “The Da Vinci code” to a random person from the audience who then selected a word from the top left of a random page. Frederic wrote on a sheet of paper. He asked the lady who was currently checking the dictionary to come up on stage.
He announced the word from the Da Vinci code as “painting”. This was correct. He displayed what he had written and it was 1029 R8, the 8th word on page 1029 of the dictionary was “Painting”. You can see a photo of him holding up the sign. How was that done?
Frederic sat a man and a woman on the stage and asked them to shut their eyes. He said he was going to touch them and to raise their arms on the side that they felt the touch. He later in the illusion asked them to point to the part of their body that he had touched. Every time they both raised the same side arm, and every time they both pointed the same area of their body. They did this at least a dozen times identically. He only ever touched the man!
The finale – a sealed package with a note and a photo was hung from a hook on the stage. A chap, an 18-year-old, again randomly selected came on to the stage. A lady from the audience chose a drink, Vodka, and another chose a quantity, 21. The 18-year-old thought of his first love. Frederic opened the package and the chap read out the note. It talked of 21 bottles of vodka. On the back of a photo of a girl was love from Alexis.
After the show I met Frederic da Silva. He asked me to think of a number between 1 and 100. I chose 49. He wrote this number above his autograph on a flyer. Stunning. I caught up with two ladies I sat next to during the show, they chose 7 and 89, he guessed both numbers. Two other people have seen the show 14 times and he has never failed at an illusion.
How good was that?
Australian Bee Gees tribute band
Last night I saw the Australian Bee Gees tribute band. Some of them were Australian and they performed quite a few of the classic songs very much like the original group. I really like the Bee Gees music and I had a front row seat, great.
I am staying at The Royal Resort here in Las Vegas and I use the monorail most days. I have been cutting through the Marriot Residential Inn, a motel style complex. Last night, on the way to the concert, the gate was locked so I had to go the long way around. On the way home I called in at the reception and told them I use the gate as a short cut to the Royal Resort so naturally they gave me the key code.
Well, as the saying goes, “That’s all folks”.
I hope you have enjoyed looking at my photos and reading of my exploits.
Until the next time …
The End
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