2 halos and a backpack.

Mood: Absent minded
Listening to: Excited divers returning from a trip

Having spent the last 4 months in a few square kilometres, it has been decided that a small exploration trip is in order. Plus there's a really hard-looking black and yellow spider that's set up web on the rear porch who really needs his own space right now.
So, the plan is: Phuket (town and beaches), Kho Phi Phi (where they filmed the movie The Beach) and then Krabi (limestone cliffs and that island that James Bond visited whilst tracking down the man with the golden gun, probably).
Briefly left behind will be two new arrivals - the kittens that Sabs was odds-on favourite to bring home. Unfortunately this computer currently being used is pretty archaic and won't allow picture transfers so pics will have to wait for now. The spider pics will of course be more interesting though.
In other news:
Birthdays. Jamie turned 33, and would like to thank everyone for the phone calls and messages they sent. Good to hear from you all.
More football. Played in a stunning setting in Pang Nga stadium surrounded by limestone cliffs and dramatic skies. The hapless westerners were spanked 4-2 by a pretty slick Thai team.
Cheese. After 4 months without any, Sabrina was delerious at the site of a slab of pretty average Cheddar and is still wearing a nicely satisfied grin hours after finishing it.

Sabrina recently displayed a staggering level of Thai culture intuition when, meeting a male masseusse with a recently shaved head, she makes a buzzing noise and mimics sliding a shaver over her head. "Getting hot now huh?", she adds enthusiastically. "Buddha", was the stony-faced response. (Novice monks are required to shave their heads).
In other news, a Sports Day on the beach was held in which many nations got to sample the various activities English school children get to face once a year. After much cheating, grappling, failed wheelbarrow race combos and some rope burns from a tug-of-war, a quick cup presentation was held and much drinking commenced. Still, having a glistening ocean to run into when the sun got a bit much compensated nicely for the unneccessary energy expenditure.
Jamie has been moved up to 'No.2' on site, meaning he now has the option to join in the real work or fake an errand and seak refuge in an air-conditioned truck. As it happens, right now the project manager is off diving and Jamie is temporarily in charge. This is probably not a good idea considering the vacuum that resides between his ears. Time will tell.
Sabrina got to meet a manic Thai gran whilst on a beach clean up who was able to lift 30 kilo sacks of rubble and transport them on her back. The offer of some Thai whiskey from her may be a clue to the extraordinay strength on offer. Sabrina insists she turned it down.

Are you sitting comfortably? OK...
Back in December, a poorly Mac laptop was delivered to an Apple store in Phuket. The owner (Jamie) took it there under the premise that the store's engineers could fix it. After explaining that the screen doesn't work the shop says they would need to 'look at it first' and Jamie was to recieve a phone call in the next couple of days. OK. A week later, Jamie calls the shop. Apparrently they can fix it. Happy days he thinks, and all for around 70 quid. Should be back in his hands in a week...

...3 weeks and many calls later, it transpires that the part ordered from Singapore has not yet arrived...

...another week: ah, it's in now...

...another week: part doesn't work - it's going back to Singapore...

...two weeks later: got another one

...another week: ah, doesn't have seem to have fixed anything. Jamie is helpfully told that the screen doesn't work.