mission accomplished

1. Firstly well done on the collection. How pleasing it must be to have the support and the money rolling in. And I hope the stomach is better this morning.

2. How right you are. Sitting around all the time is more of a punishment than a reward. Only a certain amount of reading can be accomplished in any one day. I rue the day when my body will not let me move about much. Confinement does not suit my personality.

3. Well rucksack on my back, leg over the crossbar and away I bounced on the mountain bike. How very different from the road bike. I thought it better to ask permission to swim even though I had Kaaren's pass. Nobody seemed bothered. Just one elderly man with a snorkel and myself in the large pool. 16 lengths, I swam, 16 lengths. How about that! The other end always seemed such a long way away.

4. As I was swimming I noticed a church at the other end of the pool which I tried to investigate after the swim. The gates were locked and it was not evident how to get to the other side. Another time maybe.

5. I dried off in the sun and found an American lady to chat to. I needed to talk to somebody. She is a law student, who has just been on a conference in Hong Kong and was visiting friends who worked at the International School. She expressed a desire to visit China, so that was a prompt to talk pleasantly about my trip.

6. Shower, change and off to the shop to buy some fruit juice and a bottle of water, which disappeared very quickly. I cycled round the lake to explore a little. Not much to see except more big houses. The size of this place captured me.

7. When I returned here, I was absolutely dripping but once cool I had the pleasure of reading the article in the Economist about Thailand. I found a copy in the shop. The article made much more sense than the Bangkok Post reports. I believe I have some sort of grasp on what is going on.

8. Yesterday's letter page had the word Kakisocracy - a state ruled by a Government of ill intentioned citizens. The writer was applying that to Thailand.

9. The little family returned around 6 having had a good day and produced a book entitled the Brand of 2008 in which Kaaren features. Photographed and two pages on her perceived management style. I have been given a copy as a gift.

10. Today we leave the gated community for a visit to the hospital. Hurrah the outside world. I might even ask them how much it would cost to have my gall stone removed. The endurance of the pain has lasted long enough.

11. And what about the other 50 pounds and how is Helen. Any news from Kandahar. I noticed in the papers that there has been more fighting in the last couple of days.

Must be time for the boiled egg.

Always good to hear you.
Bangkok lady