Bargain

I can't wait til Mr John gets back from Bangkok tonight, I've had terrible trouble sleeping! And why is it that no sooner has he headed off, we get the worst thunder storms?  Wednesday night was an absolute doosie and it was 3am before I could settle down again.

Before he went away, he took my motorbike for a service. He took it back to the place we bought it from. We both always carry some emergency cash and he took some spares with him as we were unsure how much it would cost and even whether they'd be able to do it there and then. So he arrived back home less than an hour later and they'd changed the oil, checked the battery and some other stuff and charged him 160 baht. Can you believe it? That's roughly GBP£3 / AUD$5.30 / US$5 / EUR€4. We were thrilled to bits.

In my rock 'n' roll lifestyle, I've cleaned both our electric fans recently. There are no photos as I was too ashamed to take a "before" one and therefore no point taking an "after" one. It was quite therapeutic but a little scary dismantling it - what if I couldn't put it back together or worse still what if I broke a piece? All's well that ends well though and we now have two shiny fans. Next time I undertake this task, I'll take some pictures because they won't get that bad again and give you a step by step guide. 

Wow, there's something to look forward too. NB: must get out more

And today is a big day for Ross, my nephew, who is heading to Hong Kong to teach for a year. He's been a secondary teacher in the UK for some time now and we wish him all the best.  

Birthdays: can you believe it's August already? So we'd like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Kat, "Aunty" Karen, Podge, Rhys, Sedgey, cousin Amanda, Ted, Katherine and the gorgeous Bex.

I don't normally do this, but I have to give a special mention to Rohan and Debs who will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary later this month.  Their wedding day was so beautiful and now, three children and three grandchildren later, they still look out for each other. An inspiration to us all.