At the bottom of our garden..

It's been quite some time since I've written anything.  This is because we've been enjoying our time with Leon who, unbelievably, is nearly ready to leave now.  Actually, he's not quite ready and keeps threatening to stay but his flight is booked for Tuesday evening.  I will tell you all about his visit but I need do it justice so you'll have to wait just a little bit longer to find out what we've been up to.

Having spent a brilliant weekend in Bangkok, we returned to Chan to find the Kings eldest daughter (Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya of Thailand) was visiting the town and staying at the army barracks just up the road from ours.  Now I say up the road because the entrance to the camp is at the city pillar but the grounds of the camp we can see* from our back window.

 *Actually all we can see is the concrete fence surrounding the grounds 

I spy with my little eye...

Wicus had warned us that there was a soldier outside his front door so that we weren't alarmed when we arrived back (how thoughtful is that) and it's lucky he did.  So some people apparently have fairies at the bottom of their garden - we had a soldier!  I have to say I was mighty impressed with his camouflage - take ten points if you can spot him straight away.  I was a bit covert when I took the photo as I didn't know how they'd take it and those guns were real.


I didn't mind any of this.  What I did mind was being told we had to keep the back door shut for the two nights she was here.  Presumably we had to do this so we couldn't put out a sniper riffle without them spotting it or maybe they were shielding her eyes from the poor people - who knows?  Not only did the door being shut make the house a bit stuffier but my lime tree, yes my pride and joy, got burnt because at the bottom of the back door (on the outside) is a metal plate.  I didn't realise the consequences when we closed the door but obviously the afternoon sunshine reflected off the metal and straight onto my little tree.  The lime that was on there fell off and had lost all its green pigment making it look more like a lemon and my seven little flowers are now one little flower.  Aaaargh!!!  I think it's slowly recovering and the lime in my vodka was really good, so not all was lost.

If you remember, I promised you a picture of our "soundproofing experiment" in the old house.  Well here it is.  Sadly, it's not really worked but next door has provided some light entertainment for Leon.  He seems to have coped quite well and, as I keep reminding him, you get what you pay for!