Sunday 25th August, 2013          2030

One week of holiday left and it looks set to be a washout.

Kevin and I went to town yesterday as we both had things we wanted to do, my most important item was trying to locate more smokes - unsuccessfully as it happened. I did suggest we had lunch there at a new place serving western food he mentioned a couple of days ago. We got there just as they were closing because lunches finish at two but they did let us in and let us look at the menu. Well I say menu but it was more like a glossy recipe book, with some really interesting dishes among which were proper soups (pea and ham, leek and potato etc), pork/lamb chops, real hamburgers (with gherkins!) etc so we will definitely be trying it out. If the photos on the menu are anything like what they serve then that is probably our Christmas dinner sorted this year! Lunch was eaten in the Lotus Branch (not bloom as I had thought).

Then we took a trip to RT Mart to show Kevin. With a more leisurely stroll around we discovered things I hadn’t noticed before - such as a pet food section where they actually sell cat litter and a little nook hidden away that I spotted and investigated. It’s a little foreign section which is not much cop but it did have small tins of baked beans (not Heinz unfortunately), proper tinned sardines and at floor level, cereals such as special K and Kelloggs cornflakes. They cost an arm and a leg but I am partial to a bowl of cornflakes before bedtime! In the booze section he selected a bottle of plonk costing 12y and I turned my nose up but agreed that at that price it was worth a try. It had a plain label but in the evening he brought me a glass to test. It didn’t smell too good but to my astonishment it went down a treat so we will both be buying more of that. I pointed out the spirits section and he bought a presentation box of Baileys and Hersheys chocolate bars for Daisy and then he spotted the gin. There was Bombay Sapphire and Gilbeys, priced at 168y and 69y respectively. “Suppose they don’t sell tonic water?” he asked. I didn’t know and so went to see. They do! In at least four years that I know of, tonic has never been seen here. Needless to say we both bought the makings for G&Ts.

Today was forecast to be heavy rain all day but it was dry and bright until mid afternoon so I decided to continue my quest for cigars. I hadn’t long left when the heavens opened and I had to hurriedly stop and get the cape out. Even riding at walking pace I could hardly see and the rain hurt my eyes and face. I persevered until I came to a side road in the middle of a bamboo forest where many couples have additional wedding photos taken and decided to shelter there. Most of me was decidedly damp by this time but it did help to stop all of me getting sopping wet. Eventually I made it and was thankful to find a stall which had enough of my cheroots for four days, did my shopping at Lottemart and then went to the bike repair shop. Since new the bike has had an intermittent fault with the “petrol gauge” which shows how much charge you have left. It would work for a day then show empty even on a full charge for the next two days but every time I have been in a position to go to the repair shop the damned thing was always working. How do you explain with a language barrier that something that is working perfectly is in fact broken? Today though it did me proud. It is still not working and they have had to order what I assume is a complete dashboard display, which unless I misinterpreted may take 8 days to arrive. They will call me when it arrives and that could be fun unless they ring from their landline, the number being stored as a contact. At least that way I will know it’s them, if they use a mobile and I don’t have a translator handy it could easily be a wrong number.

Of course, having just had a violent thunderstorm I should have expected to arrive back to no electricity. Thankfully by the time I took Pepsi out for a quick one at 1830 and came back it was on again.

And on top of everything else, my aircon is raining inside again!