Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

thought you might be interested in this

one of those people you might be unaware of but then you read up....

"Clare Hollingworth dies aged 105: Telegraph correspondent who broke the news of WWII passes away in Hong Kong"

look what happened on her first week in the job....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Hollingworth

Gasp, I'm lost for words.

105 years old, done all that, & I'd never heard of her. How ignorant am I?

Same with that Francis Burton fella that Tal mentioned a few days ago.

There are - or were - some extraordinary people around. Do they make folks like that these days?

We should have a blonde thread "Remarkable people you have never heard of".

I bet I visit Wiki 20 times a day when I see these sort of names crop up in the news.

[tikay]

Just sitting here watching Restoration Man - The Water Tower episode. A couple restore a water tower in Yorkshire into a fantastic home for themselves. Well worth a watch and right up your street Tikay. Talks all about the Carlisle railway line and its history.

Fascinating programme and well worth a watch.

Thanks Omm.

I'm not really into these restoration programmes, or "Grand Designs" bollox, but that looks like it is worth a watch.

Hope you are keeping well, & UKOPS was not too expensive for you.

On the subject of poker, remarkably, I have taken up NLH again, after 7 or 8 years of exclusively playing Omaha variants. It's been "quite testing" so far, but I'm getting there. Slowly. And expensively.

[tikay]

I got to thinking yesterday of how those from foreign parts, especially, say, Eastern Europe or Asia, come to read & speak English so well.

Imagine how they struggle to grasp the various meanings & pronunciations of even the smallest of words. 

Take this word, for example.

Bow

Pronounced "Bo", it can be what you propel an arrow with, play a violin with, tie a knot with, a hairstyle, or a tie, as in Bow Tie.

Pronounced bOW, it can be a place in East London, the front of a boat, or what one does when one meets The Queen, or Sir Michael O'Leary.

Or, still pronounced bOW, but spelt "bough" (how CAN it be spelt so differently?) it can be the larger branch of a tree.

God knows how other folks learn English, never mind 20 or 30 other languages.   

[Kev B]

I read about Clare Hollingworth earier today. I too hadn't heard of her. Incredible scoop for a rookie reporter.

Should you feel sad about a tree falling? Well I do about that old fella.

I've been meaning to post you a couple of photo's Tony. I took them late Dec. I'm sure you know about it as you know most things train wise. Bangkok has a fabulous train system which runs over the City on concrete pillars. It's aptly named the Sky train. Look how diligently the passengers wait behind the lines and follow the arrows leading them on and off the train.

Incidently it has a metro too which I used for the first time this trip.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[Kev B]

Click to see full-size image.

[Kev B]

This Metro destination sign made me laugh. I know small minds.

Click to see full-size image.

[Kev B]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTS_Skytrain

[tikay]

I read about Clare Hollingworth earier today. I too hadn't heard of her. Incredible scoop for a rookie reporter.

Should you feel sad about a tree falling? Well I do about that old fella.

I've been meaning to post you a couple of photo's Tony. I took them late Dec. I'm sure you know about it as you know most things train wise. Bangkok has a fabulous train system which runs over the City on concrete pillars. It's aptly named the Sky train. Look how diligently the passengers wait behind the lines and follow the arrows leading them on and off the train.

Incidently it has a metro too which I used for the first time this trip.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Good stuff Kev, thanks.

I am guessing that the arrows coincide with the exact position of the doors once the SkyTrain stops.

We have that in London, as it happens, on the Jubilee Line, where Platform Screen Doors (PSD's or PED's) are fitted.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors

The new Crossrail stations will have them, too.

How long were you out there for, & did you ever get to meet Sue?
 

[Kev B]

Joo didn't want to meet Sue unfortunately. 😆

We came out here on 28th, currently in Chiang Mai Northern Thailand. This is our next to last stop, that being Koh Samui. Have also visited Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Took in the Khmer Rouge Genocide tours which are pretty horrific. From there we travelled to Penang in Malaysia before coming here. Back to blighty on 23rd.

Anyway have a great 2017.

[RED-DOG]

Joo didn't want to meet Sue unfortunately. 😆

We came out here on 28th, currently in Chiang Mai Northern Thailand. This is our next to last stop, that being Koh Samui. Have also visited Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Took in the Khmer Rouge Genocide tours which are pretty horrific. From there we travelled to Penang in Malaysia before coming here. Back to blighty on 23rd.

Anyway have a great 2017.

That's just a fabulous trip Kev. I'm well jell.

[Kev B]

Joo didn't want to meet Sue unfortunately. 😆

We came out here on 28th, currently in Chiang Mai Northern Thailand. This is our next to last stop, that being Koh Samui. Have also visited Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Took in the Khmer Rouge Genocide tours which are pretty horrific. From there we travelled to Penang in Malaysia before coming here. Back to blighty on 23rd.

Anyway have a great 2017.

That's just a fabulous trip Kev. I'm well jell.

TY Tom. We are loving it. Some places we have visited before but stopping in different locations. Cambodia and Malaysia are new to us. All of them fascinating in their own way. Thailand and it's people, and it's food still my favourite.

[Marky147]

Thought you'd like this, Tikay.



Saw it on Yahoo originally, and some of the comments really made me chuckle.

[booder]

Incredible

[tikay]

Thought you'd like this, Tikay.



Saw it on Yahoo originally, and some of the comments really made me chuckle.

Enjoyed that, young Marky.

The first pass is hot, liquid macadam, then granite chippings, then it gets rolled Easy peasy.

Not sure how the drivers of the first pass lorries manage to keep his vehicle so straight. Front wheel steering, & going in reverse is notoriously difficult to keep bang straight.   

It must be Heaven for the surfacing contractor in those deserted parts of the world, long straight roads, no street furniture, obelisks, kerbs, bends, or parked cars.  Not so sure it is quite so easy in more populated areas.

They used that system in my youth over here, probably still do, & it was an annual highlight for us kids, who enjoyed the wonderful smell of hot macadam.

As an aside, unrelated but sort of related, Grandma Angell used to send us to stand by the local Gas Works when we had a chesty cough. She reckoned the smell of Town Gas was "good for your chest".

This was the same woman who convinced me - & I believed this until quite late in life - "never eat a banana before you have a bath, or you'll drown".

It's entirely possible I may have been a shade naïve at the time.

[tikay]

Quite sad to hear of the death of Lord Snowdon.

When I was in my early & adolescent years, he was quite the personality, & we thrilled at the thought of this (almost) commoner marrying into Royalty.

As time went on, I admired him for all the wrong reasons really. Proper raffish, & if it moved, he shagged it.

Someone once wrote of him, "when it comes to infidelity, the earl has no peer", which was rather clever I thought.

For all his faults & indiscretions with various females, I rather liked him.

He designed the Aviary at London Zoo. 

He had polio as a youngster, & as a result, he had a bad limp, which worsened with age. No surprise then that he took great issue with the organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show, who, at the time, discouraged those in wheelchairs, or with physical handicaps, from visiting. "We have no facilities for you here, stay away". Extraordinary, when you think about it. Anyway, Lord S set up a Charity, & worked tirelessly for those with disabilities. For one so financially well-endowed, that bestows great credit on him.

He helped pioneer mass production of motorised wheelchairs, too. Decades later, he ended up having to use one. 

Stunningly good-looking, sauve, well-dressed, he was, to me, in a weird way, something of a hero.

He reminded me, in his looks, his wonderful style of clothes, & super cool-ness, of Bryan Ferry actually.   

Not sure if he was a good bad man, or a bad good man, but I liked him.