Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[GreekStein]

Eh? Woodsey's a fish

Don't you have some kebabs you should be serving?

Lol!

[DTD-ACES]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

[tikay]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

MORE stories like that please! Fascinating, the MO of a watch wheeler-dealer.

Superb stuff - and an insight into your character.

Simon - would YOU buy a watch from you?

[RED-DOG]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

That's a great story Simon. Thank you.


Years ago, I used to play a lot of snooker. One of my regular opponents was Silvino Francisco, I wasn't in his league but he gave me a lot of start.

One day, he offered to sell me a gold Rolex with a diamond bezel. He told me that he was selling it cheap (£5k) because he was going through a messy and expensive divorce at the time and just wanted some cash that his soon to be ex wife didn't know about.

£5k was a bit much for me to come up with at short notice (Or long notice for that matter) so I stood my brother-in-law "Big" Dick Smith in and we bought it between us.

We had someone all lined up to buy it, but our customer needed a few days to get the money together, in the meanwhile, I wanted to take the watch home for safe keeping, but Dick talked me into letting him wear it until it was sold. reluctantly, and perhaps somewhat foolishly, I agreed.

All went well for a couple of days, Dick rode around flashing his new Rolex, and our punter rang us to say that he would have the wear withall ready by Sunday.

On Saturday, Dick and I went to the battle cruiser. (This was a mistake) I'm not much of a drinker so I stayed relatively sober, but Dick had a skin full. Over the course of the evening, a group of lads at a table across the room from us became quite rowdy, and as the night wore on they directed several disparaging remarks in our direction.

As I've said, I'm not much of a drinker, I'm not much of a fighter either, but Dick would rather have a fight than have his dinner. Anyway.....


Once we got outside it all kicked off. I faffed around trying to keep out of trouble, meanwhile, Dick was knocking 'em over like ninepins. He landed a particularly bone-crunching punch on the jaw of one neanderthal, and the Rolex broke free from his wrist and went sailing over the road to land in some nettles on the grass verge beyond.

Dick hared across the road and hurled himself into the nettles in persuit of the watch, totally oblivious to the fact that one of the protagonists, a sawn off runt of a specimen, was still clinging to his back like a limpet.

We did eventually find the watch, so it was all OK in the end, well almost...

It turned out that that particular watch shouldn't have had a diamond bezel, meaning that this one had been retro-fitted. Our punter, who knew his onions, pointed this out to us. He did stand on, but negotiated a much lower price than originally agreed.

Thinking about it afterwards, I think Silvino had my leg up.

 

[RED-DOG]

Woodsey was telling me that Cambodia does have a railway, and that the locals make good use of it.

First they put a set of wheels on to the track, and to these they fit a bamboo platform, and finally, an old moped to provide motive power.

If they should happen to meet a train, they just lift the whole thing clear of the lines until it goes past.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[lazaroonie]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

MORE stories like that please! Fascinating, the MO of a watch wheeler-dealer.

Superb stuff - and an insight into your character.

Simon - would YOU buy a watch from you?

actually i have 'krug baumman' story. usual stuff - met an irish guy at south mimms services (about 15 years ago) selling watches. I also bought a job lot - 15 i think for 250 quid. anyway, quickly realised they were shite and they stayed in a cupboard for a couple of years. Eventually i was moving to holland, and needless to say the watches came with me. i did actually wear one of them sometimes, and luck would have it I had it on this day i was out at the christmas local market in Gouda. I was looking at a stall selling stuff and the guy asked me about my watch. oh, i said, yes, very unusual. told him some crap about them being for the US market, and he wanted to buy it. obviously not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, i said i could maybe get some more if he thought he could sell them....

[Colchester Kev]

Who do you travel with Woodsey ... do you go with a few mates or solo ?

[DTD-ACES]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

MORE stories like that please! Fascinating, the MO of a watch wheeler-dealer.

Superb stuff - and an insight into your character.

Simon - would YOU buy a watch from you?

Yes , of course , that is how i met Rob but that's another story lol

[Woodsey]

Who do you travel with Woodsey ... do you go with a few mates or solo ?

Both, I used to go with my ex obviously, this time I was with 2 friends for most of the trip and I was on my own for the last week. I went away solo earlier on in the year, I've been half way round the world on my own when I was younger, so am perfectly happy travelling by myself if I can't get anyone to go with me. I'm sociable enough so even if I go on my own I always end up making friends along the way anyway.

[RED-DOG]

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[DTD-ACES]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

That's a great story Simon. Thank you.


Years ago, I used to play a lot of snooker. One of my regular opponents was Silvino Francisco, I wasn't in his league but he gave me a lot of start.

One day, he offered to sell me a gold Rolex with a diamond bezel. He told me that he was selling it cheap (£5k) because he was going through a messy and expensive divorce at the time and just wanted some cash that his soon to be ex wife didn't know about.

£5k was a bit much for me to come up with at short notice (Or long notice for that matter) so I stood my brother-in-law "Big" Dick Smith in and we bought it between us.

We had someone all lined up to buy it, but our customer needed a few days to get the money together, in the meanwhile, I wanted to take the watch home for safe keeping, but Dick talked me into letting him wear it until it was sold. reluctantly, and perhaps somewhat foolishly, I agreed.

All went well for a couple of days, Dick rode around flashing his new Rolex, and our punter rang us to say that he would have the wear withall ready by Sunday.

On Saturday, Dick and I went to the battle cruiser. (This was a mistake) I'm not much of a drinker so I stayed relatively sober, but Dick had a skin full. Over the course of the evening, a group of lads at a table across the room from us became quite rowdy, and as the night wore on they directed several disparaging remarks in our direction.

As I've said, I'm not much of a drinker, I'm not much of a fighter either, but Dick would rather have a fight than have his dinner. Anyway.....


Once we got outside it all kicked off. I faffed around trying to keep out of trouble, meanwhile, Dick was knocking 'em over like ninepins. He landed a particularly bone-crunching punch on the jaw of one neanderthal, and the Rolex broke free from his wrist and went sailing over the road to land in some nettles on the grass verge beyond.

Dick hared across the road and hurled himself into the nettles in persuit of the watch, totally oblivious to the fact that one of the protagonists, a sawn off runt of a specimen, was still clinging to his back like a limpet.

We did eventually find the watch, so it was all OK in the end, well almost...

It turned out that that particular watch shouldn't have had a diamond bezel, meaning that this one had been retro-fitted. Our punter, who knew his onions, pointed this out to us. He did stand on, but negotiated a much lower price than originally agreed.

Thinking about it afterwards, I think Silvino had my leg up.

 

Hi Tom

Your punter knew what he was talking about but also talked you into taking a lower price.

The Rolex Day Date is usually sold without a diamond dial or bezel and 95% of them that have these are aftermarket and in effect do not always add to the value but they also do not detract from it. It is easier to sell a plain watch but the standard original bezel and dial can be bought for less than the trade value of the afterset diamond versions.

This is exactly the same with Day Dates or Datejusts that have plastic or sapphire crystals , most owners don't know the difference so when they come to sell they get offered a price for that model , however when they travel down to London the dealer wll say " oh , i thought it was a sapphire not plastic " or vice versa to reduce the price regardless of the fact that it might actually be worth more.

ACES

[RED-DOG]

When i was 18 i played in a pool team and got matched against the other teams " old " guy who was 25 years older.

To give him a chance when i broke off i spread the balls , that was the last shot i took !

Fast forward 10 years , i am in a garage buying petrol when a guy approaches me trying to sell a watch , he shows me an aircraft magasine with an advert showing it retails for £339 but he just wants £60 , thinking there may be a few quid to be made i agree to buy 10 at the wholesale price of £300.

These were called Jean Phillipe and were truly awful quality , over the years amazingly the quality and name changed several times ending in Krug Baummen and Klaus Kobec which are sold in hotel foyers and have become a brand of their own.

Anyway , like Tom i used to love auctions , anythingh from car to general and eventually watches and jewellery.

I used to frequent the Guildford car auction twice a week so took my 10 watches there and tried to punt them out , no one was interested as there was another guy selling copy Rolexes , not knowing anything about Rolex i just thought they were better quality than my Jean Phillipes and clearly better sellers so rather than buy one i gave the guy £50 for his wholesalers phone number.

Next day i was on the train to the Commercial road in London and buying 50 copies for £500 , i took these home and instead of selling them for £20 - £30 each sold them in parcels of 10 to resllers at £150 a time making 50% mark up less expenses ( train )

After a few trips i one day walked into the same pub i played the pool game in 10 years earlier and at the bar was the " old " guy who thrashed me , turns out his name was Tony Walker , i asked him if he remembered the game and eventually mentioned i had these watches , he looked at one and laughed saying " Rolex don't even make that model , do you want to see a real one ? "

It turns out Tony was a watch dealer , in his bum bag were half a dozen watches including one or two Rolex , a few days later he invited me round to his house and over the next 15 years he became my watch mentor and one of my closest friends until he died of a heart attack at 66.

As a result of that meeting i never sold another copy and ever since have had a love affair with Rolex especially and all other quality watches ever since.

And that is how i got into watches.

ACES

That's a great story Simon. Thank you.


Years ago, I used to play a lot of snooker. One of my regular opponents was Silvino Francisco, I wasn't in his league but he gave me a lot of start.

One day, he offered to sell me a gold Rolex with a diamond bezel. He told me that he was selling it cheap (£5k) because he was going through a messy and expensive divorce at the time and just wanted some cash that his soon to be ex wife didn't know about.

£5k was a bit much for me to come up with at short notice (Or long notice for that matter) so I stood my brother-in-law "Big" Dick Smith in and we bought it between us.

We had someone all lined up to buy it, but our customer needed a few days to get the money together, in the meanwhile, I wanted to take the watch home for safe keeping, but Dick talked me into letting him wear it until it was sold. reluctantly, and perhaps somewhat foolishly, I agreed.

All went well for a couple of days, Dick rode around flashing his new Rolex, and our punter rang us to say that he would have the wear withall ready by Sunday.

On Saturday, Dick and I went to the battle cruiser. (This was a mistake) I'm not much of a drinker so I stayed relatively sober, but Dick had a skin full. Over the course of the evening, a group of lads at a table across the room from us became quite rowdy, and as the night wore on they directed several disparaging remarks in our direction.

As I've said, I'm not much of a drinker, I'm not much of a fighter either, but Dick would rather have a fight than have his dinner. Anyway.....


Once we got outside it all kicked off. I faffed around trying to keep out of trouble, meanwhile, Dick was knocking 'em over like ninepins. He landed a particularly bone-crunching punch on the jaw of one neanderthal, and the Rolex broke free from his wrist and went sailing over the road to land in some nettles on the grass verge beyond.

Dick hared across the road and hurled himself into the nettles in persuit of the watch, totally oblivious to the fact that one of the protagonists, a sawn off runt of a specimen, was still clinging to his back like a limpet.

We did eventually find the watch, so it was all OK in the end, well almost...

It turned out that that particular watch shouldn't have had a diamond bezel, meaning that this one had been retro-fitted. Our punter, who knew his onions, pointed this out to us. He did stand on, but negotiated a much lower price than originally agreed.

Thinking about it afterwards, I think Silvino had my leg up.

 

Hi Tom

Your punter knew what he was talking about but also talked you into taking a lower price.

The Rolex Day Date is usually sold without a diamond dial or bezel and 95% of them that have these are aftermarket and in effect do not always add to the value but they also do not detract from it. It is easier to sell a plain watch but the standard original bezel and dial can be bought for less than the trade value of the afterset diamond versions.

This is exactly the same with Day Dates or Datejusts that have plastic or sapphire crystals , most owners don't know the difference so when they come to sell they get offered a price for that model , however when they travel down to London the dealer wll say " oh , i thought it was a sapphire not plastic " or vice versa to reduce the price regardless of the fact that it might actually be worth more.

ACES

Ah well. you live and learn...

Good luck to our man though, I don't begrude him his profit.

[Colchester Kev]

Did you make a good few quid though Tom ?

[tikay]

Thinking about it afterwards, I think Silvino had my leg up.

I think so, too. Silvino was as bent as a nine bob note, & I'd not trust him an inch.

Good story though.

I liked this.....

"....totally oblivious to the fact that one of the protagonists, a sawn off runt of a specimen, was still clinging to his back like a limpet...."

[DTD-ACES]

As a follow up to how i got into watches , when Tony died i told the story of how i met him at his funeral and this is what i wrote on my blog in February 2006.

Death can be funny sometimes

On 20th March i got a call saying one of my closest friends had died in Thailand , not believing it as he had lived with me for the best part of 16 months before flying out there in November i got my best mate Nigel to verify it through his Thai contacts , apparrently he had a heart attack and was dead on arrival at the hospital.

Now normally i wouldn't share what happened next but Lynn his wife of 32 years gave me the OK as Tony would have seen the funny side.

I had known Tony for over 20 years , he was my mentor in watches, one of my passions, and we had flown on Concorde together after i told him his fear of flying was preventing him from having an amazing experience, he told me after it was one of his lifes best , we also holidayed together in Barbados and for his 60th i took him on a track day to drive the cars of his youth including E-Types and Aston Martins .

Sadly he and Lynn split 4 years ago but during the 16 months he stayed at mine they saw each other every day and when we both heard of his death we flew out together the next day to collect his personal effects and arrange the funeral , what could possibly go wrong ?

We had spoken to the Foreign Consulate in London who had given us the contact details of the British Consul in Pattaya , we were told he would meet us take us to the hospital and then assist with the paperwork.

After leaving 9pm the following night we arrived at 4pm Wednesday then took a Taxi to Pattaya arriving 7pm , the Consul was busy and although he had recieved an email did not know he was supposed to meet us and wasnt free till the following afternoon , we decided to visit the hospital anyway and sort out the rest in Bangkok at the British Embassy Thursday as we were due to fly back Friday lunchtime ,that was until we found out Tony was now on his way to Bangkok for a post mortem and his death certificate was written expressing a burial when Lynn wanted a cremation and his ashes returned to the UK , after several calls via Nigel back in the UK who was a star i was told to expect a call with an update at 8.30 the following morning.

Bang on time Gary Wright the British Consul in Bangkok called me , " good news he said , i have located Tony he is here in Bangkok at the Police Forensic hospital , i have put off the PM till you arrive and if you come to the embassy first all the paperwork can be sorted out including the death certificate ".

I called Lynn , we organised transport for the 3 hour drive to Bankok and after checking out of the hotel we were off for a 1pm appointment at the British Embassy.

At the last toll bridge before Bangkok we were pulled over by a Police Officer , after a heated discussion resulting in a 200 Baht " Fine " or bribe whichever way you look at it we were on our way , we arrived at the Embassy but had nowhere to park so paid a scooter taxi to show us where to , having accomplished this we walked back and found a 50m queue waiting for the embassy to open at 1pm , luckily Gary was on the ball and at 12.50 came out to get us.

Once in his office he advised Lynn of the fact that 200 British nationals die each year here and that there is a specialist funeral company that could handle everything so not to worry , everything was sorted including arranging for release of Tonys ashes to Nigel who would bring them home in May.

After all the stress finally we were off to see Tony and say our goodbyes. Gary warned us it could be a raw experience as the police forensic hospital was pretty basic and that Tony would probably be on a stretcher in a corridor .

We got there and Gary went to make arrangements for Tony to be brought up , i went to get tissues and discovered the loos there just have a bowl in a tub of water hmmm , oh well at least we were at journeys end.

Gary came out of a side door and took Lynns hand as we had agreed she would go first , after 20 seconds she came out and said to me " IT'S NOT TONY ! "

After calming down i asked Gary how this could happen , aparrently they dont tag people just go on sight , Lynn said " but that man had hair " i explained Tony was bald with tattooed arms and two scars on his back , Gary took another look as in Thailand due to muslim custom most people are buried the same day hence they dont have many freezers , more detail than was neccesary i think , anyway he confirmed it definitely wasn't Tony , well i was emotionally drained by now and could only see the funny side which i explained Tony would have appreciated , Lynn wasn't laughing but saw my point .

So had they brought the wrong man out or was Tony still in Pattaya where we had just driven 3 hours from ? As you can imagine Gary was profusely sorry and embarrassed , to be fair it was not his fault and he has been fantastic in helping sort everything out then and since. So where was Tony ?

Yes the officials held there hands up , they had transported the wrong guy from Pattaya , i now had this dreadful thought that they may have buried him by the time we get back , however the real problem was having located him we were told he was in the city morgue , no visitors allowed , Gary said "you head back i'll make the arrangements" and an hour later we were assured thay had found him and would keep him there and allow us to see him , at last !

We made good time to Pattaya , i rang Nigel who rebooked us into the hotel we had left that morning and finally we were in the right place. We went to reception and was asked to follow a porter , we went through one block, into another and out the other side , here we found ourselves in a courtyard with a double garage at one end , our guide was walking towards it and i was thinking " you have got to be fxxxxng kidding " Nope , he walked up to the garage door took off the 50p padlock and pulled it up , i half expected to see Tony waiting on a stretcher but instead we were faced with 8 morgue freezers .

Now after all that had happened you would think he would know which one to open ? He went to the top right opened it and gestured as if to say " is that him ? " No we said , his name is Anthony Walker , now the penny dropped and he actually checked the names on the doors before opening the right one.

I had mentally been prepared to see Tony in Bangkok but after this farce had been played out i was so drained i found it hard to let go and although there have obviously been tears i guess i will have to wait untill the memorial.

I loved Tony and will miss him terribly i know he wouldn't have minded me sharing the unbelievable drama Lynn and i experienced and you'll understand if you play me in the future if i take bad beats like water off a ducks back.

All the best

ACES