Arsehole of the world?

I was just recalling the various places I have lived and worked, Africa, the Gulf, Asia; and I thought how lucky I am to have been able to wander the world. In my opinion having a holiday somewhere is no comparison to actually working there for learning something of the problems, and joys, of a country.

There are, of course certain similarities, one being the fun of reading signs in English and wondering what is behind the meaning. Here I randomly select a couple for consideration. I ate at the restaurant with the famous roast stuff but was unable to find out why it was famous nor what the "stuff" was. But does it matter, it's all experience after all. And as for the warning on the right, it came as some surprise to me. Certainly the women I met in Nigeria would have taken no beatings from their men; at least not without poisoning them in retaliation.

But almost everywhere one has to contend with the dreaded mozzie and spider influx. At one time I used to take the malaria tablets but the amount of alcohol in my body deterred the germs, so I gave them up. But booze does not deter spiders, I remember walking into a room where my late wife, Cheryl, was and seeing her ironing as a huge jumping spider ambled towards her. I suggested that she leave and I destroyed the damn thing by throwing books at it until a lucky shot squashed it. For those who think me unkind I would point out that these were poisonous. Or so I was told by Nigerian ladies.

Another thing one comes across regularly, and in wide flung parts of the world, is the dung beetle. Its life sometimes seems to me to have parallels with my work, but perhaps that is just a flight of fantasy. However I was surprised when one of my cats in Malaysia suddenly decided that he should take up a similar mode of life. It took a while to persuade him that there were more interesting ways to spend his time.

However his interest in everything ensured that we were protected from the huge nasties that sometimes invaded the house, and which scared me (but not my present wife Alice) on a regular basis.

So with protection provided by Alice, cats and offspring, in spite of the unpleasant invading thingies I have yet to live and work in a place I could accurately describe as the arsehole of the world.

But I did have a (Brit) pal who worked in Oklahoma City for a while.

Vanity, oh the vanity

It has just come to mind that I have not appeared on my own blog since lying in my hospital bed. And, as is readily apparent, this not a blog that educates, passes on major news or even provides any interesting stories from a fun filled life. Nope, it's just a vanity site and as I'm the one to run it I can put what I like on it!
So here is a picture of me, looking reasonably calm and composed considering that I have a lap full of cold saki. But then I do like food and drink so the pleasures of octopus and saki takes my mind of the horrors below my waist.

In fact give me a decent feed and a drink or two and so long as the food is not extremely hot then I am completely happy. There's little doubt that if it was not for the walking I guess that my having cut down to one (or maximum two) meals out a week would not be changing my shape, unless perhaps I became bulimic; as I presume that this young man is because surely he would not indulge in sufficient excess to cause this without a real need to lose weight?

So he should take my advice and walk. There is so much to see and do, I have no idea from which plant these brilliant things come from, although I should since in the Botanic Gardens each plant is labelled. But we were taken up by their beauty and cared little for what they were. Alice was particularly taken with them which is why she needed to be seen in full and not just her hand!

And walking further in the Gardens we came across a grand new statue, although I was a little confused since the colour made me think that it would be better in the lake that has the black swans rather than where it was in the one with the white ones. Oh well, I have never had an artistic soul so I expect I am too rigid and the placing is better where it stands now.

But, artistic failure that I am, still I do appreciate beauty, which is why I can be seen here (vanity again) sitting opposite Alice appreciating being with her and a glass of wine lifted to show that appreciation.

Belly dancing with Tigers

Having briefly referred to a saki-sipper in the last blog, I now have the pleasant addition of a photo showing Alice trying two different types of cold saki, the one on the right (in the photo, not to Alice's right) was the better, and indeed was the more expensive.

This explains, naturally, why it was the one to be inadvertently poured over the table and into my groin. Alice is always prepared to try a new experience, and as I may have mentioned earlier she took to belly dancing very quickly.

So when we were walking in the East Coast Park yesterday I was amazed to see what may have been the same tree where this dancer was disporting herself. I asked Alice to stand there on the roots and was amazed at the similarity. Something must have shown on my face because Alice suddenly leapt away from the tree assuming I had seen a tree snake or other horrid (perhaps a tiger or a huge Alice-eating spider).

Anyway we had a good laugh, but I am not showing the picture I took of her since she does not like the photo with her eyes squeezed shut as she laughs.

We then went home and picked up Alistair and fired off for lunch at Jack's Place, chosen on this occasion purely because Alice needed to change a defective belly dancing vcd she had bought from a shop near it. However I was able to prevent her going into full belly dance mode and kept her off the table. Having said that we still had a relatively noisy meal since discussion of Alice's fear by the tree, and other matters, kept my two A's in a certain amount of hilarity. We have often said "it's nice being married" and so it is!

Oh, and I had no Tiger, since as part of my diet I stuck to wine, what a good lad I am - sometimes - but it is a fact the weight is reducing. Damn hard work though.

Changes!

Those (very) few who may revisit this site from now onwards will perhaps (but probably not) notice the changed title. This arises as a result of the major improvement brought by this latest operation. While I am quite sure that eventually I will not even notice the way I can do certain things previously barred from me neverthless at this point in time I am daily amazed at the new me.

In the past my previous title of "Moaning Mike's Miseries" may have had some validity but the future beckons and I am no longer the one miserable sod surrounded by smiling faces. What an improvement! How nice it would have been if I had had the opportunity to get this, say, five years ago. But, what the hell, I've had it now and the feeling is unbelievably good.

There's no doubt this has been worth it.

Kids can cause concern

Alistair is twelve today - it seems so long since he was a cute baby. However time flies by and he is now standing taller than Alice, as can be seen here on the tennis court with two Japanese friends, and he will definitely overtake me in the quite near future.

While I suppose this is OK, nevertheless since he was born in England and yet has spent most of his life in Malaysia or Singapore I fear that he may lose his roots. At present he is a decent soul but will he follow the true road and become a proper Scotsman, with his only link to it being my parentage?

It's a serious worry, and unless I see some signs of him moving in the right direction towards a true drunken "Scottish" manhood in the near future I really think I will have little choice but to administer a swift . . .

French Cuisine?

As can be seen from certain of my blogs I am more than somewhat fond of food although not really of fast food. However I have to admit I might be persuaded differently should they expand their range to include items like caviar. It is only rarely that I have had sufficient at a sitting and the chance would be rather nice. In fact I am far more likely to have more than sufficient of rather less appealing foodstuffs. Even as a lover of porridge (with salt naturally) I have never felt that need to cry for more that is so clearly recorded here. I wonder how they bribed the boy to look at least partially as if he meant the call for more.

Something else that I like is frogs, I am not quite sure why but they have always appealed to me and I was pleased, when we lived in PJ, to have a few in the garden. Why our cats did not eat them I am not sure, because they certainly killed a few snakes. I was always a shade worried when we found a dead snake since they tend to live in couples and I had a vision of the mate coming to show us its displeasure in far too strong a manner for my liking.

I wondered if the frogs' colouration led to a warning to those who might decide to eat them, or if it was something as simple as a sign. But whatever protected them it would not have been sufficient for this young man, presumably a French lad, who obviously felt that pausing at the legs was foolish and the full pleasure could only be obtained by going the whole hog.

Forbidden Treats

Or at least rather frowned upon if the weight loss is to be continued! As we have a small pig farm naturally we like to eat a spot of pork occasionally.

However my taste is rather more towards the great British bacon sarnie, which if taken with beer (which is so much more than just a breakfast drink) provides complete nourishment. I don't know about bottled beers and lagers but the good old fashioned British beer from the wood provides sufficient vitamins to prevent scurvy. This has to be good reason to take a drop every now and then.

However, as is well known, my preference is for wine; although unlike this lady (of great taste and no doubt a complete charmer) I now try to keep it down to a single bottle at a time - that's per person obviously. One of the less pleasant results of the great improvement in my life is that pain is no longer a decent reason for maintaining my earlier hobby. Rather depressing but, hell, so much has changed that perhaps this can too.

Back on Track

Just the other day we were back at the hospital for a further check-up and I am coming along extremely well. I was expecting this since pains have been diminishing and I am able to stand still without this leading to an urgent search for painkillers. After eight years of daily pain this is an astonishing improvement and I am finding it hard to adapt to the new situation!

But it really lets us get back into "enjoy life mode". As mentioned earlier I was able to see Alice (with her partner Leilane) win a recent tennis championship, which was a major pleasure. And on Friday we were at Singapore Zoo, which is a magnificent place. We had not been for a month or two and were so pleased to see the new Ethiopia area. However I was also pleased to catch Alice with a butterfly landing on her within the Fragile Forest area.

Of course getting up close to white tigers also had its thrills, so I was pleased to have sneaked up behind them. There was more terror at the lionesses since they did appear to be showing an interest in me and my little camera. Using the tiny digital is a lot of fun but sometimes I wonder if I should suffer the weight and carry the EOS with its great zoom. We were walking and, in the past even more painful to me, standing looking at things for more than two hours. This is not something I have been able to do for more years than I like to remember. What pleasures there are in simple things and how nice it is to be able to enjoy them once again. Indeed this time in the Fragile Forest I was able to stand still for long enough to get a shot or two of a bat holding a fruity lunch. Previously I could not hang about but could only photo what was there at the moment I arrived and quickly move on. While repetition has to bore, I cannot repeat enough that my life has soared to heights that have not been available for many years.All this obviously means that I am not wrapped up in my own pain and am therefore much nicer to be with, as this picture of Alice with the giggles at a meal out with Alistair (to celebrate his imminent 12th birthday) shows.

My Impossible Dream

As I mentioned in a fairly recent blog I have absolutely zero talent in the musical line. Which is quite irritating since I enjoy listening to a wide spread of music types. But my nearest to being in a band was being asked to be the manager of one after I acted as their sole roadie on an occasion when I got the payment for a night's playing increased because my antics (fueled by alcohol and the like) so inspired the audience that the band were given extra moolah and asked to return very soon thereafter. Though why a roadie should be permitted to leap around on stage was never questioned. I turned the chance down and often wonder if I should have jumped at it but, shy retiring mite that I am, perhaps it was just as well I didn't.

So I remained a listener rather than an active participant in music. And, as I complained not so very long ago, I was having difficulty in getting hold of SAHB records. And, guess what, I had an email yesterday telling me where to get my hands on these treasures. So my (OK, only one of many) dream is being fulfilled and I will soon be back, as I was some thirty years ago, the proud owner of all Alex's music with SAHB. I have never been interested in his preceding period with his Soul Band. How little it takes to please me!

Wonderful Weekend Wins

Alice spent the whole weekend at the Alexandra Park Invitational Tennis Doubles Tournament. I was scurrying around gathering our money into one place on the Saturday but on the Sunday I was able to get there with her. First things first of course and the various finalists joined with the Tennis Director for a photograph.

So then into the fray. I had not actually realised that Alice and her friend Leilane were battling for the Gold Medal so I was particularly pleased to have got there. As you can imagine I was even more pleased to see a fairly level game slowly turn in favour of "my team". And shortly the ladies were there to receive their reward, although it will be a day or so before Alice and Leilane have their names engraved on the shield.

And I was particularly pleased (again) to have been standing or sitting without anything to lean on for some hours, and although as tired as Alice, in spite of having done nothing except take videos and photographs, I was completely pain free. It is some time since I could have done that. So it seems that this latest operation has gone a long way to restore me to human kind.

Now if I can just avoid too many celebratory beers I may be able to get on the courts with Alice myself in what one can hope may be not too far in the future. I may not be the most sporty person in the world but I would quite like to join in Alice's pleasures.

Like a Child

I seem to be reverting to childhood, with an ability to fall deeply asleep after a quick yawn as soon as I get home from work. Although thinking about it I was never quite as small as this even just after being born.
However I do not think that I "sleep like a baby" , which to me implies that I wake up grizzling and being a pain to the entire home every hour or so. How did the phrase get started anyway? Probably said by some man prior to shared night baby feeds because it is true that babies can briefly look peaceful and angelic when asleep.

And this is not the only thing, I was attacked by a deep ice cream yearning yesterday which required action in spite of my commitment to continuing weight loss. Although my imagination was providing all sorts of choices I was held to a couple of Japanese ice lollies, which hit the spot but could have been bigger. But that would not have helped the diet though, would it?

But the one greatest thing to come from being a child still eludes me. The damn prostrate prevents me from certain things that are so easy when one is younger. If I am to remain with child like traits I hope this also comes within my capabilities.