This morning was like a carbon copy of yesterday. Dark skies, rain and a wet ride to Patong, saved once again by my cheap plastic raincoat. Now 10am and not raining, but far from sunny. We are almost in September which is statistically the wettest month - you can find weather stats on the Thai Meteorological Department web site.

Update at 3:30pm - been raining pretty much all day. Darn it, looks like I'll get wet on the way home too!

Possibly the wettest morning of the year? I delayed my ride to work until there was light drizzle only, but this was on the east side of the hill. As I came over the top, passing the Chinese Shrine, the normal view was completely gone and the wind and rain did lash down on the poor people on their bikes. A very wet morning indeed. But its amazing how dry a 20 Baht plastic poncho can keep you!

It got better of course and by lunchtime was dry and, well not bright exactly but at least not raining. Winds were light if that's any consolation, which tends to mean people don't get seasick on dive trips, just wet.

Quote of the day:

"Bad weather always looks worse through a window"
(No idea who said that, but I have found it to be true. Once you're in it, it's never so bad)

Low season can be a little infuriating. You KNOW there will be some nice weather, but you can't say exactly when, making it hard to plan things. Yesterday afternoon got quite nice, but there was more rain in the evening. Dark skies gathered their forces as I took a bag of aluminium cans to the local recycle depot. It's not just recycling - they pay for the material too! Hey, I got the princely sum of 72 Baht yeasterday for some cans. Well, it's not for the money. They will take cans, bottles, paper, plastic, all kinds of metal, just about anything. See the Wongpanit web site (link below) for details!

Woke this morning to rain pattering on the roof again, but by 7am it was but the lightest of drizzles, and the day has been dry and bright, though not exactly sunny.

Darn it. A day off work, but grey skies and lots of rain. I had hoped to go for a drive around the SW corner of Phuket (Rawai, Phromthep) and maybe have a nice seafood lunch at one of the restaurants near Chalong (we like one called "Danang Seafood"), but the weather limited our movements. First stop - Noodles, then to visit a friend near Chalong. On the way there the rain really poured for a few minutes and then settled back to drizzle. I could have sworn I was in Yorkshire.



What to do on a really wet day in Phuket? Shopping! We stopped at Big C to buy some shorts and a new mobile phone (I've not had one for months). Thai people LOVE mobile phones, and are obsessed with ring tones. We chose the cheapest, simplest Nokia, and the first thing the sales assistant showed us was the ring tones! Well, I gotta admit, a phone that goes cock-a-doodle-doo or can giggle like a baby is a must have...

Then a visit to Central looking for some kids clothes - great selection, mostly rather expensive..Then a nice coffee while watching the rain fall.

Its now Monday morning and guess what...it's wet. Well, the rain has stopped, but no hint of sunshine yet.

Oh dear. Well, nothing ever lasts forever. A bit wet in Phuket today, and I had a song in my head as I rode to work...I'm just a fella, a fella with an umbrella.

On the bright side, it will be cooler today. You can't have sun forever in the tropics, eventually it has to rain to cool things off. (Update at 10am - pi**ing down here in Patong)

Todays Quote:

"I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will."
(Clint Eastwood)

The sun has continued all week. Is it really Thursday already? Every day after work has seen glorious blue skies with warm afternoon sunshine. Took the kids for a swim on Tuesday evening, and yesterday we went for a walk at Bang Wad Reservoir, good exercise for the kids, and for slightly overweight dads. Loads of people there last night enjoying the weather. If you want to jog with the locals, that's the place!



Sports News - Middlesborough 2 - Chelsea 1

Good result for the lads. Normally I wouldn't care a hoot about what happens to Middlesborough, but the manager and former captain is Gareth Southgate, who's from the same town as me (Crawley), and his dad was my athletics coach. Gareth used to be in the athletic team, but once he started playing football he never looked back. if only he'd not missed that penalty in the 1996 European championships....

Sunny Quote for today:

Everybody's laughing
Everybody's happy
Here comes the sun king

("Sun King", The Beatles)

Yes, it's Monday again. Not that I don't like Mondays, but Sunday - being a day off - is always relaxing and gives me a day with the family. Then in common I'm sure with half the world, it takes half of Monday to get back into work mode.

Yesterday WAS a sunny day, and we took full advantage of the sun by doing very little except eating and doing some gardening, playing with the kids and a quick visit to the Bangkok Phuket hospital to see a new baby boy, born to friends of ours on Saturday. Good coffee in the cafe at the hospital!

Monday has been warm and sunny too, winds are light, rather humid.

Today's sunny quote:

"The Sun, the hearth of affection and life, pours burning love on the delighted earth"
(Arthur Rimbaud)

Today (Saturday) aside from being the first day of the Premier League football season (hooray!) has been a hot and sunny day in Phuket with clear blue skies. The kind of day you hope for, and not the kind of day you want to be in an office (go on, feel sorry for me). I am off tomorrow and if it rains I will cry. Just about the best day of the month so far.

Quote of the Day:

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow."
(Helen Keller)

This morning has started bright and sunny, with only light winds blowing, so it looks like this last 5 days of rather poor weather has come to an end.... It never lasts long. Meanwhile, there's flooding in Chumphon (on the east coast - the jumping off point for Koh Tao).

(Update at 11am...wrong. It's raining.)

Yesterday was reasonable for most of the day, but still rather breezy. There was a heavy shower in the evening. When we headed up to Bang Wad reservoir a few days ago it was nice and full. There have been water supply problems for several years in Phuket, but there's been a lot of work on diverting water from other sources...I don't think the magic cloud seeding aircraft will be needed again.

Sports News (well, it's gotta go somewhere). As an Englishman, sport can be a frustrating topic, but this week we have some cheer. The cricket team seems to be on a high again and the people have a new hero in Monty Panesar. Then yesterday, young Andy Murray beat Roger Federer - see the BBC Report - could we finally have a real tennis star? For years we've been shouting "Come on Tim" rather hopefully, but Murray actually plays with some spirit and gets angry..rather un-British, but you can't always play like a gentleman. And the football team put the World Cup in the past with a 4-0 win over Greece last night.

   

PS - It's still sunny here in Phuket

A song for a rainy day in Phuket

Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine
Into each heart some tears must fall
But some day the sun will shine
Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts
But when I think of you another shower starts
Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine

As sung by Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots
(on the Soundtrack to The Singing Detective, original TV Series)

Another candidate for the "Wettest Day of the Year" award. Woke to the sound of the wind blowing things around outside, and noticed the electricity was off in our house. Had foolishly left a west facing window open, so had a nice puddle of rain on the floor. Oh it's nice to have an office job sometimes, I would not want to be on a dive boat today (I am a fair weather diver - it's meant to be for fun, so why go out in cr*ppy weather?).

The sky cleared during the morning, and we wandered down to Patong beachfront for lunch. There's a small family run restaurant called "Sabai Sabai" on a street by the post office. It's been there for years and was one of the first restaurants I visited in Patong. Not expensive, decent grub. The Yam Neua (Beef Salad) is very good. I just had a burger which was passable and way better than a McDonalds - which you can find just along the beach. Staff can be a little abrupt, though.

ANYWAY, as we left, we could see rain coming over the sea, but it came faster than we thought, the wind picked up and within a minute rain was lashing all over the place. We sheltered in a shop where they had to pull down the shutters to keep the rain out. We had to stay bunkered down for about 15 minutes. Now it's 2pm and looks like evening!

Well, gotta be better tomorrow!

The changeable weather continued on Sunday. Looked like a sunny morning as we headed for Tesco Lotus for breakfast (cheap food in the upstairs food court). When you're in Lotus you don't really notice the weather, and when we came out everything was wet. We wanted to go check out some temples, and by the time we reached Thalang in the center of Phuket, the sun was shining again. We had some sun at Wat Sri Sunthorn, but there were grey skies approaching... And so it went all day.



And well done to Liverpool for winning the Charity Shield. Yes, the footie season is starting again! Hoorah!

Woken at 3am today by strong winds moaning around the house. Just in time to shut some windows before the rain came too. Pretty darn stormy for a few hours, but has become a reasonable day. This was the first day of the year that I came to work in the car, as it was so wet and windy this morning.

See how quick it can change around here? Yesterday evening we went up to Bang Wad Dam for my daughter to ride her new bike. My son loves to run around there too, but he was sleeping and I carried him all the way along the dam and back (its a walk of about 1.5km), then he woke up as we were leaving! It was a sunny evening, with a fresh wind blowing. It's nice up at the dam.

"In Scotland there's no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes"
(Billy Connolly)

I've recently been watching the Billy Connolly TV Series "World Tour of Scotland" on DVD, which is great for scenery and great for a laugh, even if it's over 10 years old now...but I've been away a long time.

Yesterday afternoon was sunny and warm, but the strong winds continued. We were able to enjoy a drink and food at Leelawadee restaurant sitting outside in the sun.

Today has (so far) had some sun, some rain, some cloud, some blue sky. No snow, though. My daughter would like to see snow. She likes the Teletubbies in the Snow video and does understand that snow can be slippery.

Link for Today:

I meant to mention it before, or perhaps I did and forgot, but there are 2 English gals driving a pink tuk tuk from Thailand to England in aid of the charity MIND. Jolly well done to them. Looks like they are in Russia somewhere already. For more information on their trip, how to donate, and photos of a pink tuk tuk, see:

tuktotheroad.blogspot.com
www.tuktotheroad.co.uk
www.mind.org.uk

Oops, I have been slack. Put it down to hard work. What has the weather been like the last couple of days? Well, until today, one word springs to mind - WINDY. Nice big waves, but the skies have been pretty clear and there was a big full moon. Today the winds have died down again, and it's warm. No rain save for a splash here and there.

Todays Quote:

"You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows."
(Bob Dylan)

Saturday afternoon and night was again dry and hot, and this thankfully continued into Sunday - I do like to have nice weather on my day off.

We made a slow, leisurely start to Sunday, went for some cheap food upstairs in Tesco Lotus, then headed down the road about 20 minutes to Chalong Temple (Wat Chalong), which is Phuket's largest temple, and also the most visited by locals and tourists alike.



It was a hot day for walking around the temple, which covers a wide area and has several buildings. Had to dive into the nearest 7-11 for refreshments...luckily you can't get more than a couple of hundred meters in Phuket without a 7-11 or a "Family Mart" or a little local shop (for local people, there's nothing for you here). Later in the afternoon, I went with my daughter to see a caged bird competition in Kathu village. Yep, there sure were a lot of birds. All chirping away, which is what they were being judged on.

Monday is another hot one, I've caught the sun today riding the bike down to Chalong, about 20 minutes ride from Patong, but also had to put on my raincoat for a few minutes.

Quote of the day:

"Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative"
(Oscar Wilde)

Yesterday (4th August) was dry and fine, not exactly sunny, but certainly better than a wet October day in Scarborough. Not that there's anything wrong with Scarborough. I cycled there and back from York one time, something like 125 miles as I recall. In them days when I was fit and healthy.

The night was very warm and windless, more like an April night. Kept the aircon running all night - how extravagant! Aircon is a boom business here. You can't fail. When my parents visited in April they liked having aircon. Summer in England has had some really hot days and they wish they had aircon at home too! tell you what, though. We NEVER need central heating here!

This morning started rather hazy, but was sunny by 9am, and we were out for noodles at a local noodle shop in Kathu. Not sure if the afternoon will be sunny or wet. It could go either way.

If you're bored, there's always the cricket.
BBC Sport - Cricket

Quote of the Day:

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer"
(Albert Camus)

Yesterday, as I recall, was a fair day, nothing to write home about, but I got sunburned knees while riding the bike in the middle of the day. Met the wife for lunch at a noodle shop in Kathu before having a meeting with a computer guy. Come to think of it, the weather was bloomin' 'ot.

Today is OK, cloudy, no rain, nothing great, nothing bad. I had to visit the Phuket Immigration in the morning, and was happy to find my 1 year visa extension was approved. You can only get such long extensions by being resident, married with kids, or owning a business. Makes life so much easier than doing a "visa run" every month or few. My work permit is now in for renewal too. They normally promise a quick service, like 15 minute renewals, but today the "big boss" was in Bangkok, so nothing could be approved.

Quote of the day (somewhat related to the current world news):

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
(Voltaire)

August already. Can you hear the ticking of the clock?

There will be a time when it will end.
Be it parting
Be it death
So each passing minute with you
Pendulummed with sadness.
So many times
I looked long into your face.
I could hear the clock ticking.

("When I Suspected" by Spike Milligan)

Gosh, that's a bit melancholy. Must be the weather. A wet day, though most of the rain fell while I was safely entombed in the office. Lunch was a little longer than planned, as we were stuck in the restaurant watching the rain.

In the evening it was dry and brighter. We headed for the hospital, as baby boy was breathing rather badly. My wife had already been with him in the morning. It may seem like over reaction, but I won't take chances with my kids. She had already given him some medicine, and by the time we got to the hospital he was breathing normally, so we decided to eat at Dairy Hut (just around the corner from the hospital).