Count our blessings we still have choices But stand beside those without voices It’s not my body that suffers these pains And I will support those with purer aims
Bootstrap pulling without boots Kept downtrodden at the roots I should walk a mile in your shoes To understand there’s nothing to lose
Top dogs shout down ‘try your best’ Knowing you’ll never catch up the rest When your choice is to eat shit or die It’s everyone’s business to question why
Suffer a life for god and king Does not a satisfied nation bring I should plough the fields in your shoes To understand the ways you choose
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to come home and see Amy had been busy all day baking cakes for the hospital workers dealing with Covid. She will deliver them today – she is very kind-hearted and concerned for everyone in this situation.
A nice day today. No aircon last night – just a fan and wake up to a cool post-rain and cloudy sky. Perfect temperature. Still don’t need a t-shirt but just a little more heat in the morning shower.
In my drive to school (and back) I listen to punk rock podcasts, rather than listening to punk rock and at school I can start the day with a delicious coffee. I feel blessed that for 4 days of the week, my first class is with my old students from primary – they are good students and we have a great relationship. They understand quickly what needs to be done.
I am in a great workflow with all my classes and they are all starting to get into the swing of things. I’m not actually teaching anything but with this all being online they are practising their skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing. They are even better students when doing it this way as they don’t have the distraction of each other in the classroom.
So, even though today was my busiest day, it was super easy as everything is prepared a few weeks in advance. And when I got home I was ready to teach Ashley her daily class, again, not teaching, just having a conversation.
Anyway, I got a message that she cancelled today so now I can relax early.
I was just thinking before, that I am busy every weekday this month, having to teach after school and anticipating how good it will feel when those classes finish. Working hard to enjoy a rest.
I wish I could talk to you more But I forget the words to say Beyond inane pleasantry Engage pleasant insanity
Sometimes forgetting what words are for We grumble and grunt away You know me, I know you At least we both think we do
We tried to share together Get to the nitty gritty Broken formal etiquette Just easier to forget
Now we just discuss the weather That seems like such a pity Communicate turn by turn Connections we must relearn
In Two Minds
I am in control Of the thoughts In my black hole On a roll Or out of sorts Searching for my soul
It’s in my mind Dual thinking Both are blind I cannot find Slowly sinking A life resigned
Truth
Your truth is sitting on that hill Mine elsewhere, a bitter pill But let’s consider, understand And work together, hand in hand
Tokyo*
I wanted to go to Japan But in the end I couldn’t go So I bought a little dog instead And named that good girl Tokyo
*True story of Gui, the owner of my regular coffee shop House
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to be able to buy and try cheap shoes on Lazada. This morning I received a nice pair which will replace some of my tatty old ones. I still need to find some good inexpensive ones for school though. I don’t wear shoes much here but need good support when I do. I am lucky to be able to try so many different ones.
I am so happy and grateful for the web archives available online. They help me put together bits and pieces of my past and remind me of all the good work I did. Sometimes I look at those things and I can’t believe I did them. It makes me feel proud of my achievements even if they are minor in the scheme of things.
I am so happy and grateful for my crappy shoes that I can just slip on and go. Easy for me though not so good for my feet. It’s a balance. I am so happy and grateful for having drinking water. Even though we don’t have council-supplied drinking water and we have to filter it to make it drinkable at least we still have it in our house. I try to drink two glasses every morning, though today I didn’t and I probably should!
Last Sunday Amy and I, along with Mum and Dad, had to attend a funeral in Chiang Mai. It’s a three plus hour drive and meant a 5am start for us. I know we’re getting older and getting up earlier is kinda normal but damn, 5am!
I was hoping to be able to spend some time listening to podcasts but when we arrived at Mum and Dad’s and found Dad asleep in the passenger seat it was obvious that I would be driving. It was still dark as we left the city and approached the mountains. The air turned grey and dusty as the sun rose slowly somewhere in the sky and it was entrancing to watch the changes to the colours of the mountains that I was driving towards and soon driving through.
Dad’s big truck made easy time as we settled into the long valley and then through the twisting second set of mountains where a never-ending road work slows things down somewhat. I had to ease off once into the Chiang Mai valley though as, eager after the road works, I was starting to hit 140 km/h without even realising it.
This funeral was for cousin Ting’s mum. Ting had taken the time to travel an hour or so to my own mother’s funeral in the UK so it was only appropriate that we attend her mum’s and it was good to catch up with her despite the circumstances.
Monks did their thing and relatives did their thing and I followed where and when I was told. I noted the ‘No women allowed’ sign outside one of the buildings and wondered when Thailand will discover its enlightenment. Is it my place to judge and do I need to care about how people following certain religions behave? Well, if it feels like injustice it feels ok to care. Just know that progress of this sort often takes more than a single lifetime but we can hope that the progress is made before the world burns.
Having left Chiang Rai before the sun came up, we returned after the sun had set again. Chiang Rai missed us for the day and still the Earth turned without care.
And so it was we arrive at Friday and this time I’m on a solo adventure in my own car, again to Chiang Mai. This time it was for my UK passport renewal and I had allowed myself an overnight stay so as to split up the driving.
I had challenged myself since the Sunday journey to drive more conservatively and having that extra time I planned to enjoy the drive and take a few extra seconds to check out the views. It also meant I could listen to music uninterrupted for 3 or 4 hours.
For some reason I enjoy driving; I’m not sure why. This trip towards Chiang Mai was especially entrancing and I arrived in a very good mood. In fact I was a little annoyed that the first half of the travelling was complete!
The first port of call was back to International House, where I had studied for my CELTA certificate, almost two years previously. I bumped into my favourite tutor there and was pleased to have a quick chat and also to see a few other staff members that I still recognised, though had forgotten their names.
The environment here on the mini campus still amazes me, it’s so beautiful and not what you would expect. Like a holiday resort but with not much to do except study. I somewhat envied the students who would be arriving after the weekend but then I remembered the feeling in the first week when I was questioning myself whether I could do it or not.
I had hoped that they still had copies of my work for the course in the office there but unfortunately, they only hold on to them for six months. Never mind. It was nice to drive through those familiar small lanes where nothing has changed too much. The city is sprawling out that direction but has only had minimal impact so far.
Back into the middle of the city and everything went well with my passport application, though I had some difficulty making my signature similar to what it was 10 years previous. The staff laughed with me and I’m guessing it’s not that an unusual problem as they had paper prepared for applicants to practice.
Quickly out of there and across town to a book shop that had been recommended. An hour and 1000 baht later it was time to find some food and I treated myself to a tiny pizza and salad. Woohoo! Holiday time!
Dark by now, I waited at the Mohawk Bar to catch up with Facebook friend John Murrie. The bars opening time is 8pm and it was only 7pm so I sat in the car reading some more Anna Karenina, taking the opportunity to cross off one of my daily challenges. By 8.30pm the bar was still closed and Tolstoy was taking a sleep-inducing hold of me and I had to quit and head out south to my overnight lodging with one of Amy’s old school friends.
I wuz ‘ere. No one else wuz.
Tired and sleepy I was somewhat energised by meeting the two puppies of the house, once I was accepted as a welcome enough intruder. I was warned to keep my shoes away from them so placed them in my room and shut the door. Not long after, I placed myself in the room and fell asleep but reminding myself I must make an effort to talk more with my hosts Oh and Namtan when I was in a more lucid state in the morning.
In a flash it was morning and after getting my reading challenge completed before 8am, I did 40 squats, took a shower and planned a breakfast coffee for my hosts. Unfortunately, I had left the bedroom door open and hadn’t noticed the dogs sneak in looking for some bounty.
Everyone showered and set I went to get my shoes but they had disappeared. Obviously, the dogs had got them but no problem, whatever, let’s just go on a hunt for them. One under the car, another at the back of the garden. Unfortunately, they hadn’t just been deposited but chewed on and spat out! Ah well, farewell my shoes. Luckily they were just about wearable as I had no other shoes with me. The girls were very apologetic for their pups’ behaviour but I just thought it was funny. I’d had the shoes for a few years so they’d done me pretty well. Maybe an excuse to go shop for some others soon.
An excellent coffee later it was time to get back on the road and my mind was filled with wonder as I listened to good music and again enjoyed the twisting roads round rolling mountains. I counted off the landmarks backwards, breaking the 3 hours down; mountains, valley, mountains, home. The return journey never as exciting as the outset, slight melancholy following the setting afternoon sun.
However, once home I was awed by the feeling of comfort. Looking across our garden I gave Amy a big hug and declared ‘I love it here. I love this life and I love being with you.’
The local rock group down the street Is trying hard to learn their song They serenade the weekend squire Who just came out to mow his lawn Another pleasant valley Sunday Charcoal burning everywhere Rows of houses that are all the same And no one seems to care
– The Monkees
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to have the energy and motivation to get up and do things. Today I took time to water the garden and clean the car.
…my memory was never loaded with anything but blank cartridges.
Mark Twain
To-do list
Write blog about Chiang Mai trip ✅
Record TCRAH
Water garden in the morning ✅
Prepare CD cases and case some more discs ½
Clean up balloons
Once again time ran out but I had a very busy and productive day. As well as getting up and watering the garden, front and back, I also washed the car. I ate breakfast in there somewhere too.
Before the morning was out we went for coffee and photocopied in preparation for afternoon lessons. In between lunch and teaching, I also wrote up a blog entry about my trip to Chiang Mai. It wasn’t as good as it was in my mind yesterday though.
Time running out doesn’t seem to be bothering me as much as it has in the past. I’m more accepting of the fact that I can finish something later. So long as I’m getting some things done then it’s fine.
Tomorrow is back to the routine mad Monday. One of the lessons should be pretty straightforward though and hopefully, the two difficult classes will be getting used to the method of what I’m doing with them now. I hope to get the rest of the exam questions finalised this week and probably be able to finish the regular class one tomorrow if I put my mind to it.
Record of the week: Car 67 – Headlight Highest Entry: Art Garfunkel – Bright Eyes – 27
28th Dec 2021 – I think I checked out the Car 67 song again back when I initially wrote this entry and now, can’t remember a damn thing about it. Art Garfunkel though – ugh. These were the times of realising that popular music was quickly becoming something I hated. I don’t hear this song anywhere in popular culture these days either so perhaps it has been justly forgotten.
18th March 1979 Clocks forward Boring day Really Most days are now 2p 1p
19th March 1979 Same as yesterday 2p
28th Dec 2021 – It’s a shame I couldn’t find anything to write about, or thought that was worth writing about at the time. It was definitely an effort to try to put anything down here every down and there would be long periods when that became normal. I don’t think I have any diaries between 1986 and 1994. I seem to be fairly regularly making 3p per day – making my mum a cup of tea and something else, maybe washing up, though I can clearly view the sink and often still have dreams in this kitchen I don’t recollect ever washing up!
20th March 1979 Got new pair of shoes, wedged 2p 1p
28th Dec 2021 – I was probably costing my mum a fortune with my dodgy feet. These ‘wedged’ shoes would’ve also made me more conscious of standing out from everyone else. It felt like a negative for me and I didn’t appreciate at the time that I was receiving help from others. I found my life to be a hell that everyone wished on me. A lack of self-esteem. I can’t really identify where I developed this from. Perhaps from not having a father figure around? I did often wonder how different my life would have been if my father had been alive for my childhood.
21st March 1979 European Cup Quarter Final (2nd Leg) Barcelona 1-0 Ipswich Colehill P-P Cranborne 2p 1p
28th Dec 2021 – There were three middle schools in the catchment area for Queen Elizabeths (High School) in Wimborne. I was at St. Michaels (up the hill in Colehill), Allenbourne was down in the town and Cranborne covered all the rest of the countryside to the north. My house was along one of the catchment borders, or thereabouts. A bit further north and I would have been going to Cranborne too. The bus route is etched in my memory and it always weirded me out that we drove a long way down one road to pick up a couple of kids and then the driver had to reverse into a side track and drive on back again. It felt like it added so much extra time to the journey but it was really only a few minutes.
Throughout this school year and the next, I developed a habit of getting up earlier and earlier, even before the TV programs started in the morning at 6am. If it was too early for TV I would find something on the radio. I would eat biscuits for breakfast with a cup of tea. I encouraged my mum to buy more and more different types of biscuits and I would eat two of each, lining them up in the order of least tasty to delicious. I would take a bite and suck in a mouthful of tea and feel the biscuit crumble in my mouth dispersing its taste within. On and on…if I ran out of tea before biscuits I would make another cup.
22nd March 1979 1. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive 2. Elvis Costello – Oliver’s Army 3. Lene Lovich – Lucky Numbers 4. Sex Pistols – Something Else 5. The Real Thing – Can You Feel The Force? 2p 2p
Sid Vicious had died in Early February and there was still money to be made.
28th Dec 2021 – Seeing Sex Pistols videos on TV was thrilling as all hell to me. Who were these crazy people? There was nothing I could identify with from my beautiful green countryside surrounds. I thought Sid Vicious came from another planet. More and more I wanted to be like that. To shock, upset and offend. This would develop much more strongly in the next school year, got me in a stack of trouble and ultimately confused me and made me bitter. It was a lot of fun at the time, a way to express myself and I soon discovered how boring and straight most people are.
At this stage though, I was just beginning to dive in. I was still teetering on the edge of being a good student and being a rebellious one. It’s fantastic to recognise these exact same traits in some of the kids I teach now. I try my best to encourage them but, fuck, I know exactly what I was like at their age and wouldn’t listen to anyone – especially teachers!
23rd March 1979 Rev.’s got more boring since a couple of weeks ago 2p 2p
28th Dec 2021 – Rev. must have been Religious Education but what the hell did the word Rev. actually mean? I wonder if subjects are still called this?
24th March 1979 Liverpool 2-0 Ipswich 10p
28th Dec 2021 – 10p – I was a money-making machine! It wouldn’t last.
1994ever 