Shopee :D

My 1st attempt at home delivery, which is a bit daunting since I can't spell or pronounce our address, never mind work out the formtting for what part is the street/project/district/city/provence method they use here.

But I did it, bought a few musical things I had to leave behind, such as my Roland Street Cube ex  amp I used mostly for FBR content. I found an equivilent on Shopee for less than half the price, and also some wireless guitar and in ear stuff... I gave Martin my back up units, and needed similar here to use my Spark 2 Amp which I was able to bring.

Im dead chuffed at how easy this was, quality  of the new amp is ok, its not in the same league as the truly awesome Roland but for me, alone at home practicing and making some recordings its totally fine and a lot cheaper. If I ever do get to perform in public again then this will also work for me... 

Ahthankyew

Jet lag fun

After 3 nights of waking up at 4am  and dozing on the couch for how everlong mid day... I slept from 2am to 2pm today, a good long sleep, with a minor trip to the loo at whatever o'clock

Feels like the jetlag has started to fade out, well we will see. We are both still mad busy settling in, shopping, setting things up etc... there's a lot to do... and its draining in different ways, especially with the freezing 25deg temps (amzing to see Thais complain its cold).

Hopefully just a few more days to find our rhythm and get into nice routines.

We did have a bit of an explore yesterday though and found another easy reach market, small shopping area we can have a good look around at soon. We know all about the big stores, but budget wise its important to find the local places so we will enjoy exploring those.

Ahthankyew

Home

 We are now, home, in Chiang Mai.... seems a bit anticlimatic,  but we have arrived, we (Jirawan, Im banned) have started to unpack and we're thinking about things to do in the coming days.

All a bit strange, and exciting. The damaged hand is getting a bit better, the tennis elbow still thinks I am playing tennis and so far the mozzies, are leaving me alone... so far.

Jet lag however is kicking in, neither of us can sleep more than a few hours,  But we will get over that in a few days.,

Can't wait for dawn to see how things are in the daylight, our1st Christmas in our new home in 25+ degrees C

Will need to do a bit more shopping soon for food and bits of extra furiture, but the next few days will be turning our holiday home, into our for the year home. And the hunt for that forever home starts in the new year.,

Merry Christmas...



Ahthankyew

Handsome young sexy scotsman brutally assaulted by slippy shower, hours before leaving Netherlands!

I slipped in the shower......... yup, fell like a sack of spuds just stepping on the hotel bathroom floor as I had given myself a good scrubbing.

Boom down I went, clattering my hand on something as I went down.. Apart from the shock I am largely unscathed, but my left hand is bruising up a bit and two fingers are starting to stiffern and swell. Had to switch my wedding ring to my other hand as it started to get a bit tight.

Stoopid thing to happen the day before I leave the country, we've got 100Kg of luggage to haul around and with tennis elbow on my right arm and an injured paw on my left... its going to be fun.

ah well,.... not quite dead yet.Counting down the hours till we head off.

Ahthankyew

There were tears, and frustrations and mistakes aplenty

We finally left the house, 3 hours or so late, and with a few last minute things to throw away, but.. we got out... and now we are in a holding pattern at an Ibis hotel near Schipol waiting to fly out on Dec 23rd to finally arrive at our new home

It didn't all go to plan, of course not, that would be silly and the last few hours of van rental were a mad rush to get to the dump and clear the decks of stuff I've hoarded for 20-25 years... but its gone... its done..we are reduced to  2 large holdalls, 2 medium cases and 2 carry ones for our trip.. though 3m3 of stuff also went 10 days ago.. Did we dump some wrong things, for sure... but everything is ultimately replaceable so, we have to let it go....the cold never really bothered me anyway.

It was hectic, it was stressful and most importantly it was painfully heartbreakingly sad, as I said goodbye to some wonderful friends and collegues and students, most of whom I will never see again, despite the effect of social media. Their presence brightend my life and their absence will be felt so deeply.

But... it has to be done, we have to move forward, make a new home, make new friends, but leave the door very wide open to the old ones who want to come visit and be welcomed to  our new life.

The next few days are likely to be a bit boring, Jirawan has done an amazing job of repacking our 7 or 8 bags into  the required 6 (I helped buying huge canvas holdalls) and now we can take them to the airport in 3 days and head off reasonabley safe and secure.

Breda, was wonderful, I can't say enough what a wonderful place t was,  aside from relatonships causing  pain, my time in Breda was nothing short of amazing. And.... it has provided me with the means to make this new chapter possible. The house sale went through smoothly, and we got a little more than we budgeted for to make the new life possible. 

We arrive in Chiang Mai, on Christmas eve, and our new life together starts then... its exciting, its scary, and ts also truely wonderful to have the chance to see out my days no longer stressing about commitments to others in order to finance our lifestyle... we get to do what we want, when we want, how we want..

awesome.

Ahthankyew

and thats it.

Though technically I still have 2 work from home days before the holidays, today was my last official in office work day, and basically my last day working... I cleared off my desk, reset and formated my company provided laptop and ended my time at BUas.... There was a lovely little gathering of staff, a short but heartfelt speech from my friend and respected collegue Jacco and then a short soppy speech from me.. oh and whiskey..another botle to take to Thailand/ 

Followed by tears, hugs and handshakes...and warm feelings all round... it was a bit of a choaker...

Its all over now... apart from a very slight dangling thread of 2 days work from home which isn't really needed as students are winding down.. Im done.

I will hand in my company credit card, access card and laptop tomorrow, just before my final performance with Starrcase where I will attempt to play my best ever final gig...at the end of year party.

It was also my Birthday, and saying goodbye was sad, its not often my Birthdays are sad... but yeah... this was tough.

Oh and to top off the day I forgot to book parking for the rental van we are using to transport our crap to the local recycle depot.... expect an unpleasent parking fine in a few days...even though i won't be here. There goes my COA bonus....tempting as it is to not pay it, I better, to be safe.

We have a final inspection of the house by the agent on Friday morning followed by a trip to the Notaris in the afternoon, then.... we go to Amsterdam for 4 days to chill and get ready for our trip, we'll do a bit of christmas sightseeing, have a few nice meals and then head off on Tuesday.

I'm filled with a mix of emotions, sadness at leaving so many good friends behind, stress at the fact my website isn't fully updated yet to support my book, fear at the new start as well as excitement at that same new life.... and annoyance at the parking fine...grrr its a van, clearly being loaded and working...but that won't stop them....grrr

Never mind, soon, we will be home again, a new home, but home is where Jirawan and I make it, and we edge closer to that home. Christmas is going to be a bit warmer this year.

Ahthankyew

When will I see you again???

3 m3 might sound like a lot. but it kinda isn't. but here we are, 4 guitars, lots of kitchen stuff, books, DVD's musical gear, art and random stuff...on its way to Sunny Thailand... hope it all slips through ok/

Now we move to the throwing out phase of the week... no time for any sentiment, if it can'be sold or given away it goes to the tip.

Ahthankyew