So I am coming to the end of my three day stay here in Taipei. It's 11.00am on Sunday all my packing is done. I asked the hotel if it's O.K. to check out at 1.00pm instead of noon and they said NO!!
Had a very nice evening with Pin Pin and Kimi yesterday. We went to a very busy restaurant with food from North West China. Some of it was very good, some was a bit iffie! I couldn't get too excited about eating ducks blood!!! Pin Pin loved it!! We got to talk about peppered chicken so they insisted that we go to the night market to try some. The night market is right next to my hotel so it was convenient but the peppered chicken was not up to the Taiwan Village's (A Chinese restaurant in London) standard. I am seeing them again when I come back from Shanghai because they have some things for me to take back for La La. So I will take them to the Italian opposite the hotel. I wonder if JuJu will join us?
It's good to be back in Taipei. The weather is quite warm, not too hot and i had a nice day yesterday on my own but it was nice to move at my own pace. The place seems full of pretty girls with smiling faces so that makes a good atmosphere. Didn't buy anything except a cup of coffee in Dante's. Much better coffee than Starbucks.
I wanted to give Amber a call but HM said I was not allowed to contact anybody.
Now into Monday. Arrived in Shanghai yesterday. It's a bit cold. Hotel seems O.K. Saw a strange incident at the airport. Some guy, he looked American but could have been English tried to run through immigration without going through the passport procedures. Of course they stopped him and took him away. Probably locked him up and threw away the key! Serves him right! How stupid! He shouted I AM IN A HURRY!! Even more stupid!
Got to go, more later.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
A belated update from John for 18/03/2010
Good Morning!
It has been a few days since I have put pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, so here I am with an update of happenings in my recent life.
I mentioned I won my Angora Cup golf round, well I lost my Vets one. So now it's played two lost one won one. Today I have the first round of the better ball. That's more important because we play with partners so I mustn't let mine down by playing badly. Sorry to say we lost! My partner had already played a round in the morning so he was a bit knackered. I played quite well but the opposition was just too good.
I did that bit on Sunday morning and then started again on the plane on Wednesday morning with this bit:
It’s been a few days since I have had time to sit and write a few words about life’s high and low points. Being retired keeps me very busy. Playing golf takes up at least half a day and after walking the best part of five miles it doesn’t leave much energy to other things. Even going to the gym is about a three hour round trip. Then of course running around doing silly things for HM is also time consuming.
On Monday we both went to see Chinese Dr. What a journey!! She’s very nice and I am sure is also a good doctor but it was a long way to go, especially when there is nothing wrong at this point the battery in the notebook died!!
Now I have a few hours of peace and quiet because I have just got on the China Airlines plane in Frankfurt. My seat is 4J, on the aisle. I could really do with a wee wee but not sure if it is O.K use the facility whilst the plane is on the ground. Better wait until we are in the air so it can fall on those unsuspecting Germans on the ground.
HM came with me to the airport. Not a very pleasant drive. She went on and on and on and nagging at me... The details are too boring to record here.
So I didn't get too much done on the flight!! Now I am in the hotel room in Taipei.
Going back to the doctor visit. She gave us both acupuncture and a massage but I didn't really feel any different afterwards. However HM says she is going to go every week in the winter. I am taking bets on how long that idea lasts!!
Did I mention about the visit to the natural history museum? What an event that was. HM has a group (She is a tour guide) in a week or two that want to go there so now she pulling out all her resources to become an expert in a couple of weeks. I was dragged along screaming and shouting and as soon as I walked in the door she assumed that that micro chip in my brain soaked up the whole contents of the place in seconds so I should know everything. I COULDN'T EVEN PRONOUNCE SOME OF THE WORDS!! Never mind knowing what they meant. After four hours I was shouted at and told to go home. Guess what?? I DID!!!
Had a lunch meeting with M and T on Tuesday. M is becoming a pain over this new anti wee wee machine, or rather where it should be made. T and I both agreed F Ltd is the answer. Mdoesn't like that idea because they now make for an up-market company and he thinks F Ltd will pass our info to them so they can copy. HE WANTS TO MAKE IT IN THE U.K.!! DISASTER! He is so worried that it will be copied. It is a very high tech piece of kit and it will sell for about $150.00. I reminded him that Taiwan is the world leader in electronics so we must at least investigate. He sort of agreed.
So now I am in Taipei staying in a district called Yung-Ho. It's in Taipei County but quite a long way from the city centre. There is a cycle exhibition on so all the hotels are either full or stupidly expensive.This one is O.K. for NT$2500.00 a night. Good size room with the usual bits; very nice bathroom so good value for money.
The journey was O.K. if a bit boring. Frankfurt is a pain though. I had to change terminals from 1 to 2. What's the problem? There are no signs!!. I remember being pissed off before over the so called German efficiency. Of course I eventually made it. Went through security after queuing for ages only to find that the lounge was miles away because they were using a different gate to the normal one and if I used it I would have to do the security bit again. So I stayed put. The arrival in Taipei was amazing! We landed at 5.55am and I was in the taxi by 6.20am after walking for God knows how long to the car park. The driver didn't park in the usual one. My luggage was the first piece on the belt. That's a first for me!
That's it for now. I wish it was bed time but it is only 5.15pm
It has been a few days since I have put pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, so here I am with an update of happenings in my recent life.
I mentioned I won my Angora Cup golf round, well I lost my Vets one. So now it's played two lost one won one. Today I have the first round of the better ball. That's more important because we play with partners so I mustn't let mine down by playing badly. Sorry to say we lost! My partner had already played a round in the morning so he was a bit knackered. I played quite well but the opposition was just too good.
I did that bit on Sunday morning and then started again on the plane on Wednesday morning with this bit:
It’s been a few days since I have had time to sit and write a few words about life’s high and low points. Being retired keeps me very busy. Playing golf takes up at least half a day and after walking the best part of five miles it doesn’t leave much energy to other things. Even going to the gym is about a three hour round trip. Then of course running around doing silly things for HM is also time consuming.
On Monday we both went to see Chinese Dr. What a journey!! She’s very nice and I am sure is also a good doctor but it was a long way to go, especially when there is nothing wrong at this point the battery in the notebook died!!
Now I have a few hours of peace and quiet because I have just got on the China Airlines plane in Frankfurt. My seat is 4J, on the aisle. I could really do with a wee wee but not sure if it is O.K use the facility whilst the plane is on the ground. Better wait until we are in the air so it can fall on those unsuspecting Germans on the ground.
HM came with me to the airport. Not a very pleasant drive. She went on and on and on and nagging at me... The details are too boring to record here.
So I didn't get too much done on the flight!! Now I am in the hotel room in Taipei.
Going back to the doctor visit. She gave us both acupuncture and a massage but I didn't really feel any different afterwards. However HM says she is going to go every week in the winter. I am taking bets on how long that idea lasts!!
Did I mention about the visit to the natural history museum? What an event that was. HM has a group (She is a tour guide) in a week or two that want to go there so now she pulling out all her resources to become an expert in a couple of weeks. I was dragged along screaming and shouting and as soon as I walked in the door she assumed that that micro chip in my brain soaked up the whole contents of the place in seconds so I should know everything. I COULDN'T EVEN PRONOUNCE SOME OF THE WORDS!! Never mind knowing what they meant. After four hours I was shouted at and told to go home. Guess what?? I DID!!!
Had a lunch meeting with M and T on Tuesday. M is becoming a pain over this new anti wee wee machine, or rather where it should be made. T and I both agreed F Ltd is the answer. Mdoesn't like that idea because they now make for an up-market company and he thinks F Ltd will pass our info to them so they can copy. HE WANTS TO MAKE IT IN THE U.K.!! DISASTER! He is so worried that it will be copied. It is a very high tech piece of kit and it will sell for about $150.00. I reminded him that Taiwan is the world leader in electronics so we must at least investigate. He sort of agreed.
So now I am in Taipei staying in a district called Yung-Ho. It's in Taipei County but quite a long way from the city centre. There is a cycle exhibition on so all the hotels are either full or stupidly expensive.This one is O.K. for NT$2500.00 a night. Good size room with the usual bits; very nice bathroom so good value for money.
The journey was O.K. if a bit boring. Frankfurt is a pain though. I had to change terminals from 1 to 2. What's the problem? There are no signs!!. I remember being pissed off before over the so called German efficiency. Of course I eventually made it. Went through security after queuing for ages only to find that the lounge was miles away because they were using a different gate to the normal one and if I used it I would have to do the security bit again. So I stayed put. The arrival in Taipei was amazing! We landed at 5.55am and I was in the taxi by 6.20am after walking for God knows how long to the car park. The driver didn't park in the usual one. My luggage was the first piece on the belt. That's a first for me!
That's it for now. I wish it was bed time but it is only 5.15pm
Tuesday 9 March 2010
A Tuesday
What a strange day. Got up around 7 looking forward to a round of golf. We are into the start of the knock out competitions so today was my first round in the Angora Cup. O.K so that establishes my standard as a RABBIT so let's move on.
British Gas decided years ago that the gas mains should be replaced in the Wimbledon area. No cause for alarm you may say, seems fairly reasonable. Don't be silly! we are talking about British Gas. REASONABLE is not in their vocabulary. So much aggravation today with the gas company but nor really worth banging on about.
Believe it or not the two paragraphs above were typed LAST WEDNESDAY!! Lala is getting upset with me for not keeping up to date so here I am a week later trying to do my new found duty. So I suppose the first thing to report is that I actually won the first round of the Angora Cup. I played very badly but fortunately my opponent played worse.Must play better in the next round.
This week, on Thursday I have the first round of the Veterans Knock Out. That opponent is a propper golfer so I may have a problem. If I win that one I may have to give you a blow by blow commentary and bore you to death!
When I got home on Thursday found a real disaster. No telephone working and no broadband. Sky had started up and it seemed as if they had cut off the other system before setting up their new one. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth from me and the HM. Called Sky a number of times and they said all would be O.K by bedtime. It wasn't. Woke up about 3.00am and suddenly had an idea! Take out that Sky filter thing and plug the phone directly into the original socket. The filter thing fell apart in my hands as I removed it. Plugged in the phone and WOOOOOOOOOwwww it worked. So went back to bed a happy man.
On Friday tried and failed to get the broadband working but now all is O.K. However that took nearly all day so not much else to report for Friday.
Played golf on Saturday. Good fun but a bit cold. Finished level, so no money changed hands.
So here we are on Tuesday evening, now about 6.00pm so I must be off to prepare the dinner.
More tomorrow!!!!!!!!
British Gas decided years ago that the gas mains should be replaced in the Wimbledon area. No cause for alarm you may say, seems fairly reasonable. Don't be silly! we are talking about British Gas. REASONABLE is not in their vocabulary. So much aggravation today with the gas company but nor really worth banging on about.
Believe it or not the two paragraphs above were typed LAST WEDNESDAY!! Lala is getting upset with me for not keeping up to date so here I am a week later trying to do my new found duty. So I suppose the first thing to report is that I actually won the first round of the Angora Cup. I played very badly but fortunately my opponent played worse.Must play better in the next round.
This week, on Thursday I have the first round of the Veterans Knock Out. That opponent is a propper golfer so I may have a problem. If I win that one I may have to give you a blow by blow commentary and bore you to death!
When I got home on Thursday found a real disaster. No telephone working and no broadband. Sky had started up and it seemed as if they had cut off the other system before setting up their new one. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth from me and the HM. Called Sky a number of times and they said all would be O.K by bedtime. It wasn't. Woke up about 3.00am and suddenly had an idea! Take out that Sky filter thing and plug the phone directly into the original socket. The filter thing fell apart in my hands as I removed it. Plugged in the phone and WOOOOOOOOOwwww it worked. So went back to bed a happy man.
On Friday tried and failed to get the broadband working but now all is O.K. However that took nearly all day so not much else to report for Friday.
Played golf on Saturday. Good fun but a bit cold. Finished level, so no money changed hands.
So here we are on Tuesday evening, now about 6.00pm so I must be off to prepare the dinner.
More tomorrow!!!!!!!!
Friday 5 March 2010
Pea Monsters from Peagreen
When I was doodling about with no specific topic, I found this lovely image made by British design company Peagreen. Love the colour and fun-ness of all these Pea Monsters. Great inspiration for me to carry on drawing. John has only done two articles and his internet went off because he decided to switch from Tiscali to Sky, so the home internet isn't working. I hope he is not gone off the idea of writing blogs already...
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Lala's first posting
Today I spent ages figuring out how to change images and all that on the blog, and I successfully created a new layout for this blog. It's a new start and I have gained a lot of satisfaction building this, guess all you professional bloggers must all went through this before, but it's just so exciting and rewarding to learn new things. Lala x
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Addition to Day 2
After I sent the last, not very interesting, up-date report HM finally finished putting all her books and other crap back into the moved furniture. So check outside before you go to bed. There will surely be two moons in the sky.
NOW PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A SHOCK. I said she would not throw away one piece of paper. WRONG! WRONG! AND WRONG AGAIN! She actually had a total of three, allbeit, quite small bags to send to the re-cycling bin. However I had to take them very quickly because she said she might change her mind if I didn't hurry!!
NOW PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A SHOCK. I said she would not throw away one piece of paper. WRONG! WRONG! AND WRONG AGAIN! She actually had a total of three, allbeit, quite small bags to send to the re-cycling bin. However I had to take them very quickly because she said she might change her mind if I didn't hurry!!
Day 2
So now it is day two of this new venture for me. Not very exciting. The Sky guys came about 11.00am to install the aerial dish and the cable. They were only here about half an hour and they were followed about two hours later by another guy with the HD box. He did that installation and it worked fine.
However it didn't last long because HM decided to switch it all back to the original set up because of course she doesn't agree with having Sky. Now I don't know how to set it back to Sky. I have had a quick look at the instruction manual but nothing there. So I will phone the help line later and ask them how to do it. The broad band transfer will happen in a few days time. Not sure when.
Surprisingly there was not a bad reaction from HM when I told her the guys were coming. I suppose she thought what is done is done and there is nothing she can do now to stop it. She did get a bit shirty just now when she heard how much it costs per month but after the trial period I will cut back on some of the bits because we won't use them all.
Tried to send some photos for the blog but got stuck on the instructions. Will try again in a few minutes.
Not much more to report. Did a bit of shopping this afternoon. Missed going to the gym.
Playing golf at lunch time tomorrow so will send a few lines before I leave. Hopefully it will be an exciting night so I will have something to write about.
However it didn't last long because HM decided to switch it all back to the original set up because of course she doesn't agree with having Sky. Now I don't know how to set it back to Sky. I have had a quick look at the instruction manual but nothing there. So I will phone the help line later and ask them how to do it. The broad band transfer will happen in a few days time. Not sure when.
Surprisingly there was not a bad reaction from HM when I told her the guys were coming. I suppose she thought what is done is done and there is nothing she can do now to stop it. She did get a bit shirty just now when she heard how much it costs per month but after the trial period I will cut back on some of the bits because we won't use them all.
Tried to send some photos for the blog but got stuck on the instructions. Will try again in a few minutes.
Not much more to report. Did a bit of shopping this afternoon. Missed going to the gym.
Playing golf at lunch time tomorrow so will send a few lines before I leave. Hopefully it will be an exciting night so I will have something to write about.
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