The long awaited flight to Bangkok has come and gone and I am currently in my hotel near Victory Monument. When I arrived at Brisbane Airport the whole process was very different to anything I had experienced before and so was the flight. There was so much turbulence on the way over this time. The plane was comfortable and I had a good seat by the window, plenty of room. It felt as if we were going down a dirt track road with the washboard effect. It’s possible that the cyclone on the North East coast of Australia was to blame.

I got through immigration quickly, got some cash exchanged, fired up me E-sim and then my bag appeared on the carousel and I was oot. My friend Tung was coming to pick me up, however she was running quite late due to the Bangkok traffic. You really do need the patience of a saint to drive here and believe it or not I have done that on more than one occasion.

It took around 40 mins to get to the hotel and even although I was early they allowed me to check in which was great. We then headed off the nearest shopping mall to find some Lunch/Breakfast. We haven’t caught up with each other for over ten years and it was great to see her and we just seemed to catch up where we left off.

A while later I headed back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep. I was feeling exhausted. I’ll meet Tung tomorrow at Chatuchak Weekend market.

Late afternoon after a shower and a snooze I headed out to explore and realised I was not to far from the MBK Centre, one of the go to places for tourists. You can buy anything here, me? well I was just wanting food and I know that the food hall here has many excellent choices at very reasonable prices.

On the way back to me hotel I stopped to get a foot massage and nearly fell asleep. It’s been years since I’ve had one and my feet were screaming out. $15 for a one hour massage, I will be going back. This is one of the many things that you need to do when you come to Thailand. It’s not all Ladyboys and Bar Girls, oh no not at all. Massages and Food are my priorities on this trip. And if a bar girl crosses my way, well I might just say hello 🙂

First time I’ve checked in for a flight and done everything myself. At the Singapore Airlines check in counters you first of all scan your passport and then print your boarding pass and tag for your luggage.

Then you proceed to the bag drop, where you once more scan your passport, place your bag on the conveyor and let it be checked by a scanner before it just disappears.

You’re then down to security. Put your cabin bag on the rollers so that it turn can be checked by XRay. If no problems you then proceed to passport control. Again all automated and you’re through to duty free. A very quick process and I never spoke to a soul. My kind of check in.

Not I’m up in the lounge for a snack, wine and coffee and not necessarily in that order.

“Puppet on a String” was a huge 1967 hit and a historic song because it gave the UK its first Eurovision victory and became one of the best-known pop songs of the decade.

Surprisingly, Sandie Shaw actually disliked the song and later said she hated it from the first note because she thought it sounded old-fashioned.

She performed it barefoot, which became one of her trademarks during the 1960s and as a young kid at the time I just loved watching her on Top of the Pops.

But in 2026 this song title takes on a darker story. This is a story of a broken man, another criminal and conman that his friends call “Bibi” and his puppet is in control of the biggest and most dangerous arsenal in the world and he does not seem to understand the contents of the box of Pandora that he has just opened up. Nor the ramifications of his actions. He is just too fucking thick. In many ways the scene from the Simpsons sums him up.

Homer is walking down the street when there is a crisis at the nuclear plant and he’s worried and then he sees a “Dog with a Fluffy Tail” and runs after it, shouting, “There’s a dog with a Fluffy Tail!” Just as the puppet gets distracted by anything shiny.

This conflict will not just be limited to countries most people couldn’t find on a map, oh no…. There are about 350 million or so in the west that are quite ignorant about this. This unfortunately will have consequences and I feel many are about to get a geography lesson.

Summer was back with a vengeance last week, the bus was running hot. A couple of times going up the hills the temp gauge was in the red, although only briefly.

The air-conditioning was just managing to keep me cool. The problem is that when I do my afternoon run I’m heading west most of the time directly facing the fire in the sky and last week the temps were back to 35C.

The bus has a retarder, which is really necessary when the bus is loaded because you just can’t rely only on the brakes. A couple of weeks ago the brakes got a bit hot and there was some smoke, however last week as I was sitting at a red light a cloud of smoke came passed the bus heading in front of me. The rear nearside wheel was smoking badly.

I pulled over as soon as I could. Stopped and got out to check and the blue smoke was billowing out, although no flames. One of the other bus drivers pulled up behind me and grabbed his fire extinguisher and blasted the rear wheels and I went and got some water.

We called the mechanic and he arrived some time later and assessed that the brakes were cool enough now to drive the 4km back to the depot. Because of the retarder you don’t really need the brakes for such a short distance anyway.

It turns out that the wheel bearing had been incorrectly fitted and since it had been fitted in October last year it had begun to break down and the oil and grease ignited due to the high temperature and of course the heat from the brakes.

The previous mechanic had made a right arse of the repair done in October and it turns out that a few of the other buses have had other problems caused by him. To be honest this does not surprise me in the least because he was such and arrogant bastard that could do no wrong, who thought his shit did not stink and if it did then it would be the smell of strawberry.

Fucking wanker!! We, the drivers, are the ones who’s life’s are being put at risk first and foremost and of course everyone that gets on the bus. And what about other road users? And meanwhile this prick is strutting around without a care in the world with his conscience clear 😠

My long time friend and partner in crime, sometimes, left the corporate lifestyle a few years ago to pursue a career in movies. So far he’s has been lucky to play in some of the biggest grossing movies and now he has produced and directed in partnership with others his first short movie where he obviously plays the lead role.

We met years ago, I think about 2006 or there abouts when we worked together in the Outback department at Stratco. We looked after all sales for the Outback Patios and carports etc. We designed and processed the orders for production, including a bill of materials for all components even down to the last rivet. Along with Janine, we were a very efficient team and we really did work like a well oiled machine.

We both enjoyed travelling and we did a couple of trips together. Our first trip was to Shanghai with a stopover in KL. We got so drunk on the plane on the way over and our flight to Shanghai the next day was just dreadful. It was one hell of a hangover. After Shanghai we went our separate ways travelling through south east Asia.

A few years later we met up in Cambodia, of course this is where Peter is from. We met up in Phnom Penh and caught up with his cousins. They organised a car for us to travel to Battambang, where the rest of the family were paying their respects to his Late Grandfather, on Ancestors’ Day. I felt very privileged to be here at such an emotional time. However we did have time to enjoy and celebrate our time together and his Grandfathers life. We could learn a few things in the West from these ancient traditions.

We both left Stratco and moved onto other things. Peter ended up in the Corporate world flying here and there and travelling way too much at times, me? well I had a midlife crisis and went travelling. Ended up in China for a number of years and had a great time.

So Peter left the high life to pursue his passion, which is acting. It does not surprise me in the least that he excels at this. He has always been a very outgoing person with way too much energy sometimes and I think this is the only career that can really satisfy his zest for life.

20 years on, we catch up when we can and usually go to a Vietnamese restaurant to have Phở and I’m very proud to call Peter Phan my friend 🙂

If you want to see a bit more about Peter, then you can go to the IMBD site and see his BIO here,

Peter Phan IMBD

Summer has had a resurgence this week, humidity is through the roof and we are heading for a high of 37C by Thursday and then hopefully a wee bit of rain to follow, which I hope cools it all down. Mind you I have awoken in the middle of the night to cover me self because me bum wus freezing.

I’m back at work, unfortunately. Yesterday had a bit of excitement, not that I needed any, but when I pulled up at the stop before the school there was blue smoke coming from the rear nearside wheel and the strong smell of rubber. Not a good look. I opened up all the side panels and the boot, where the engine is, and could not see anything out of the ordinary. After sitting for about 15mins everything seemed to be back to normal and the only thing I can think of is that when they washed the bus earlier in the day I think that they must have hosed the wheels for a fair amount of time and it’s just oil and residue burning off from the heat of the brakes which I had to hit fairly hard coming off the motorway minutes before. There were no dramas on the way home thankfully.

When I was in the garden the other day, I heard something clatter to the ground. When I popped into the park behind the shed, I found a very large Bunya Pinecone which had fallen from the Bunya Pine Tree which lives in the corner of the park.

For weeks the Corellas and Cockatoo’s have been making a hell of racket in its canopy. They have very strong beaks and claws and they can easily rip open one of these massive pinecones, you really have to see it to believe it. You just don’t want to be anywhere near it when gravity kicks in or you will be pan breed. By the way the post it is sitting on is 200mm wide, that’s 8″ in the old money!

Haven’t been up to much the past two weeks, although I am enjoying Stuart MacBride’s book called “The House of Burning Bones” So much better than the last two books of his I read, well tried to read.

This one is back to great banter, good story lines with a bit of gore and plenty of drama. I’m just over half way through it and I have two more weeks before I have to return it. I think I’ll be ok. Not much to do this week, so when I get home after the morning run, I head out onto the deck, pull up a comfy chair and with book in hand sit and enjoy the moment until it gets too hot and then I retire to the Aircon.

Two months seem to have gone by in the blink of an eye as the summer holidays come to an end and just to top it off Mother Earth has cranked up the temperature, it’s just over 36C in the shade at 2 pm. Supposed to peak around 40C by 4 pm.

I got up early in preparation and tidied up a few things in the garden before cutting the grass. We had a storm last night and I’m sure we will have one later today and if we do it will hopefully cool the place down. I just took a look outside and you could hear a pin drop. All the birds have found a cooler place to see out the oppressive heat and it’s not just the heat but the UV is mental out there today.

Once again, I am really happy with the way the house is coping with the heat. That extra insulation I did last year has made an amazing difference. I have the Aircon set to 26C, 10 degrees cooler than outside and it is cruising along rather than blowing a gale. If I have the energy and willpower this year then I might insulate my bedroom wall, which is the last one that needs done. Mind you the sun is only on it for about 5 hours and usually the heat is not too extreme before it moves around the house.

I managed to achieve most of what I set out to do. The most important being the retaining wall. Some days I was just completely washed out. Digging all the post holes by hand through some of the stickiest soil made it very tough. Next morning I could hardly move and sometimes my fingers and hands would cramp up. On those days I either read a book or watched TV and drank too much coffee. I got a few bike rides in, however not as many as I would have liked. After slaving away in the garden, I just didn’t have to juice to even think about the bike. But now that the wall has more or less been completed, I should be able to allocate more time to the bike.

In March I’m off to Thailand for three weeks, marvellous. Haven’t been for a few years and I’m really looking forward to the trip. In preparation I bought myself a new phone, the Xiaomi 15. I’ll be able to claim the tax back at the VAT counter in the airport. It’s good that you can buy an item worth $300 or more within 60 days of departure.

I’m back at work tomorrow and I’m kinda looking forward to it in some ways. Some days driving the bus can be enjoyable. I’m back to run 2, which I was on before but I moved to another for about two months. The other run I was covering had a fraction of the kids although there was a bit more driving, but a couple of the kids were just savages and that’s putting it politely. So, I won’t be missing them. The bus that’s allocated to me is an old beast but it has some grunt and the aircon is cold 😊

6 weeks of work and then it’s my holiday and then I come back for one week and then it’s the next school holidays…..happy days. Need to get some spending money!

Hopefully 2026 will be a year of travel. Have to squeeze in as much as possible before that orange piece of shit does something to upset the apple cart and plus, I really don’t want to work this year too much. I’m only working because I can’t afford to retire yet and I can’t get the pension until next year and of course the extra pennies makes it easier to buy flights. My thinking is, if I can make this year go as quick as possible then retirement will be just around the corner so to speak.

In November I’m thinking of going to China once more. They still have visa free entry for this year and I think a month of travel there is enough. I’ll fly to Xinjiang and then make my way across to Suzhou where I’ll stay for about one week. That will give me enough time to catch up with friends that I have there and to be honest I want to spend more time on my own travelling and struggling with the language. Being out my depth is part of the fun of the whole experience. No way do I want to go on a guided tour and have a translator; I enjoy the struggle and the charades that you need to play to buy coffee and lunch or whatever it may be. And maybe I might be lucky to go Business class to celebrate in style.

It was overcast this morning, although still warm. I’ve been wanting to do a long run on the bike, but because of me building the great wall of the shed I really haven’t had the time or the energy and so today I thought let’s go to Indooroopilly and get the train home.

It’s just under 32 km and believe it or not the bulk of this ride was done off road. The section from Goodna to Wacol, and I know you know exactly where I am of course, was the most dodgy part and of course there were two drivers that I had to shout at and give the finger too. One of them hit their breaks and I thought , “Here we go” But they just kept going. A couple of young guys in a BMW, so I can guess they were a pair of wankers who thought that their shit don’t stink!

There are many hills along this route but I think the ride is definitely easier riding into the city than out. Not sure if that’s down to my fitness levels or that the hills are more in your favour heading in.

I really wanted to get into Brisbane, however by the time I came up to Indooroopilly Station my legs were telling me to stop. There are still quite a few challenging hills from this point into the city centre. Oh and as it turned out when I was having a wee break I checked my phone and realised I had to check in with the Brew, so I really had to get back home a bit earlier than planned. If the weather is Ok next week I’ll give it another go because I have one more week of freedom before the schools return.

Another thought is that I think riding in and getting the train home is better than when I did the opposite. It was more enjoyable riding into the city because it’s a bit more scenic the closer you get to the city and you are also on more bike tracks which makes it a bit more relaxed. Mind you, two cyclists passed me, going the opposite way, and they were horsing on. I think they were doing in excess of 80 kph, because they were just as fast as the traffic.

It was hot by the time I got home, so the air con was on until about 7pm until the breeze got up from the storms that were in the neighbourhood. Nothing for us , but the air temp reduced dramatically. There are supposed to be storms tomorrow before the temperatures drop a few degrees. It’s not only hot but the UV is intense and you really feel that when you step outside. A couple of young folk came to the door today trying to flog me solar panels and the young girls face was scarlet. She was not wearing a hat, I asked her if she was wearing her factor 50 and she just looked at me. I think she will suffer tonight and tomorrow for wandering about today in this bloody heat because I had seen her going down the other side of the street a few hours before completely oblivious. I don’t understand how they can suffer the intensity of the sun on a day like this. I saw so many people today out and about with no hats and many with no dark specs on, utter madness.

I did a bit of socialising over the festive period, which I know is unusual for me, however it is the season to be jolly apparently.

For the last few days I’ve been back in the garden fixing up the dodgy retaining wall, although this bit is only 400 mm high and is between Mick’s garden and mine.

It has been getting worse and worse in the past few years, but it’s been a noticeable problem for some time. It didn’t take long to find the problem. The stormwater was once more causing the problem. A root had begun to push the pipe just as it turned north and the pressure on the joint just snapped it. This has obviously happened years ago and has slowly been washing away the soil.

A relatively easy fix which took me two days to fix before I back filled it. So that’s two points on the wall that have had damage due to a leaky or broken pipe.

The cube of earth that was behind where the bin is sitting is slowly disappearing, I’ve still got a bit more to put around the back of the shed. I have at least one more post hole to dog at the rear of the shed and then that is much of the major work done. I just need to fix a few bits of storm water run off and a bit of pipe and then we should be hunky dory………

I took the day off from the garden and took a wee drive out to Moogerah Dam, I’ve driven passed this area many times but never stopped. I’m playing tourist today.

The roads were quiet so I was able to saunter along listening to “Sounds of the Seventies” on the BBC of course. Bob Harris must be in his eighties these days but and his voice is as recognisable as it had always been. This week was all about 1976, the infamous heatwave which we all can remember.

I stopped for lunch in Boonah on the way home, tis a quaint wee town, haven’t stopped here in years. I came across this strange looking clock in the main street and you can see what it is all about if you click on the wee pick to the left.

I’ll go back out here in a couple of months time because I want to climb Mount Edwards and the access to it is via Moogerah Dam. It’s classed as difficult and about 4 km long, but of course it will be 4 km back too. So I’ll put in a few steps and wait until the weather behaves itself and returns to a more conducive temperature for walking.