Sunday night in Hunstantons KIT KAT

[Tresagreen]

A small but fascinating insight into Thai culture Boston. No wonder tourists are confused!

[8 boston square]

EWW you are right if there are 50bts to the pound, at the moment its down to 39 so not so good but work on 1000 to 20 pounds then add a few pounds. Local whiskey here is about 250-300bts, THai rum ( actually comes from Spain ) is 280 bts a 70cl bottle. Not much of a beer selection but a 63cl bottle of lager is between 46 bts and 63 bts, Guinness in tourist areas is about 210 bts a pint otherwise you don't see much apart from local lagers 5% abv. Petrol is good though and goes up and down a lot quicker than the UK currently 26.90 a litre. Community charge including water is about 150bts a month but you don't get much apart from water ( not drinking) and rubbish collection. Electric is about 2000 bts a month.
Here is a rum one but remember this not the UK, chicken breast is about 60bts a kilo, chicken feet are 125 a kilo, makes nice soup apparently! Pork we never see leg, unless you recognize the cut, shoulder, loin and belly and belly is about 25 bts a kilo more and the fattier the better. Lamb from NZ is about the same price as the UK but rarely see beef, they don't eat here its a working animal and when I have tried cuts its tough as old boots. Fish are relatively cheap a fish for 2 ( Red Tilapia) would by 65-85 bts. Tea here is usually only Lipton Maids Water unless you are in an expats centre then you will get Tesco, Waitrose, Twinnings. Coffee is usually the 3 in 1 powder mix and decaf is rare, Bread size here is 600g loaves so a bit of a let down.
Plenty of Boots here though we have 4 in town here although much smaller and a restricted number of lines with no chemist to ask.

If anyone has time have a look at www.thaivisa.com this will reveal a lot to you and take a look at some of the videos of Thai driving, some of the things they get up to are shocking and you will then know why a Thai driving licence is not recognized in the UK and why the roads here are rather dangerous.

[EWW]

I can vouch for the driving standard there boston from my short stay in Bangkok....frightened me to death

[8 boston square]

One unusual thing about the early 1960's which was reflected at the Kit Kat was the almost total absence of female solo artists getting to number 1 in the charts, it was a man's world as far as pop music was concerned. that changed from the mid 60's and even more as time went on. Looking back 1960's we had to wait for Pet Clark in early 1961 to put "Sailor" at the top and later that year Helen Shapiro had two number ones "You Don't Know" ( always like that one - a sound of the time ) and of course "Walking Back to Happiness" it was then a long wait for another one when Cilla Black hit the top in mid 1964 with "Anyone who had a Heart." I suspect a lot of that success was due to coming from Liverpool, chums with the Beatles and in the same stable with Brian Epstein! So, we did not really get much in the way of female tracks on a Sunday night, the only 2 I can think of were from Billie Davis "Tell Him." and Brenda Lee with "Here comes that Feeling." Two excellent tracks which I liked very much. At the time, a sign of the times I guess, if a man sang a female song they changed the gender so Tell Him became Tell Her, now don't forget that half way through ok! As time went on they left the gender thing alone but it was a way off from the early 60's that's for sure.
It just was not the done thing to have a female lead vocalist at the time was it then along came Sony and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, Fleetwood Mac, The Carpenters, ABBA, The Bangles etc etc and who saw that coming!

This morning when you get up I guess it will be pretty cold in the UK right now, well it is 7th December ( a Day that will go down in infamy ) and here I have to tell you, I am 100' east and 16' north and this morning it was 12'! It will be warmer from about 1000 but by 1600 it will be going down rapidly and we have no fires only air cons so we don't get away with all the time still the strawberries are in season and they are good, anyone fancy sending me out a Turkey?

[8 boston square]

As this is an election weekend I hope you don't mind me recollections of a very special event for me in 1964, something I did not really appreciate at the time, being just 18, too young to vote - you had to be 21 then, but now looking back it was an immense privilege to take part and attend the count, at 18 what did I know? Votes at 16 should never happen, IMO.
So its 1964 I have left Tech and got myself a job as a trainee Conservative agent on 4 pounds a week, 1 pound for travelling, one pound to mum for house keeping and 2 for me, not much then, after about a year a job came up at the TSB in Hunstanton, just under 7 pounds a week and no travelling to Lynn so 1 pound saved, but, in between that time a General Election was called so I was expected to do my duty at a time when the Conservatives were not expected to win. I remember the Prime Minister coming and seeing him in the Tuesday Market Place but did not meet him.
We had some rather strange folk calling in to the office at 27 King Street saying that anti monarchists had been seen at Castle Rising and you have to give them the time of day as well as the letters from around the area telling you the word on the ground and I could see then all the different factions that you had to keep on side all the time, I was thinking this is not the job I thought it was!
One day this chap turned up in Humber Sceptre with loudspeakers mounted on the roof and I was going out with him to announce meeting where the locals could meet the candidate, had to make it up as we went along, no schooling or ideas, off you pop, this where you going today!! You may remember that at the time there were local brewers the major one was Steward and Patterson and the second one was "Bullards" ( Bullard are Best ) so as our candidate was Denys Bullard well we thought we would make the most of it. It was really nice driving around in the Humber, it had overdrive on 3rd and 4th gears and really nice flashy car, twin headlights to boot!
The count was at the Guildhall and was only for the invited and you stand around waiting for what seemed like hours and in the end Derek Page won it for Labour with a 1764 majority I think it was and now what I remember the most and I was 18, most everyone else was twice my age or more, I felt sad we had lost but everyone seemed to just take it in their stride, so with a clap of his hands and a smile on his face, our agent said " come everyone treat you to lunch" so we all went down to the Globe ( Berni Inns) for, well I remember I had steak and chips! Why were not sad though?
I see it now that all politicians on all sides are all part of the same sector, different 9-5 in different views and chums away from the media after that, very much like Danny Ford and the Offbeats would always try and out perform Denny Raven and the Sabres on stage, or vice a versa, but off stage all great mates and that's how it should be, the world carries on.
I have I think mentioned it before but I also remember working later one night in King Street and hearing the Kinks practicing nearby before they got to number one with "You Really got me." that is what they were playing which how I knew who it was.
So the GE is now over, Christmas is not far away and I was pleased at this time of year when our local bands stuck to their normal play lists and did not start playing all the Christmas tunes because there are not too many that worth listening to in my opinion, there are only two that have stood the test of time for me and they both came out in the 1980's Wham's "Last Christmas" and Chris Rea's "Driving home for Christmas." I think we should put both of them in the UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well.