Maybe by accident but
hopefully by design you have reached the web page of Tony and Tos Brading and our
aptly named dog 'Doughnut' (because like a doughnut he's not all there).
This page was last updated on 17th June 2004,
which is also my daughter Jacqueline's 30th birthday, so
Happy Birthday Jacq!
My good friend Dan is now back in the UK, but not before he apparently spent almost a whole week with a young lady named 'O' somewhere south of Bangkok. In a phone call from Don Muang Airport, he told me 'I can't believe O, she is someone special, she is not like all the other Thai women that I've known'. Yes well that's not something that we've ever heard or said before then is it? Looking forward to your promised return in three months Dan. Will we also meet O?
Tawt (Tos)
Derrick and Nong,
Graham, and Jimmy H are still away, while Nathan and Jo, Chris, and Dan
have come to visit, but are now back in England For those of us left
behind in Nongkhai, life is tough, but someone has to do it. On Tuesday and
Thursday evenings we continue to rendezvous with Kim and Ou at OJ's to
watch American Idol. Unlike the rest of the world, here we've just
reached the final. After the show, when
the weather
is
suitable, we dine at our preferred Neua Yang Gow Lee restaurant on the
bank of the Mekong. This particular restaurant styles itself 'Ban' which
is Thai for house.
With Kim and Ou, we have the owner, who as you may spot is very pregnant. She told us that her first baby is due this month. We wish her well, and look forward to seeing the baby.
This month has seen a lot of
rain, and the Mekhong river has risen quite significantly. We have lost
the beach areas, but we now have some lovely views of the river, so I
took
the opportunity to visit a new waterside establishment
known as Andrew's bar. Clearly not as attractive as The Savoy, Andrew's bar
can be reached by boat or on foot. It does have
one outstanding asset, namely Andrew himself. He is a very friendly guy from New
Zealand. This is his second bar. His first, which is not far from OJ's,
had the imaginative name of the Kiwi Bar, but has since been renamed the Kiwi Cafe
by the new owners.
O ye seekers of wisdom and wit, come ye not unto Nongkhai for verily it is a desert and thou wilt find nought but a voice crying in the wilderness .
From time to time Andrew's bar is the scene of tense confrontations between Andrew himself and Gentleman Jim over a scrabble board. Many people use a dictionary to check spelling, but in an unusual variation to the traditional rules, not only is the use of a dictionary allowed prior to placing one's letters, but its use seemed almost mandatory.
A tense
moment from a recent match. A close up of the page reveals that Andrew
(right) wanted to use his 'F'
After a nail biting search with the tension building, the audience went wild when Andrew came up with 'fan'.
Observant readers of this page noticed a thread running through the last edition, which implied that the sole preoccupation of Ian (the likeable Australian) is eating. Ian recognises the essential truth of my words and has decided to go on a diet. As a token of his determination he has has purchased some scales and asked me to record his weight in each update. According to the new scales, his starting weight is 90kg, but scales at a 7/11 last week put him at 94kg. So he claims to have lost 4kg already, a good start!
Last Friday Tos and I met up with Ian again and dined at the Savoy . There we met an interesting French guy named Jacques. Here Ian is demonstrating to Jacques the correct Australian grip on a baguette.
Meanwhile, Christian's wife is also very pregnant with her sixth (yes sixth) baby due later this month. Jacques and I took the opportunity to see whether there was a correlation between restaurant ownership and pregnancy, but we got no messages from the womb. We wish her well and look forward to seeing this baby too.
Some people have remarked on similarities between Ian, Jacques and myself, and given Carsten's difficulty distinguishing between Ian and I, it might be interesting for the three of us to meet at Carsten's bar one evening. If we wore similar clothing, would he realise what we were up to?
Meanwhile at Carsten's bar during a recent Friday evening meeting of the Formula 1 supporters club, the sole Jordan fan felt the need to express his support for Eddie's hard pressed team, by modelling this season's pit lane uniform. Carsten, an avid Ferrari fan is seen making the point to Mr Aitken that such blatant advertising is only allowed in Nongkhai on racedays, when Carsten can be seen wearing similar outlandish clothes in support of Ferrari.
Jim is currently in New York. Although he has been there only one week, he tells me that he is missing Nongkhai and its good people already. Or are you just missing that beer that you have such a firm grip on Jim?
Last Saturday saw the return to Udonthani of my friends Richard and Big Al. In another astonishing display of wit, Big Al is so-called because of his diminuitive size. Richard was reunited with his wife in Harry's bar. Jum is also pregnant with their third baby, which is due in August. What is going on? Hasn't anyone heard of birth control? Regulars at Harry's made a collection for Richard and Jum. It amounted to six condoms and half of a Viagra tablet!
Despite working for some seriously rich people, Richard does have to careful with his money to pay for his expanding wife, his expanding family and his expanding country estate. Looks like some of it went on that expanding waistline mate! Time to buy some new trousers.
Below, contributors to Richard's collection, Big Al (standing left) Colin, (centre) and The Danish Baker himself Kai, who has 'rung the bell' at Harry's bar more times than anyone else I know. A generous man indeed. Later Richard generously rang the bell, but as he gave the bill to Big Al to pay, it turned out that he was being generous with Big Al's money.
All this bell ringing brought huge sales and a big grin to Harry's face. In view of Dr Taksin's plans to buy a stake in Liverpool F C, Harry gave consideration to using his windfall profits to buy Leeds F C outright as he would still have enough left to buy a new car. You should have stayed an Arsenal supporter Harry!
Finally as its Jacq's birthday, I have included a picture of her in her birthday suit! Happy Birthday Jacq with love from Tony and Tos. XXX
You can email us here, if you have Outlook Express on your computer. If you don't have O E, you can email us at tigger@tonybrading.net
Do have a nice fortnight, our best wishes to our readers
Tony & Tos and, not to forget: Woof Woof
