Once Lisa returns to the UK my new life starts again. Tik is now living permanently with me and we have an exciting year planned. For the three weeks between May and August Tik and I will study in the mornings. I will continue my gemology diploma and Tik will take some [...]
Tik’s been learning front-crawl in her classes and yesterday I attempted it myself. Today whilst Tik and Lisa relaxed in their rooms I decided to try it myself. Usually I’m a breast-strokist (?), I used to need to swim wearing glasses when I was young so although I’m a strong swimmer, and [...]
A group of Thailand’s gemology elite spent a full day out on the outskirts of Bangkok at a fishing lake. This lake is man-made and is full of catfish. This was the second occasion I’ve been fishing – the first was a year ago in Koh Si Chang. This time we had [...]
The effort of being up, bright and early by 7:30 was outweighed by the perfecticity of the water. It was so calm at times that it looked like some industrious bastard might have paved over it. Zigor - our instructo,r was delighted that water visibility was at 30 metres and that in the past 4 years he’s only experienced such clarity half a dozen times.
Our morning class comprised of seven of us. As Priya and Jennifer were a day behind us, our class was merged with another. There were two Irish girls, and two Irish guys, all about the same age as us. We spent a lot of the time working from a quite complex dive table which determined how much nitrogen we would absorb, how deep we could go, for how long and also how long we needed to de-pressurize and rest between dives. It was the most demanding part of the theory course although we could work together and in all honesty we won’t be planning our own dives for some time anyway.
My bungalow was an adequate fan-cooled double room with a clean bathroom and shower. I was booked into the Beach Club Resort, at the far end of the island’s hub.
I spent much of my day reading my books on a rock. I rented a PADI Diver’s Manual and decided to spend a few [...]
I don’t have any virtues, but if I did, patience would certainly not be one of them. I hate waiting for things to happen. A week before I see Tik again, 10 days before we go to Taiwan, Two weeks before I get paid, 20 days before I get my new computer and [...]
Last weekend I attended a monumental Aikido seminar, packed with the world’s most accomplished Aikidoka (Aikido students).
There’s not too much to report in the world of Aikido. I’m still enjoying it and attending 2-3 times a week. I’ve still got two left feet but these are suitably balanced by my two left hands.
Goal setting is always fun, here’s my plans for the next 12 months
