AOB - March and April 2005

She is big, she is ugly and she flies. The Airbus A380 made its maiden flight yesterday. There is a niche market for this plane on the fat routes from Europe to Australia.

But can they sell the 300 planes they need to sell to break even. It is unlikely for instance that any US carrier will buy the plane; in part for boring political reasons, in part because they cannot afford it and in the main because they don't need it.

Many airlines have been swapping out 747s for smaller 777s rather than moving up to bigger A380s.

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A mate of mine has just been sacked from his job working on the dodgems. He's suing them for funfair dismissal.

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25 April 2005

Golf report - how my gentle reader must have missed these for the last three weeks - 82 at Subhapruek yesterday. 41 out and 41 back with birdies on 5 and 9. It was good to be playing again - 40C temperatures made for a long day especially with a midday start. I was broiled !

22 April 2005

Friday night - home alone - room service and a bottle of wine. Phone doesn't ring because no one calls.

Quite like having some time to myself; and I am tired this week. But I wish the phone would ring occasionally.

19 April 2005

A small non elected elite group enter a private room and away from any form of public scrutiny or accountability they carry out a secret ballot in observance of a ill understood and selectively interpreted constitution.

Is this Hong Kong?

Or the Vatican?

18 April 2005

Back in Bangkok already - it is a long haul over from Vancouver.

The abiding memory of a few days in Vancouver is how little anything changes. There is talk of another election. The Gomery inquiry into illegal funding of the Liberal party is still going on; there is no hockey, the National Post newspaper is still unreadable; wine prices and still prohibitive and everyone complains interchangeably about the weather and taxes.

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Long flights are good for movie watching; and Cathay Pacific's range of movies is eclectic.

I did see "Closer" at last. Some movies are great date movies; but Closer would be the perfect end of relationship movie.

Articulate and clever characters that may be all to real; they know what to say but not what to feel. Truth is used as a weapon rather than peace-maker. All four actors are good, but Natalie Portman and Clive Owen are exquisite.

15 April 2005

I went to see Blue Rodeo in concert last night at the Orpheum theatre in Vancouver. The first time that I have seen them in concert since 1994.

They are a bit longer in the tooth now. And so are the audience. But they are a very loyal audience.

12 April 2005

Outbound to Hong Kong and onto Vancouver. I just watched "West Wing". Another reminder of why this is my favourite television show. Powerful acting, powerful messages, and a reminder of both our humanity and our frailty.

11April 2005

I missed the big news from Washington over Easter where they had the annual big Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn. No eggs were actually found but President Bush continues to claim that they're there.

9 April 2005

Back in BKK a day earlier than I expected. Two Cathay flights yesterday - from PEK to HKG and on from HKG to BKK. Watched "Bride and Prejudice" on the morning flight. Dreadful acting but a fun movie; with colourful Bollywood style set peices.

And in the evening watched Michael Palin as he set out on his your of the Himalayas. Proving that there are still some remarkably inaccessible parts of the World.

Suddenly I want to travel again.

It would have been my 11th wedding anniversary yesterday. I was in Hong Kong and Alex was able to have lunch with his mother. So much to be grateful for; so much to be sad about.

Meanwhile Prince Charles gets married today - to the woman he should have married 25 years ago. They both may be a bit barmy but they are well suited to eachother and clearly are happy together. Good luck to them.

6 April 2005

It has been 4 days since the Pope died and CNN is still 24 hour Pope TV. Someone tell them that there are other things happening in the World. Someone tell them that many of the Pope's views were out of place in the modern world. Reactionary and clearly out of place for instance in HIV ravaged Africa.

A 21st century pope would be good news.

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Outbound from Bangkok to Beijing. TG 614 today is one of Thai's old MD11s. Flying with my little guy which is always fun. Wish I could have the kids meal - heaps of food.

It has been a crazy week; hard to find the time to write anything. And not at my most inspired.

3 April 2005

The Pope died today. It is remarkable that given his old age and long illness there is no obvious successor. Whatever happened to planning.

One certainty - after some 26 years of a Polish pope there is little that the Italians would want more than taking the papacy back to their own.

My call: an Italian pope.

29 March 2005

Forgot the golf report yesterday. A 2 and 1 win in my FCCT matchplay quarter final. From 2 down after 11 holes. Krungthep Kreetha is not an easy course for me. It is very narrow with a lot of water and out of bounds. The driver did not see much action. Strange course - have to always think and be very conservative at times. The tenth was a five iron short of the water and a 9 iron to the green. One of the par fives played 5 wood, 7 iron and 9 iron.

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Pakistan won the third test in Bangalore yesterday; my Bangalore correspondent is in terminal depression. The Bangalore crowd was berating the Pakistan side for slow progress and the lack of a declaration on the second day. They forgot that the test is five days. It was a well and hard earned win.

26 March 2005

Shot an 80 yesterday at Bangphra; which included an eagle (that always helps the score!). Saved the only double bogey for the 18th - needing a simple par for a 78 or bogey for a 79 I lost the plot on the last !

Still - I played OK and there are signs of greater consistency.

25 March 2005

The lovely Sophie is getting married. I am always the last to know. She is marrying her university sweetheart who she had not seen for ten years. Who said romance is dead ?

She also said that there are things that are more important than work. She has quit her job in Canada and moved back to Shanghai where both her fiance and her family live.

I first met Sophie on a 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Shanghai in 2003. The flight felt like it took an hour. We met for a dinner last year in Canada and last saw eachother at the end of the year for a quick drink in Beijing. We were both busy and tired.

She is a special lady, talented and wise beyond her years; he is a lucky guy; I am happy for her and maybe a bit sad for me!

21 March 2005

My golf was pretty disgraceful over the weekend. I seem to need at least 9 holes to find any ort of rhythm. Clearly the answer is to make 27 hole golf courses.

Played 36 holes on Saturday in everything from a tropical storm to broiling humidity! Another 18 holes on Sunday. Being 5 down after 9 is not good.

Pattaya was packed for its three day international music festival. Beach road was closed to traffic and getting around town was a headache best avoided!

17 March 2005

For St. Patrick's Day

An English man and an Irish man are driving head on , at night, on a twisty, dark road. Both are driving to fast for the conditions and collide on a sharp bend in the road. To the amazement of both, they are unscathed, though their cars are both destroyed. In celebration of their luck, both agree to put aside their dislike for the other from that moment on.

At this point, the Irish man goes to the boot and fetches a 12 year old bottle of Jameson whiskey. He hands the bottle to the English man, whom exclaims,'' may the English and the Irish live together forever, in peace, and harmony.'' The English man then tips the bottle and lashes half of it down.

Still flabbergasted over the whole thing, he goes to hand the bottle to the Irish man, whom replies: '' no thanks, I'll just wait till the Garda get here!''

16 March 2005

Our first storm of the year in Bangkok this morning. The rain is good; it clears the air. Traffic on course comes to a grinding halt.

15 March 2005

Golf report; two lessons recently on Monday 7th and Monday 14th and I am starting to see and feel the results.

I did not play well at President in Saturday but was swinging too fast to start and had not warmed up.

On Sunday of the yellow tees at Khao Kheow I was three over after 12 holes with 9 pars and playing well. The wheels came off a little after that ! A couple of three puts and a visit to a very deep bunker did not help. I finished 11 over with an 83. Not too shabby.

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Was out on Saturday night - rare for me. Went to the bar at Sirocco at the State Tower. Spectacular open air bar high over Bangkok with a fabulous make-you-feel-like-royalty staircase down to the restaurant and bar.

Went onto Q bar for the end of the evening. Busy, busy ! But a real party. People were having fun. And then at 1.10am on come the lights and it is time to go home. It is a Saturday night; everyone in there is an adult; everyone is having a good time; this country's social order enforcers really have got this one wrong.

It means that for someone like the owners of Q bar they have two hours a night (11pm to 1am) to have a decent crowd and make money.

9 March 2005

Fantasy Football: Chelsea 4, Barcelona 2. The score does not tell what a sensational exhibition of the highest quality attacking football this was. Breathtaking, eye-catching, nerve-shredding fun !

8 March 2005

Will Buckley writes today in the Guardian on Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's relationship with Britain's tabloid journalists: hilarious:

"The fact that he can speak off-the-cuff more eloquently in his third language than many of them can painstakingly write in their mother tongue only adds to the confusion".

Oliver James, the psychologist and author of They F*** you up: How to Survive Family Life adds "both Ferguson and Arsène Wenger have a strong sense of unfulfilled ambition, but with Mourinho there is a joy to what he does, which is more important than a desire to crush the opposition. He does not need to shit on everyone else to make himself feel better".

Chelsea play Barcelona in the UEFA Champions Cup tonight.'

2 March 2005

Cathay Pacific's Bangkok lounge may be the cling film capital on the world. If it can move they wrap it ! Individual oreo cookies; pieces of fruit, tiny pastries, each one lovingly wrapped. Very strange.

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There really should be a law that stops people from farting as they walk down the aisles of the airplane. Just a thought.

1 March 2005

Another golf lesson last night although I was a little late. I am learning to do things differently. The results will come; a little time and patience.

Have to go to Beijing later this week so there will not be a lot of time to practice this week.

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I am having a big row with the management of my service apartment; they seem to think that a 20% price increase in one year is somehow acceptable. I really don't want to have to move again...but it may come to it. The falling value of the US$ is not helping me either.