Happy New Year Of The Horse
Wishing you all the best of luck and happiness

It's been a long time since I updated this website and so this update is split into three pages, /2026b.html, and /2026c.html to follow.

In advance of Paul and Annabel's visit, I secure their accommodation.

The last update was on 4th January and a lot has happened since.
In the second week of January I had a very bad cold... It seems that now I am prone to illness and so I should take it carefully.
I am worried about my future as my pension income while being adequate here in Thailand, by being very careful with my finances, is not adequate in England... I should be on the street except for the graciousness of Paul.
But when I begin to feel comfortable something disasterous, a mistake on my part, happens and I lose money I can not afford to lose. This has been the story of my life, the Yin and Yang, the cyclic flow of life, Biorythms, fate.
I was born in the Year of the Wood Horse, and the time and date of my birth meant bad luck in money and love. In my life I can have some of one, but not the other at the same time, so relationships broke down as the woman learned my luck, then when she had gone, I would make some money, but too late!

Throughout this life I have tried all kinds of things to make it work, but nothing actually changes, life has its way. In this my 72nd year there is no doubt from my decades of life experience.
I talk to friends, former renters of my aeroplanes when I had my Condor Club, former students, their careers in flying, their comfortable retirements... I did similar things, tried similar paths, but my results were very different.

But, I have to be happy for the experiences I have had, and the positive effect I have had on my students futures.
My life path has been to fly many aeroplanes, many places, and though I tried to stay in regular income jobs, ultimately Flying Instruction was my vocation, it's reward not being money, but being fun, and seeing many of my students going on to successful careers.
Life allows me travel, and I do this very economically, I am actually very good at dealing with money even though some disagree. I have done a lot with little.

Envy is tempting, but I believe that we should never envy another person because we do not know the Demons that almost everyone has, personal struggles we can not always detect.

On the 15th January I took Thai Lion Air SL581 to U Tapao; amazingly it was on time!
The objective was to attend the Fly-In at Ongkharak during the following weekend.

Friday I spent time with Valerii to help him with his ESL problems with ATC.
We went for a flight in his Ekolot to U Tapao to practice radio communication.

On Saturday morning I flew with Tristan to the Fly-In, and this meant navigating along the VFR route through the eastern side of Bangkok's controlled airspace.

Most of the attendees were aeroplanes from Pattaya Eastern
Zenair 701, Ekolot, and Storch.

The Wilga is the support transport.

The Stearman arrived having used a lot of engine oil.

Tristan took the Citabria back on his own and so I sat in the J3-100 Cub for the ride home with Khun Som.

The final reporting point when leaving Bangkok Airspace.

Evening excitement, George is a very highly skilled aviator.

Sunday 18th I flew with Denis to U Tapao to do some circuits in the Citabria, and then I drove in a nice borrowed car to Bangkok.
Paul and Annabel had arrived from England and had moved into the Victory Hotel and Residences which is my favourite place to stay in Bangkok.
Unfortunately tragedy struck as the road in front of the hotel was dug up and so I had to turn around and exit with a tight turn whereupon I put a small dent by the rear onside door. The car was perfect until this happened, I was distraught, and besides this is one accident set to cost me some money...

Nevertheless, carry on.
Monday morning I drove my guests to the old capital of Siam, Ayutthaya where we had a pleasant time walking around the ruins.
When I worked at Don Mueang Airport I would often take the train to Ayutthaya and rent a bicycle to ride around the old city.

On Tuesday we drove back to Pattaya and Annabel had her first experience of flying in Thailand as we took the Citabria up as far as Nong Khor.

At U Tapao we have to mix with other traffic

The illusion was to have Annabel fly with Valerii to help him with his radio procedures enroute to the forthcoming Chiang Mai Air Sports Fly-In, and so on Wednesday we flew to U Tapao for a few circuits in the Citabria and learn some Thai radio communications.

That evening Khun Som took me for a sunset flight in the Cub.

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Annabel goes for a flight with Valerii

Unfortunately Valerii had to miss out on the Chiang Mai trip as his transponder failed.

After a flight in the Virus, Annabel joined me for a local flight in the Citabria to Bang Phra and overhead Nong Khor.

Next - The Chiang Mai Air Sports Fly-in and Airshow