Boot camp

We got back yesterday from our weekend away at the army barracks in Rayong...I'll tell you what - the army in Thailand lives in absolute luxury...we had spacious rooms:


With bedding provided...in case you're wondering those mats on the floor are so thin that it's just like sleeping on the floor...

We had air con:

There was an alarm service...it wasn't quite the same as you'd find in other hotels though...we didn't get to chose when they woke us up - and it just happened to be at 5:30 in the morning and was done by some army guy blowing a whistle, shouting something in Thai and turning the lights on!

We had nearly en-suite shower facilities:

I say "nearly" because to qualify as an en-suite shower it would have to be next to where we slept and would also have to be a shower as opposed to a trough full of cold water with bowls in it...

We were next to the sea though which was LOVELY...they'd even kindly provided LOTS of inflatable toys for the kids...well they weren't strictly inflatable toys...someone described them as "floaters" and yes, they were brown...luckily for you that's something I didn't get any pictures of...

Anyway, we have now sold 4 pictures (plus 1 donation) which is great...thank you very much...just to let you know, the amount that you donate for the paintings is entirely up to you - anything is appreciated...well not anything - but you know what I mean...also, we think that what we will do is give some small amount of the money to the artists whose paintings are sold and then give the rest to the group for activities, trips etc...we think this is the fairest way to do it and also makes things easier for the guys who don't really understand how money works...

So, as Lenny Henry would say, "How have I managed to have so many comedy shows on TV without actually being funny?", that's not really relevant though, so as he would also say, "Please, please, please keep the donations coming in - every penny is appreciated"...