My wonky New Year

Has all that overt New Year optimism gone? Is it safe to come out now? 

I felt unaccountably low on New Year’s Eve, which Husband and I spent on our sofa watching the last series of Luther. Rock and Roll we're not.

I say unaccountably because yes, it had been a rotten year, but I couldn’t see why, on this random date, I should feel sadder than I had, I don’t know, the week before… (I know how arbitrary the notion of New Year is: here in Thailand we celebrate three New Years: 31 December, the Chinese one in Jan/Feb time and the Thai one in April. Useful, huh? Plenty of opportunity to reassert broken resolutions!)

We can’t breathe for ‘looking back and looking forward’ articles/statuses/programmes at that time of year and so perhaps, however reluctant, I’m hardwired to do some assessing of my own, whether I wanted to or not.

I didn't want. But yes, 2013 was a pretty crappy year for us lot. The Grim Reaper has been stepping out of the shadows, flicking his black robe menacingly and doing his stuff before sashaying back into the recesses. I am really glad to see the back of it.

But you know what was good? Ha! I laugh in the face of being out, drinking too much Prosecco… I woke up on 1 January feeling positive and ready for a new start: I’m either a cliché, or that’s genetically determined too. And life never is only awful, is it? There are always positives to see even if they are teeny weeny ones. Or sometimes, things need looking at from a different perspective.  I stood on my balcony at midnight this year, taking pictures of the fabulous fireworks display so that I could post them here, and look, they are probably the worst set of photos anyone’s ever produced. Almost every single one is out of focus and yet… I still love them - for this was my wonky New Year.

And that’s what I’m going to start the year blogging with: documenting those little tiny good things from last year and some of the GREAT BIG BLOODY amazing things too because  they were there and I missed writing them down on my blog.  If this year’s pitiful attempt at blogging counts, then Tea Stains has been here for seven years and it seems to me to be worth something.

So before I get more Pollyanna on you, I shall go. But I’ll be back.

Thai New Year: Songkran

We’re off to Chiang Mai tomorrow for six nights. A big holiday is coming up: Songkran, Thai New Year. The evidence is apparent all around as folk flee the city to go home to their families to celebrate this favourite Thai holiday.

This holiday coincides with the hottest time of the year here. The weather in Thailand is something I don’t tend to talk about on my blog because I’d get hate mail. The heat is unrelenting though and when it’s this hot you can’t stand still without breaking out in a sweat. It’s not nice hot. Oh sorry, please don’t send me hate mail.

The Thais deal with this heat during Songkran by drenching everyone in water. For three days. THREE days. THREE.

There’s only one thing I hate more than being hot and sweaty, and that’s being wet. And guess what? Westerners are prize game because the rules no longer apply! Apparently a policeman can’t arrest you during Songkran for throwing water at him!!!!!!

The first year I was here I hid for three days in the apartment. Husband, a colleague and two backpackers took the children and several big water guns down to the bottom of the soi (ahem, to the red light area!) to play water fights. The children were in their element. Their mother is the meanest woman in the world when it comes to water fights.

The second year we were away with Husband’s sister and her family. The resort we stayed in was on the edge of a not very busy road and trucks full of Thai’s drove past to go to the town for the fun. They were delightful: on seeing a group of four children ranging from 4 to 13 on the side of the road with bottles of water, the trucks would slow down so the kids could get a good hit, and the Thai would send a gallon or so over them. It was a lot of fun from the boundaries of the resort where no-one could drench me.

These pics are from last year.

Nephew: Armed and ready to shoot.


























Yes, this is MY son and his cousin. I AM a proud mother: I've taught him such valuable lessons for his journey through life.







And that's a hit. BiL is rather pleased with himself.










I will be back next week. I am not taking my laptop, just a notebook because I'm nurturing my inner mojo... Back soon.