we got two laptops now

london

Simon was able to get the old laptop working again. He got a friend to loan him a windowsXP program which is in one disc rather than on two. Previously he got the windowsXP stored in two discs and our old laptop developed a fault and cannot download two cd roms consecutively but with the one cd windowsxp it was able to do so.

It is nice to have two laptops, not to mention I feel good that the old laptop need not be thrown away and can be reused because than both of us can be online at the same time. On the other hand, I now have no excuse to get offline and read a good book. Before when we only had one laptop, if he is online, I am perforced to do other things and that is a good thing because it gives me a break from the laptop.I would usually read one of the many books I have borrowed from the library. Though if v.s..naipaul is right when he said in a recent interview that there are no more great novel writers anymore, i wont miss much by not spending more time reading books.

I think we wont know if naipaul is right until years later when we shall all be dead, because it takes time for the work of a novelist now to be recognised as great.
A lot of newspapers have criticised naipaul for being so rude to modern writers by saying none of them are great. I tend to agree with naipaul. From my reading of contemporary authors, I don't see anything I would consider great books being written now, but it is early days, there may well be someone who is a budding author growing up now who will turn out to be a future nobel prize winner of literature.
For Naipaul of course he being older, have lived longer to see no great author rising from modern times, and so I can understand why he is disappointed and saddened that there is no one to follow him. People like him and Doris Lessing are the last of their kind still living.
Doris lessing may well be the first sciencefiction writer to get a nobel prize.

about bikes

london
yesterday, Simon and I went to Paul L's birthday party/ flat warming in south ealing. I also wanted to see the bikes they bought. These were not mountain bikes, and Paul told me the shop said mountain bikes are not so popular as these ordinary bikes. In malaysia, when i was a child, I only know of these ordinary bikes, with mudguards and large wheels, with narrow tyres. The shop assistant told paul that mountain bikes are difficult to ride because so much energy has to be put into it to get it moving. Their thick tyres and smaller diameter makes them slower than the ordinary bikes. No wonder I felt tired after riding that mountain bike i found in the recycle bins, and i did not go far, whilst when i ws a child i just flew by with hardly any effort in the ordinary bikes that abounds in malaysia.
Maybe that is why bike riding is not very popular here in uk? People are seduced by the idea of riding a bike, till they buy a mountain bike,(because it is cheaper than a ordinary one) and find they dont really like riding on it. Saddle soreness, and the effort needed to pedal it, i have found is enough reason for me not to venture too far with it. And so people just let it sit unused. And that is their first taste of cycling, and that sours them for venturing further into it.
After hearing what paul L have to say about mountain bikes, and his mentioning that the recycling bicycle shop finds it difficult to sell mountain bikes, it made me realise why I did not enjoy my ride on the mountain bike i found. It was not as nice as I remember about riding bikes when I was a kid. I thought it was my faulty memory and our common tendency to eulogise the past. When I was a kid, I remember the exhilaration of speeding down the road with just one revolution of the paddles, with hardly any effort. And all this even though I was too short as a kid to sit on the saddle and pedal... i have to hit the pedal on one side as it swung up to the apogee and alternate it with the pedal on the other side. But after hearing what Paul had to say,I see my memory of bike riding is not at fault.
Whoever invented mountain bikes, meant it to be ridden over very rough terrain, and so it is good for that purpose. But since most journeys in bikes are in town, what is needed is a ordinary bike with large wheels and narrow tyres. I wonder how many people starting out to ride and only knowing of mountain bikes have simply been put off riding for good. Not for the first time have I lamented the loss of old designs, and regretted new modern design replacing them.

A good example of british humour

london
The big hoo-haa over sharon stone's comments with the people in china boycotting her because they say she insulted Chinese people by saying that it is because China did bad things so it got the earthquake, karma and all that. Not only is this a karmic concept that is well known, (though I personally do not subscribe to it) but also she had been misunderstood.now. From seeing the video of the actual interview, i would interpret it as sharon Stone saying she used to think that perhaps China got the earthquake because she,China, did bad things, so she got bad things in return, like karma, but after she,sharon stone, got a plea to help in the earthquake she was so moved by it, that she has changed her mind about harshly judging the chinese with the karmic thing, and realise that in life we help people even though we dont like what they do.
I think the reason why there was such alot of criticism of her from people who are natives of china,who think she insulted China was because people in china have poor grasp of english, and could not quite see what she was trying to say (Can't blame those people really because Stone put it all in a rambling lame sort of way.Can't blame Stone either, she was taken off guard in the street interview,and simply said her mind. She was talking and working it out in her mind at the same time. Thinking aloud as it were.) Once these vociferous people in China voiced their objection, no one else, least of all english speaking people, want to correct them, for fear of being accused of condescension. There are of course worst things to be accused of, anti chinese for eg, but no one in authority or in the newspapers will want to risk these accusations on their heads if they attempt to correct those who criticise her. Easier to go along, and throw stones at Sharon Stone. haha.
English is a difficult language to master. The trouble is everyone can get by and so they all think they know the language, and so refuse to be corrected. Non english people lose sight of the fact that english is a second language to all of them. Or they swing the other way, and profusely apologise to the point of nausea about how bad their english is. Either way it is lamentable.To the sensible person, when another points out there is a different interpretation of the language from theirs, a sensible person will take another look and give the benefit of the doubt to the new interpretation. But if u have an inferiority complex or just overwheaningly patriotic or want to show off ur patriotic credentials,or just think u r very good at ur english; u will ignore all attempts to correct ur interpretation and get on your high horse and accuse the other of being condescending or worse. When that happens one can only say, well it proves my point about english being easy to misinterpret.
Now I come to the point of my post. Read the link given below and tell me if u appreciate the humour. If instead u get on ur high horse and accuse the writer of being insulting to Germans u have missed the point. haha. It's a test of ur understanding of the nuances of the english language. I think if u can find it amusing, u do have a good grasp of the language.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4027442.ece

all news on tv is bad news

london
Idly listening to the news on TV, a friend and I commented on how all the news is bad. And I, not for the first time realise that thenews had to be bad or it won't be news. It is an indictment of the way we find interest in news. We, as a species, dont seem to want to hear about the good things that happen to others, but are fascinated by the awful things that happen to them. It may sound as if I am criticising the human race, but i assure you I am not. There is nothing to criticise, as it is human nature, and this is because it must be a survival trait. I guess it does not help survival if u only want to hear good things, it is the knowing of disasters happening to others, that will make u take precautions or start putting remedies in place. Someone said happiness is not the good fortune that happen to you, but hearing of the bad fortune that happen to others and knowing that u have escaped it. It is not how much you earn, but how little others earn in relation to yourself. Happiness is only triggered when there is you doing better than your peers.It is all so that humans as a species can be so successful.
But I think when bad news is relentless, as it is when we hear all the time bad news on Tv or read it in the newspapers or online, then all it does is make us depressed. As usual, a little bad news is good, but more of it is bad. I have to remind my friend not to be too sad about hearing the bad news, but to reinterpret what he hears in terms of his own life. For eg, I keep hearing how much the price of food has gone up, but when i go to the supermarket I get fantastic bargains when food is reduced to a fraction of its marked price. And it more than compensates for the increase in prices of bread, wheat flour, or milk.
Added 10.55pm, I have been to late night shopping at the supermarket, and guess what, bread is reduced £1.25 for a 800gm Warburton loaf to 49p. And ciabatta, 2 of them from £2.88 reduced to 49p. See what i mean? So even bread is not expensive if u know when to buy it.
I keep hearing of the credit crunch and the shaky stock market, but that is not going to affect my life at all, as i am not selling my flat and I have no big investment in the stock market, not even in a pension fund. So why the doom and gloom, as far as us ordinary people are concerned?
My friend is rather gloomy, but i think it is because he is unemployed and looking for work. I told him he should look at this period as a chance for him to enjoy not working, and explore his sexuality and shag as many guys as he can get, either one to one or in orgies in sex clubs. He can do it now as he has got the time. After all he is not young, mid 50s, and children all grown up, so if this is not the time for him to enjoy his life, when is he going to do it? Maybe even go to the gym or swim, and tone up the old body and get into a healthy regime.
Added, just after writing the above, i caught this program on tv. The one show, on bbC1, where there were lots of local feel good news. None of them was dramatic, that is the difference between the main news and this one. Earthquakes, floods, murders, all seem so much more worthy of news than squirrels on trees, and a wedding paid for by bartering.

in praise of ovens

london
I bought breast of duck reduced to £1 recently and with an oven, it is so easy to cook it. Just season with salt and put it into the top oven and set to 200C,set the timer for 20mins. Then let it sit for another 10mins after the oven is off, to continue to cook, and then eat it. How simple can that be? the beauty of such a method is that u can do other things while waiting for it to cook. I think a lot of people dont know how easy it is or they will do more home cooking than they do now. I often see four ready cooked thighs or drumsticks of roast chicken reduced to £1 at the end of the day from the delicatessen section of the supermarket, even reduced from their original priceof £2, I was not tempted to buy because i know for £1 I can get a lot more chicken and cook them so easily myself.
In Malaysia, not many households have ovens, so they are never able to use it to make quick meals. Maybe in malaysia, people rely on microwave ovens more than conventional ovens, but microwaves cannot re crisp the warmed up breads/croissants etc and the warming up do not last... the food gets cold again very quickly. It is not very crucial in malaysia, where the weather is so hot, one do not really want very hot foods, but in UK with the cooler weather it is essential.
I had one breast for dinner last night, but could not finish it even, so left it till today to finish the 2nd breast and leftover for lunch today. It is just great not to have to spend so much time cooking.Leftovers are great in this respect, all i have to do is warm it up. People tell me they dont like to cook for one, but when u can have leftovers, I find cooking for one is very simple, because one period of cooking is enough to supply food for 2 or 3 meals.

chance encounter

london
you would think that staying here in central london I won't be meeting strangers and chatting with them. People here keep to themselves,(I mean social meetings. Gay sex meetings are another thing entirely) and apart from the people who live in the flat below me, i dont really know or talk to anyone else in my neighbourhood.I find people have their circle of friends and not keen on meeting the neighbours.Or rather that is how I feel, haha. So i guess that is how they feel too. I have only been on nodding acquaintances with the others who live above me whenever we meet at the stairs. In fact, the top flat has a leaking pipe and when the caretaker tried to contact them, he told me there was no one in the flat, even though he tried many times. There may be many absentee landlords in my block. So this morning, when a black lady stopped me and showed me an address here and asked me where it was, it was an unusual occurrence. She was confused, saying where is the street address? I told her there is none, and in the address, there is nothing to say the number is a flat number. Here the address is very cryptic, for eg, 21 Gainsborough House. (It is not the address she gave me, just an address i pick at random to illustrate it.But u can see the impression given is that it is a house called Gainsborough House, and it is number 21 on that street. haha. And the post code is SW1, which is a very posh postcode.)
Anyway i pressed the bell to the flat and no one answered. She said no one will be in. She said she is checking out the address because tomorrow she will be given that flat by council. She lives temporarily in maida vale, near the tube station, in a 1bedroom flat. they are asking her to agree to moving to this studio flat. I showed her how she can get into the building, and we both got up to the flat on the first floor, and peeked through the letter box. What i saw was a clean flat, with beige walls. We looked straight into the toilet/bathroom, that would serve anyone right for being so busybody as to peek through the letter box.haha. And looking to the left i catch a glimpse of a small kitchen but we cannot see what the studio room was like.
I guess council wants her 1bdroom flat in Maida Vale (it is in north london)to house some family who can do with the space. As a single person a studio flat is more suitable for her. Though a one bedroom is very useful to have. She shall have to weigh that over living here which is so central. She asked what the neighborhood was like, and of course i praised it, because i like living here. She saw the pots of plants lying around and said she liked growing things and would like to have her plants too. I said the people who run the estate encourage people to plant things, even giving them money to buy seeds etc and provide free soil. The downside is the cracks in the paving gather soil and cause weeds to grow necessitating the caretaker to get down on his knees to scrape them off. hahaha. It gives the courtyard a muddy look especially now when there have been so much rain which washed the soil from the pots in the courtyard.

the haul from last night's bargain food shopping

london
A good hunting at the supermarkets last night. It was more luck than judgement; I happen to hit it just after they slap on the final reduction for the day. Mackerel reduced to 60p. Minced beef 5%fat 400mg to 50p. beef steak 400mg for 80p, a pack of 2breasts of duck reduced from £5.56 to £1. This was in one branch of sainsbury. Earlier I had been to the tesco, and could not resist buying brisket of beef 800mg reduced half price to £1.80. Since the last time when I slow cooked it in a curry. and it turned out so delicious, I buy it everytime i see it reduced by halfprice.
As I was leaving the third supermarket, I saw a large crowd of people lining up for cups of tea or coffee dished out in thermos flasks by volunteers. There was a separate van giving out free clothing, toothbrush and shoes. It was down and outs getting some freebies. At first i thought it was a soup kitchen,but there was no food. the night was mild, and not raining, so it ws quite pleasant to be outdoors. this is the first time i seen such a thing late at night. I think it is very good of those people to volunteer to help the down and outs. \it is a worthy thing to do.
Added, later on that night it rained.
In fact, the guy i shagged in clapham north told me he was volunteering for the food chain in Tooting. I used to help out in the food chain in hammersmith, but stopped. It's a pity that the tooting branch is more than one bus ride away from me, otherwise i would not mind joining my friend and start again at the food chain.
(added 2.6.09. found out that there is a bus from lambeth bridge,near me, to tooting broadway, where that branch of www.foodchain.org.uk is situated.It is bus 77).
I was a navigator, which entails working out the route and directing the driver and bringing the food to the door of the people with HIV. And after distributing the food, we will return to the centre and pick up any food available to eat ourselves. The cooks provide quite a good meal, main course and dessert. those who help cook the food have first choice of the food. We navigators and drivers get the remainder. that is why there are more helpers cooking than going out distributing the food. It's a worthy cause.
(This post is written the night before, at 11pm, but timed to post next day. I thought it might be good to spread out my posts.)

Rather a tension filled day

london

Not because of any difficulties in my life. Just me trying to book airtickets from London to Murcia in sept23, and returning fr Alicante to London in oct 7,08

We have planned to visit Keith at his flat in spain, and so I happened to click onto ryanair.com to find out the costs and there were zero fares on sale. So I called keith to confirm when he will be able to host us, and so I arranged it. But as with all bookings with ryanair, one must be on one's toes and be extra careful so that we delete all the extraneous charges like insurance, priority booking etc. Even then, i could not get the online checkin option. It wont allow me because i m not an eec passport holder. And even though john who is coming with me is british, because I am booking for him,he is not allowed to get the online checkin option too. It costs £4 each to check in at the airport. And then there is the cost of using the debit card to pay, another £1.80each. The return fare was quoted in euros, i did not realise that and ended up paying it on my credit card. It wont allow me to use my debit card, and so I ended up paying extra 4euros each. But when converted to £s it came to about the same cost. £32 return all in(hand luggage only) for each of us. Not a bad price.

It took a lot of time, with a break in the middle of it all when someone who have contacted me some time ago via a gaywebsite asked to meet during his lunch hour. he works near me. So I met him, and we had a chat over beer, in a subsidised place for members only. I had half a pint of bitter, and because it was room temperature, i can taste every drop and it was delicious. I have never tasted bitter before, because previous times it has been stone cold. I can understand why the british serve beer at room temperature. it is for the true connoisseurs of beer. Lager drinkers who likes it stone cold are dabblers at beer drinking really. and the australian demand for stone cold beer only shows they dont know their beer. or their lager is so awful taste , it can only be drunk stone cold. This place has three choices of bitter, and it makes me want to taste them all. But i can only get in there by being a guest of a member.

Anyway we had a chat and he told me of his filipino boyfriend, who had to leave london and then with the civil partnership law was able to return to live with him. The boy is looking for a job now, he was a trained nurse but did not want to continue working as such.

Well, I can sense there is not much attraction between him and me, so we made polite conversation till it was time for him to return to work.

Sometimes i wonder really whether any meets that involve non sexual first time contact is doomed to failure. The mind has time to assess the guy, and i daresay no one can stand that kind of close scrutiny...

Anyway, I went to the gym to clear my mind, it ws unsettled not only with coping with ryanair, and all the various possiblities of travel (at one time i thought of just booking the whole flights with easyjet, but ryanair is really half the price of easyjet.) but also meeting the guy and having to be social. The gym did me good, as after a workout, the mind is so much calmer and relaxed.

And so when i returned i was clearer in knowing what i want.

And thankgoodness the booking with ryanair went off smoothly. My printer also came to life, (before it kept saying it was offline and refuse to print, even though i had plugged in the usb) and was able to print out the tickets. That was a blessing too.

After my last experience with ryanair booking, where i paid for the same ticket twice, i was rather wary of booking with ryanair again, but they refunded that payment without my asking and this present bookings involving separate bookings on different flights and from different airports went off without any trouble. We fly into murcia, and fly out from alicante. Keith's flat is nearer murcia, but i cannot get any free return fares from there. And keith did not mind giving us a lift to alicante on the return journey.

It was only later, when john asked why the 23rd and not earlier, that i realise that i had mistook the calendar and thought 23rd was the start of the third week, when it ws really the start of the 4th week. But it is a small mishap, and it may well be that earlier booking we might not be able to get these zero priced tickets anyway.

hope the weather in that part of spain is still warm in late september and early oct.

well, i never expected to be holidaying twice this year in europe, and here i am allready booked to do so. late june in Ibiza, and late september in alicante. I think that is enough travelling to europe for this year.
I feel like some relaxing activity, so i shall take myself off on a leisurely stroll to the supermarkets for some bargain shopping.

Enjoying breakfast

london
yesterday I bought 5 chocolate croissants sold off for 39p as a clearout in my sainsbury's, which they do at the end of the day, and I am reheating the last 2 of them in my top oven. They make delicious breakfast. They make delicious snacks with tea too for afternoon tea. I ate 3 of them yesterday. In fact, if u like these kindof things u might like to buy them cheap and freeze them. And then u can have these for breakfast everyday, haha, at a fraction of the cost. And they taste just as fresh if warmed in the oven.It brings back nostalgic memories of the holiday in ile du levant I had with Paul M when we would walk naked to the village bakery to buy it fresh in the morning.
The only thing stopping me doing the same thing, stocking it in my freezer, is my freezer is too small for this.
Maybe I should get rid of my fridge and buy a big freezer instead. For years, we have been brain washed into thinking we need a fridge. But it is always quite low temperature in UK, so there really isnt much call for fridges. I am sure it is more economical to have a freezer, which u can stock with these cheap bargains, and not open all the time like a fridge, and just thaw out what u need each day.

Conversations with the security guard in sainsbury

london
Life is very nice. I had a good sleep in the afternoon. Must have been really tired out from yesterday's shagging, not to mention I woke up very early as usualthis morning, 5am, having slept rather early last night.It's been raining all day.
I decided to go supermarket bargain shopping, as this is a bank holiday and they might be closing early and so getting rid of stuff.
the first two i went to have no bargains that i like. The third one had 1.1 litre organic skimmed milk reduced fr 98p to 20p.So I bought 3. There was also honey roast ham 300mg reduced from £1.85 to 49p. So i bought 2. I dont usually buy ham as there is so much water in them. I have taken them off my list of buys. But these say they are 20%water or less and what is more important they are reduced a lot.
On the way out, I was checking the receipt as i walked out, and the security guard said to me, 'it will be correct, because we cannot cheat you but you can cheat us'. I laughed and said,'how can i cheat you?' and he said,'when we give u 'buy one get one free'.
I laughed and said 'that is not so, sainsbury double the price and then make the offer'. I have seen it i said. Take strawberries for eg. The price is at an exorbitant price and then slash it to half price and it is all printed on the label, so it must have that price as it comes out of the factory. I wonder that people can be fooled by it, but they are.
I have seen these strawberries reduced to 80p and u get one free when u buy one. So 40p a punnet.And even then, i was not tempted to buy them.(Strawberries have no taste and flavour anymore) so i m hardly likely to be tempted to buy any at these inflated prices.
And I noticed also that they are putting out smaller packages. There is a range of meats 500mg of pork steaks and beef steaks, for £2.99. Once they were all reduced to 69p... quite a bargain, so that now when i see them reduced but not to 69p i m not tempted to buy having known how much they can be reduced by. Today, I noticed sainsbury is putting out 300mg of thinner sliced steaks for the same price. Maybe they thought no one will notice, and they may be right. Not many are observant, nor shop so regularly to notice.
He compared sainsbury to marks and spencer. I said u should compare with tesco. he replied that tesco charges a lot for sandwiches whilst sainsbury has lower prices for their sandwiches and for the basic goods. Well, i dont know about sandwiches as i never buy them,(the target customers are office workers) but basic goods.... hmm,i dont know whether what he said about it is correct. i know the large branch of sainsburys near me have a lot more goods under the basic brand than the tesco, but the nearest tesco branch to me is a small one. Across the board, the goods are increasing in price. Bread flour which i buy to make my own bread used to be 48p for 1.5kg. They have suddenly gone up to 89p. such a big jump. No wonder nobody buys them, and the shelf is full of them. Lets see how quick sainsbury will bring down the price once they see no one buys it. They are more expensive than named brands like hovis, which sells for 85p.
Another item that has a large increase in price is reduced suger jam from 59p to 85p. They are now more expensive than the normal suger jam at 69p.
I got a call from David, Paul L's bf who is an american come to work in London, from San Francisco. At first i could not place him. I know 4 davids, and have been known to confuse them with each other. But after chatting with him a bit, i got it. he was calling to invite me to Paul L's birthday. I said, it can be a housewarming party too. It is this friday, and i shall of course go, and bring simon along if he is not working that night. It will be a change in the usual direction... before when i go to paul L's place it is to bounds green, where he still have his house, and that is in North london. This time i shall be heading towards west London to south ealing (u will notice that south ealing is not in south london)and virgin territory for me. Its always exciting to go to a new part of london i have never been before.
I know they went to a recycling bike company in elephant and castle over the bank holiday weekend to trade two used and rusty bikes and to buy a new reconditioned bike for david. But i hear from david over the phone that they ended up buying a reconditioned bike for david, and returning not only the two rusty bikes but the new bike paul L bought recently in exchange for one in the shop. I know paul is not too happy at his new bike because it got no mudguard, and is a mountain bike costing him £150.. He prefers the normal raleigh bikes with mudguards and basket attached.They are usually more expensive.He got a ladies bike, whilst david bought a men's bike. It is of course a arbitrary distinction. to me a ladies bike without the horizontal bar that makes getting on and off so difficult is far easier to get off at traffic stops. I did ask paul once,whether he and david might like to join the naked bike ride now that they have bikes, but maybe they are too shy to do so.haha.

New saucepans

london
It's very sweet of Simon to buy me two saucepans. But he threw away my old ones, and I went back into the rubbish bins to get them back. I especially wanted the bigger of the two saucepans he threw away, but it got warped when he threw it into the bins. i could do with two big saucepans, you see. In spite of it being warped, I retrieve the big one, but not sure what to do with it now it is so warped that the lid do not fit. What i would really like is a new saucepan that has oven proof handles so i can use it as both saucepan and casserole. He bought the same long handled type saucepan. I would rather if he is going to buy me new saucepans that they are useable for both on top of the stove and inside the oven. they are the most practical saucepans to have, and in fact now i have more experience in saucepans, they are the only ones to buy really.It is so nice to brown the meat, or cook the garlic and herbs beforehand on the hot stove and then add the stock and veg and put the whole thing inside the oven for long cooking and using one saucepan throughout.
I understand how a housewife feels now. haha. All you husbands, my advise to u is dont surprise the wife by buying her saucepans, and throwing away her old ones. You think u r doing her a favour, but it is not so, because u don't really know how she cooks, and what she uses, u dont really know what is useful to her and what is not. I speak from my own experience. I know simon is doing all this from a good heart, but what he sees as battered old saucepans are what I see as good working instruments that deliver what I want to use them for.
(I have noticed this about Westerners... they want to surprise their loved ones by giving surprise gifts. I think I prefer the chinese way, where they offer money to the loved ones and ask them to buy things for themselves. It may not sound romantic, but the giver is saved the trouble of finding a gift, the receiver gets exactly what they want. Everyone is happy. Whereas the western way ends up with the giver spending a lot of money and time buying something the receiver does not want. haha.Now u know why I am not too bothered with giving presents as a token of love. They are always a disappointment.)
My advise to anyone is ask him/er what s/he wants. I wish simon has asked me what I want before he bought the saucepans, and what is even more important, asked me before he throws away the old ones. Life!!! I can see why some housewives dont have anyone come into their kitchen! Ah well, I will continue to use the warped saucepan as a spare. Since my old saucepan broke, I had wanted another one, and it would be perfect if simon had not thrown it away with such force that he warped it. He bought a chopping board , which is v good of him, because my old chopping board is really past its best. There are some things that u can throw away, and other things that u can keep. In life, the important thing is to know which is which.
added
I decided to fry some eggs for lunch and did not notice the frying pan was new. It was new but it did not register in my mind. It was only when I wanted to cover it using our frying pan lid, then i noticed it did not fit, and realised that simon had bought a new one, and threw away the old one. Hmm, looks like simon is having one of his extravagant days.haha. The curious thing was the old frying pan was no where to be seen in the rubbish bag that i rummage through earlier. Where did he throw it? maybe in the recyclingbins. It was a perfectly good one, and of a size that fitted the lid and also the wire screen that prevent oil splashing. This new one is too big for both.

My latest shag

london
I have found another sex buddy. He contacted me a few days ago, via a gay website, and since it was a bank holiday weekend, we arranged to meet today.
I took the bus 88, which is just outside my block of flats to Clapham Common, and then walked to Clapham south, one tube station away where he was waiting. i had allready txt him when i reached clapham common to tell him. He lives in a one bed room flat on top(4th)floor and it looked very new, as he has just painted the walls. We got along well, and it turned out to be a great fuck. It took some time to get him in, because he was rather big, but after one failed attempt, and some more foreplay, i managed it. And it was good. My prostate must be full. Anyway, I came 3times in rapid succession.
Its great to have another fuck buddy lined up.
I told him about john, saying how good john is at fucking. haha. He is a top mainly, seldom gets fucked and i said john will train him. haha. He is looking for a job too, and john does cvs and might be able to help I said. And when he found out john is coming to my place on 12th june, he suggested i bring him for a threesome, as he had never had one, and would like to try. So John, he is going to make risotto for us when we go see him. I suggested 13thjune, as it is the only day we will be free. Saturday 14th june is the naked bike day, and sunday we will be going to the naked afternoon sex session at a sexpub. He said he would like to come with us to the sexpub too.
Well, it is a nice way of meeting people, have sex with them and when we find we are compatible and the sex is good, invite him to join the group.
He was made redundant about 5months ago, and his mortgage is £600 a month. He said he was made redundant before and had no mortgage protection insuranc, and learnt his lesson and now his monthly payment is paid by his insurance, but only for a year. So he is rather keen to find work before the year is up. He bought the flat for £50,000 5yrs ago, but borrowed money to do the kitchen and other things and the mortgage is now £90,000; why people want to borrow money for a kitchen is really beyond me. I still have my old kitchen and have no intentions of spending money doing it up). I suggested he seek a lodger, as though it is a one bedroom flat it has a separate lounge, which he can use as his bedroom. And the income fr the rent will be very welcomed i m sure.
So that is another possible outcome of meeting me.
I hope he does find a job. he is going for a job interview in hounslow on tuesday, which is way in the west near heathrow airport. Even if successful, just think of the awful commuting he will have to do.
He was married at 21yrs old, got two daughters 29 and 27yrs old both married. The wife left him for another guy leaving him to look after the two girls who were about 14yrs old. He said his daughters are ok with him being gay but the early years when he was the only one to look after them was difficult. I have met quite a number of married guys who are able to go gay after their kids have grown up.

booking a bus ticket to gatwick for the ibiza flight

london
I had another look at the email plane ticket sent to me by James, which will constitute our official proof of our flight.
I saw there was a link to buy easybus tickets from victoria to gatwick for £2 one way. the train costs £9.50 one way. This £2 bus ticket is cheap and it only takes about 20mins longer than the train. So I went online and booked it. Just goes to show there are bargains to be had if u have access to the internet.
However, for some reason, my printer could not print the ticket. All it said was that the printer was offline, even though i had connected it to my laptop.
I had to leave the problem unsolved, letting my laptop hibernate so i dont erase the electronic ticket, because I have to go meet someone at his flat for a sex shag. haha.
When i returned 5hrs later, I had a chance to think about it and realised I can copy and paste the ticket and put it on a document and save it on a pen drive and take it to the library for me to print out there. But I dont have office windows so cannot open a document. So i decided to copy and paste it to an email to myself. and that is the state of affairs now. i hope to be able to print it off the email when i get to the library tomorrow. Here's hoping. Simon is not in, otherwise i would ask him how to open a document from office windows. The laptop keeps asking me to give a 25digit number and i have no idea where it is. That is the trouble with these new versions of windows, they make thing so complicated. The old windows was so easy to use.

nude beaches

london
I was reading the newspapers in the library yesterday, an article where various people recommend their favourite beach for various activities, and read one who chosed the beaches in formentera for best nudist beach. That took my interest because we are going there by yacht in June. He said practically every beach there is nudist.
Then I read this article, 10 best nudist beaches which do not list formentera.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/sunandsea/731240/Ten-of-the-best-nudist-beaches.html
of the ten, i have been to two, playa de Maspalomas,Gran Canaria; and vera playa, Spain. To me, a good nudist beach is where there is nice gay sex activity in the dunes. But the danger of such a list is that it brings it to the notice of others and brings about a clampdown.
Most nudists are men. I know it is a general statement,and I am usually wary of using such blanket terms but i think i can safely say it, Most nudists are men. And we are independant, in that we do not join nudist clubs. Also, many nudist clubs in uk do not like having single males to join. So i guess that is another reason for us not joining a club. haha. I think it is silly to join a club and lock ourselves into nudist ghettos, when there is the whole outdoors to be naked in. Nudist clubbers are afraid to be seen naked by clothed people. That is a silly attitude to take, in my opinion. If they really believe that nakedness is normal, they should not be ashamed to be naked in front of everyone. The fact that they are bothered with the idea of others seeing them naked shows that the ingrained feeling of shame is deep and difficult to get rid of. That is why i think those of us who have got rid of that attitude should just go out and be nude. Maybe men find it easier to do so and that may be the reason why there are so many more nudist men than women.

The result of the VFord model contest with Porn star

creating my life: Porn star
London
The contest was won by another guy, who won the most popular vote, and was given a magazine spread. Ryan came second. There was another category chosen by the judges. They chose 3 as finalists who looked very emaciated. I was not surprised that they picked the three emaciated guys as the judges' winners. Fashion modelling is to flatter the clothes, and skinny tall models will make the clothes look better than well developed guys.

leakage

london
I never realise men have this problem when they are walking naked till i read of it in this blog by nudistindc
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2710960911432976295&postID=3671256843073958259
He was taking part in the San Francisco 'Bay to Breakers' walk and walking nude, and wrote 'I walked for the first 30 minutes or so before realizing that I was leaking the whole time. Needless to say that I walked the rest of the race with a paper towel and kept a vigilant look.'
I have that too, but I never considered it as anything unusual or to be embarassed about. It became noticeable when I was in Capdagde, oh so long ago it seems now. Capdagde is a naked town, and without thinking about it much, i would occasionally just wipe my hand over my cock and remove the leak and wipe my hand on my thigh and let it dry there without a trace and that was that.
Now I read that he too had that leaking,it is precum .. some men have a lot of it. and i realise that is why the men in capdagde seem to be touching their cocks all the time. I used to think the guys are all very sexual, brought about by their naked environment, and also I have seen men always touching their crouch when they are clothed, so it never occurred to me that those men were simply swiping off their leakage. Hmm, one lives and learns haha. And it shows to be careful how to interpret things as sexual when it might not be at all.

steak

london
I do love a steak, and one of the pleasures of living in the West is the easy availability of excellent cuts of beef. I remember when I was in Malaysia, I was desperate for a steak, without any gravy over it, but for some reason no restaurant ever have just plain steaks. It is always accompanied by gravy. And for those who are too lazy to cook it themselves they can go to a restaurant to eat it. In London, where would u go, which restaurant do u go to, where u can be assured of steak and nothing but, and have as many choice of cuts as u like. You go to a steak house of course. But in all of london there is only one steak house, the Aberdeen Angus chain of steak houses. Their restaurants are prominently placed in the Westend. Everytime i walk to soho, I pass one or two of them, and in spite of myself, i cannot help noticing them and am always drawn to peeking through the windows at their rather plush velvet red seating. They are distinctive. Most times there are hardly any customers to be seen through the big picture windows, but they have been around for all the years I have been staying in the centre of London and that is a long time. At last one journalist has asked 'how do they survive?' in an amusing article today.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article3993580.ece
My theory is that it is catering to a niche market, to those of us, and tourists, who just crave a good steak cooked by someone else, with all the trimmings. The prime location is a strong point in its survival. No tourists can ever miss it, and somehow even I who do not frequent restaurants do fantasise about eating there whenever I pass it, and ordering a huge T-bone steak medium rare, and having it served with all the trimmings. Of course the reality may not be so delightful, as I have never succumbed to the temptation of eating there, but how difficult is it to cook a steak? the cook just have to get the timing right. And once u buy the best quality steak, nothing much can go wrong. So the diner knows as far as the steak is concerned they will get a good steak.

what we are told

london
Growing up we are told lots of things by our parents and relatives. We believe them and may well repeat their advise to our children and so propagate the error, and propaganda. Our parents mean well. They do not mean to deceive their children, and may never suspect that what they say has been biased and wrong. They simply repeat what their parents have told them. Take for eg, sexuality. We are all told from young that we are expected to get married and have children. It has been constantly said, by parents and society that it is our duty to bring children into this world and look after them, and sacrifice ourselves for our children. It is only now when i m grown and can observe things for myself that I really think those ideas about children are merely propaganda by society inflicted on its citizens to keep them producing new generations that will add to the work force. Without children a lot of adults will not work so hard. They would realise like I have that my needs are very small and easily satisfied, and there is no need to keep working till I drop, feeding and rearing children and giving them an inheritance when i die. Than what will happen to society when no one wants to work so hard? There will be less money to spend on rubbish goods, less workers available to do the shitty jobs, and it will force bosses to pay a higher wage all round to entice people to work. It is because so many have been brainwashed into wanting kids, instead of being childless; and been brainwashed that they must give the kids the best education, and luxuries, forcing them to buy lots of things that they dont need and so be in debt and forced to work.
\I look at single people everywhere and see how they can simply drop out of society and they will be ok, because there is no children to feed, and clothed and to educate.
We can live our lives just pleasing ourselves, having multiple sex partners and just living a life of pleasure. And being gay is the perfect answer to the question 'how do we get this life of ease and pleasure'? Those with children will look with envy at gay people for being so carefree and gay people will be resented because of it. And to make it seem a gay life is a terrible one, they tell their children that it is a terrible life, hoping the children will not be tempted to join. Yet, being a gay guy and living this gay life, I can say it is the best life a single person can hope to live. There is no responsibility other than to oneself. No one else depands on you. You are indeed a free agent. You will surround urself with good friends, who share ur own sexuality and who u can have sex with as well. I was chatting to someone who says friends are great to have, and i added that it is even better if the friendship comes also with sex, then u have friendship and a sex partner. I find it is easier to go through the route of findng a sex partner, and when u both like the sex, then only become friends. haha.
Then there is the one about having children to look after u in ur old age. It is very clear that many children do not look after their old parents. And it is a burden to impose on ur children. I see children racked with guilt thinking that they should have done more for their old parents, and spending large amounts of money to keep them alive, when it would be better for the sick to be allowed to die. The quality of life of those old people with terminal illnesses kept alive just because technological advances can keep them alive, is very low. They exist and are not living. I would rather have the doctors let me die rather than have children asking them to keeping me alive by a few months. No, when the end comes, let it be swift.
I know how lovely a gay life is, and I will say so in my blog, but i m not urging everyone to be gay. Oh no, because we do need people to make children. haha. The human race will be extinct if everyone becomes gay, and also where are we gay guys going to find a steady supply of gay people to have fun with?
I am telling a great secret, that it is perfect to be gay, but i hope no one believes me. hahaha.

viagra, sildenafil

london
I am seeing a tv program about viagra which i taped. It was about straight couples but it can apply to guys and in fact, I would think it is a greater boon for gays. No interviews with gay guys, and so they will never know how great it is for us gay guys to have this drug. It has an effect on guys only, and so if in a gay orgy where all the guys are on it, they will have more fun together. One guy in the program said he took viagra but his girlfriend did not feel like sex and so he had to hang around all night with an erection while she slept. So tough shit for straight guys hahahahah. The more I hear about straight guys and their dealings with women, the sorrier i feel for them. it must be terrible to be straight. They deserve all gay guys pity. haha.heheh.

just woke up

london
It is only 2am. I went to bed quite early yesterday, about 7pm I think. And woke up at about 1am. Been surfing the net, reading newspapers mainly and got some messages from guys in the gay websites. The guy from singapore who told me he is visiting london wrote with more information. He is coming in november with 4 friends, and they are staying in Barking. Barking is a town that is miles away from london. You have to get a train to get to london. Not sure if it is on the tube lines. He is coming to do some shopping and being a tourist. He asks me where barking is, so I dont think he knows it is miles from london. I have to remember not everyone can afford to live in central london like me. He did not say how long he will be here, nor whether they are travelling round europe as well. I wonder how much his air ticket because today's papers quoted the boss of BA(British Airways) that the high fuel bills will force airlines to raise prices. I suspect he and his friends must have gotten very good off peak bargain prices from SIA, as no one travels to Europe much in november. I daresay this summer the airlines will be able to fill seats, as people will take their summer holidays. I mean just look at me, normally I would not travel to europe at this time, the height of the summer peak, but I find myself being persuaded by friends to go to Ibiza. So if even me who is rather hard headed about travelling when costs are high, even me start joining in with the summer exodus, I bet many others will do so too, and the airlines are safe this summer. There will be demand. It is winter where we shall see airlines going bankrupt.
I find friends really do have strong influence in what we do. I would not even think about going to europe if not for the offer by James to go on his yacht. I allready have decided not to go to Ile du levant because of the high prices during peak season, and the high air tickets prices. And you all know how much i like ile du levant. As for capdagde, I have long ago decided not to go, but i think if any friends of mine say they are wanting to go and asking me, and sharing makes it cheaper, I think i shall be weak and succumb. haha.
Friends can and do make u do things u would not normally do. It is a good thing and it is a bad thing. haha. It makes u get out of the house and try new things, but it also makes u spend more money than u really want. It is difficult to economise when u have friends wanting to go at a fixed time, tickets gets so expensive then, and u dont have much flexibility in travelling times. Sharing accommodation does makes it cheaper, but u tend to eat out a lot when u r with friends, and that puts up the costs. Though we shall be on a boat so that would cut the cost of meals. But i bet we shall be going out to eat too. Still, most of us accept the extra expenses because it is a holiday and for most people maybe their only holiday for the year, and so they do not want to skimp.
personally, i dont think it is all that great going somewhere else on holiday. This is because everyday is a holiday for me in london. I dont work, so everyday is a holiday for me. And why go elsewhere when i m in the heart of london? When u consider people spend a lot of money flying to london, and spending a fortune on hotels here, u can consider that my holiday in london is real cheap for me.
Usually when I go on holiday it is for sex. I know there is the sightseeing and eating foreign foods(though the latter is a moot point, many times tourists ends up eating mediocre foods or frequenting macdonalds.) some will say shopping that is another thing they do on holiday, but to me the big point about travelling is the sex. When i m on holiday, my thoughts concentrate on sex. That is the difference i think when i am on holiday.
So I figured i can make my life in london a holiday if i think of sex all the time. haha. Now that is a thought. It will make my mind think it is on holiday in london, if i think of sex and how to get it, when i m in london. That is worth considering to do this summer. I think i shall do it.
That is worth considering i think. And with these chat gay sites it is easy to meet people and set up assignations. Sex is the only activity that I do not get bored with.
I am just musing here, simply because it is so early in the morning and everyone is asleep. It is a peaceful time of day, and since i dont work, it makes no difference to me if i stay up or not. Simon is asleep, as he must do, because he might be working tomorrow, or he has been doing a long 12hr shift and is tired.
me, I sleep when i want to, and wake when i want to. It is great to have a blog to write , because tv at this time of night is dire, (though some nights ago i caught a educational program about the solar system, at about 4am which is v interesting) and i find the newsonline v boring too. Full of the credit crunch and the rising oil prices, and full of disasters in various parts of the world, and it is getting old hat. I know it sounds callous of me to say that, but I have long ago gotten compassion fatigue. To me with my philosophy that the soul wants to experience things, all these souls are simply doing what they have to do. And who knows, something good may come of it. \Just as a volcanic eruption causes destruction, but the destruction of existing vegetation opens up the ground and the lava also lays the fertile soil for a beautiful renewed landscape years later, so all these floods, and earthquakes etc can cause regeneration and increased possibilities for the survivors.
Things happen, that is what life is about, events happening... and it makes for an interesting and exciting life. If nothing happens life can be dull.

gay chat

london
It's been a long time since I went onto gaydar, or the other gay websites and chat.
But I was configuring my laptop, removing the pop up blocker so that the popup chat boxes comes up. So i was online and a few guys got chatting privately to me. One of the guys lives in the midlands and goes to Nice, France friday after next. He rents a flat there and stays for 3wks. he is a naturist and wrote me because he thinks i have a great arse. Well, quite a number of guys have praised it, so it must be quite nice. haha.
Anyway he said he has gone to Nice for 5yrs running. so he must like it a lot.
Well, Paul M and I have stayed there for a night on our way from Ile du levant, the naked island, so I am familiar with the city. We went to a club which was promoting a naked night with free entry for guys willing to go naked. We did not know about that, and paid the full price and still went naked. haha. We stayed in a hotel which wont allow us to bring guys in. There was a notice saying so. Rather a bad hotel, i think. And so we were not able to go any further with a guy who followed us back fr the club.
Coming back to now, there was this other guy messaging me on another gay website who lives in brixton in the summer and goes to Pattaya, Thailand in the winter. He has a house there. Seems there are some rather interesting globe trotting gay guys in these gay chatwebsites. Not all of those who chatted with me were globetrotting. There was one guy in East london who did not travel. He said he just liked to be naked indoors and was naked now. It was rather chilly in my flat, so i mentioned he must have got the heating on. And he said he had it on, because he liked to be naked so much. Many asked to webcam. i have webcam built into the laptop,but i dont know how to switch it on. Too lazy to read the instructions.
There was another message from a guy i have been chatting with quite some time ago, a chinese guy from singapore, who tells me he is going to visit london end of this year. WEll, that is a nice change to have a guy from s.e.asia visit london instead of us going there. So i invited him to stay at my place. though if air asia X starts its inaugural flights to london in sept, as they planned, i shall be going to singapore also. Anyway, with the large increase in fuel bills, i wonder whether air asiaX will be able to make regular cheap flights.
I did ask him why he is coming to london in winter. \Not a good time to come here.
Even in summer, the temperature can be chilly, like today, quite a windy day. I am glad for the charity shop fleece hoodie I bought recently. Never thought i will find use for it so soon.
I came back from supermarket bargain shopping, (got 2 packets of 8 sausages at 50p ) just in time to see simon returning from work, and catching on tv the chelsea-manchesterUnited match played in Russia. Chelsea lost, simon supports chelsea. Ah well, nevermind. haha. he came back to go out again. He is supposed to be working, but managed to find time to watch the match. haha. if there are any criminals about, now is a good time to rob someone, with everyone more interested in watching the match than anything. Funny how people can get so caught up with emotion over a football match.But i guess that is why football has such a large following of fanatical supporters.

Planning our June holiday

james' yacht

london
John told me of an invitation by James to us to join him on his yacht sailing from Ibiza to formentera to sample the naked beaches there as well as to enjoy being naked on board. It sounds lovely. We were to fly to Ibiza where his yacht will be moored. today we finalised everything bought the tickets via easyjet return to ibiza on 25june-7july08. I havent told simon yet that i m off on those dates.
The total cost is £175.86 each return. It is more than i would normally pay, but we have to be there by a certain date and that does limit our chances of getting a cheap flight. Even then, i noticed the cost of the return fare has gone up since we booked it. At least when we are on board the costs will be minimal. And it will be a very different sort of holiday that john and i usually go to. So I am looking forward to it.
The interesting thing is I hve not met James. He will be staying at my place during the naked bike ride in june14. So i shall see him then. haha. hope we get along. Imagine cooped up in a boat if we cannot get along. But I trust John in his judgement of guys, he knows to judge a guy's character very well, and john and i are both very equable guys anyway. So looking forward to lots of sex sea and sun and nakedness.
I have been on board yachts before, and I hope we dont have to do too much sailing. i m not keen on all that effort. John tells me we shall be taking it easy. The sailing time to formentera from ibiza is only 3hours. I have never been to ibiza. it is famous for it parties, both gay and straight. I doubt whether john and i are that interested in the parties, so we shall confine ourselves to the sea and naked beaches.

added 28.5.08 an article on best beaches in the guardian has one writer recommending formentera for best skinny dipping

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/may/24/top100beachholidays.beach?page=6

bought a new laptop

london
Finally we decided to get a laptop. Simon showed me his selection. Acer,Aspire 5315, with windows vista, webcam, wifi, 1G memory, 2Ghertz , 120G harddrive. Prices have gone down a lot. it costs only £300. I supposed this is a good time to buy laptops. So, yesterday, simon went to curry's(funny name for an electronic shop) in victoria to buy it, and is now installing it.
He bought it last night and went out for the night. I was too tired to bother to install it, so i went to sleep instead.
i dont mind waiting. in fact, since we had not installed the antivirus we thought better not go on the internet, so i m typing all this on the library computer. Someone booked this session, but didnot turn up after 10mins the session is opened to anyone after that.
Anyway, we got a laptop now so i can access my gay website. i have been getting a lot of messages via email notifying me of this guy who had been sending me messages. we were supposed to meet up last weekend. i guess he must be getting impatient.
I dont mind waiting, because it just makes it so much nicer when it happens.
It will be nice to get back online at home again.

cheap milk

london
Yesterday, after the gym I went to the local sainsbury's nearby and saw lots of near expired milk for sale. They were reduced but not enough for me. I suspect they will be reduced further as the end of the day comes, so i strolled in at about 9.20pm and saw sure enough the 1.1(2pints)litre 1%skimm milk reduced to 20p. And later the 4pints(2.2litre) bottles reduced to 39p. I bought 6 of the 1litre, as they can be stored without breaking the seal, and 1 litre is not too much to use before it goes bad.
Considering my usual usb(longlife)milk costs 44p per litre, these are good bargains. The only downside is that i dont have enough space in my freezer, and also once opened the pasteurised milk dont last as long as the usb milk.
It is delicious to drink the milk stone cold. I havent experienced this for a long time, so it brings back memories of my first time coming to work in UK, when milk was delivered fresh everyday to the households by milk man.

limited access to internet

london
Yesterday, sunday, i could not log on as the library only opens half day and all the computer slots were taken. However, life is settling down a bit here in london, after the excitement of the poole visit. I have been doing the usual, getting bargains at the supermarket, and finding things in the recyling bins. i found two speakers there. i have been wanting them since i found a music centre in that same recyling bins area a long time ago.I have been using simon's wireless headphones to hear the music, but now with these speakers i can hear them without. It is useful to have speakers, as the headphones can run out of power, and also the earphones press on my ears and make my ears ache a bit.
The laptop is really not working now and we may have to buy a new one. ah well, it does not really matter. i m in no hurry to get a new one. One hour a day is more than enough to do my internet activities. Right now, I went to another library, and found someone had left themselves logged on, but have gone away. So i m using their time. however, there is really nothing else i want to do, so i m just catching up on blogs, especially mylongkang.com. I daresay after i have run out of time,then i shall remember that i have some more things to check out but it will be too late then. I have noticed that the library computer wont allow me to log on to the manhunt.net website. i have been getting emails from them saying i have messages, but i cannot read them as i cannot log on via the library computers. there ws one guy there who wanted to meet this weekend, but i cannot contact him, and he unfortunately do not know my email address. ah well, that pleasure will have to be delayed until i can get a computer that will allow me access into the sex sites.
Simon may yet be able to get another cdrom which can enable us to download the windowsXP. It would be nice to use my home internet. Life is very nice at the moment. Well, my life is always lovely nowadays. haha.

sex buddy

london
I was in Poole, when i got an email from a sex buddy who lives near high st kensington to see him on friday. So that was what i did yesterday. It was an enjoyable session. And rounded off a sexy week which started with my visit to john in Poole.
It was a chilly day, and I was able to use the reversible fleeze jacket that i bought in poole. I found out its brand name is 'Kick Ass', (and not Rat Pack. I wonder why i thought of that name)and it was printed all over the back, so that may be the reason why no one bought it. haha. i find it amusing and like wearing this message. It is a jacket for skate boarders.

life without a laptop

london
Back in London, and the laptop is not around, suggesting that simon has taken it with him for repairs, and it is not repaired yet.Am using mylibrary online service. I can get online for free for maximum 1hr a day.
About the zipped trousers I bought, and which i said was a impulse buy. John said he liked it a lot, so I gave it to him. I am rather glad someone liked it, and it fitted him extremely well. I am enjoying wearing my adidas track trousers. It is so comfy and looked so good, i m going to keep an eye out for another one, maybe in a different colour. This one is very discreet, no big stripes running down the side, which is typical of adidas branding. It would look nicer if I were taller and can open the zip at the ankle. I once saw a chap wearing it like that and he looked very good in it.

a visit to charity shops and studland bay

poole#
We went to charity shops in Westbourne, and in Winton. I did not find anything I wanted at first, and we decided to have lunch at the old folks eating place, where we got meals for £2.20. I had pork chop with veg and mash potatoes, the others... john and keith, had pork casserole.
We had been to this place before, and I remember we had roast beef and veg; but this time I noticed the food has become produced from tins, instead of cooked fresh. A sign of these more expensive times.
Anyway, we walked back to the car and went into the last charity shop, Mind. John knows I am looking for a tracksuit bottom, as summer is coming and I wanted some thing light to wear outside instead of my woolen trousers. He found one, Adidas, costing £4.95.But before that, I found a fleece reversible hoodie, by a brand called 'Rat Pack'. It was very beautifully sewn and designed, and can be turned inside out, to be worn pale grey one side, dark blue the other, with a really ingenious zip that works irregardless of which side was worn.
It was reduced half price to £2.50. I could not resist buying it.
Then I saw another pair of trousers, with zips to shorten the leg, and loads of pockets, made of the same lightweight material, and bought that too for £3.99. I have never spent so much at one go on clothes. Just goes to show how easy it is to get carried away. I think the last pair of trousers were too much of an impulse buy, but still, i need to replace my two woolen trousers as they are so worn and frayed at the heels, I look like a tramp when I wear them.
Afterwards we headed to the poole ferry to go across to studland bay.
It was windy, but we found a shelter spot, and soon were playing with each other in there. And we attracted a few guys and one especially who had a big cock, and he and I got really into each other. We played for a long time, with the others coming and going, and finally he gave me such a great blow job, I just cannot help coming and he took the whole load, which must be a lot because I just came and came.
It was a few days of intense skimming/edgeing which we three have been doing at the flat, and the amount of cum must have accummulated a lot. He took it all, and it ws really a great orgasm for me.
He and his partner are from Sheffield, on their second week of a 2week holiday, theyhired a caravan and parked it nearby. They intend to come back again with the hired caravan for 4weeks in September. They are keen, because much as i like studland, there is not a lot to do apart from cruise in the dunes. And even that can get boring if done for 4weeks. He will be able to get guys as he has a huge cock as size is everthing when cruising. haha. We got attracted to him because of his huge cock. It turned out he was v attracted to me. He gives fantastically good blow jobs.
I mentioned to Keith when i had my orgasm, that it is so nice being gay and get complimented on having such a lovely arse by total strangers, who would pleasure me so well.
And that there is no need to go to naturist places in europe, like capdagde, and ile dulevant when there is studland, and everyone speaks english and it costs so little to visit it. And since i dont go there much, whenever i go, i am a new face, and so get lots of attention.
Keith has invited john and me to visit him in alicante, and it is a place we have never been, and from what we are told, it has just as much gay action and naturist action as we would wish. So hopefully, we will have a third person to share accommodation with. There is me in london, John in Poole and Keith in Alicante to offer our flats to each other to stay, for reciprocal sharing.

touring the test river valley by car

poole
John's friend took us, 5people, in his car round this area. It is very pretty, showing off the english countryside with its checkered fields of green and bright yellow(from rapeseed plants)separated by white flowering hawthorn hedges. We passed through many picturesque villages with thatched cottages lining the one road that runs through each village.There was a town called stonebridge,where we saw salmon swimming against the fast flowing river in the middle of the village, and where one of us, who was disabled bought an expensive alpaca sweater costing £130. Near Stockbridge was a hill where there used to be an ancient fort(now no more). we parked the car and walked up it, and was able to walk up there naked as there was no one else. The views from the top were very pretty.
One of us was disabled, and so had to remain in the car at the car park.
John's friend runs a mud wrestling group, and he took us to his house for tea. It was a house with 3 large trees in the backyard. An oak and two birch trees which they were not allowed to cut down. The whole house was surrounded by trees from neighbouring gardens and there was v little sunlight. It is one of the disadvantages of having full grown trees in neighbouring gardens which u cannot trim or cut down and which blocks the sunlight.
In UK where there is weak sunlight, we all want the sun. Unlike in spain, where keith, who went to Alicante to live 5yrs ago, said the local spaniards all live in the houses facing north, while the \brits are on the other side with houses facing south.

2 in 1

poole, dorset
\i have seen porn films where two cocks go into one arse hole, and wondered how it feels like.
Well, last night i had a chance to find out, and i and \john's friend went inside john the same time. I can tell you it is a fantastic sensation. I have to come out a few times, because i was so close to coming.
If ever you get the chance, do it. It is one of the wonders of the world.

visiting john in Poole

Poole,dorset
I arrived today, using the £1 national express bus fare. Such good value.
John invited a third guy to join us, he is a Briton who has gone to live in spain, alicante, 5yrs ago, and was telling me of his life there where wine is 1Euro a bottle, and he can get tomatoes 1kg for 40p. It sounds like a lovely life.
I am using \john's computer. and don't want to spend too much time online, as there is sex to do haha.
Our laptop in london has gone kaput, and simon is now trying to install windowxp and not succeeding. Ah well, it is a old laptop, with the tiles on the keyboard falling off. We will need to get a new laptop in the near future. And if we can get this old one working, i might just use it as a spare, to download pics from my digital camera.

when is it frugality and when is it stinginess.

london
I have often wondered why some people throw away things and are so extravagantly wasteful.
Reading this writer makes me realise why.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_marrin/article3908317.ece
It is a fine line between frugality and stinginess. It is very easy to go from being frugal to being miserly.
Childhood experiences of poverty can tip a child into being frugal when grown up or extravagant and spendthrift. There dont seem to be a way of telling how a child were become. The writer of the Times article says she hates being so poor and having to skimp and save and be deprived. And so she nows throws things away, as it makes her feel she never have to live like that again.
Whilst another child may grow up to hate waste having lived a childhood where she never have enough.
The right way to live , of course , is the middle way, neither be so frugal to deprive urself of fun, or so spendthrift. The middle way is the hardest way to achieve.

milk

london
I bought Sainsbury's 1% milk recently when it was reduced 4pints for 50p. It tastes fine, not much different from the UHT milk i usually buy.
I told Simon that if i buy at the full market price, £1.34 for 4pints/2.2litres, I would prefer to get the full cream milk. Here in UK, the price is the same for whole milk as for skimmed milk. Somehow I feel I get better value for my money with full cream milk.
In the past, when milk comes in bottles with different coloured bottle tops, it costs more for full cream.
Sainsbury's have stopped calling it whole milk, but gives the percentage instead. Somehow, saying it is 4% fat in the milk makes me feel cheated. Whole milk sounds so much more milk than naming it 4%. It makes me even less inclined to buy their skimmed milk when they call it 1%milk.Milk is made of fat, and to remove it, simply means u r buying expensive water.
Do others feel the same way about this as me, or am i (as I seem to get the feeling more and more these days) stepping on a different rhythm from others.

A really successful food hunt tonight

london
I am sure u all must be bored with me saying what bargains I have got in my food hunting, but tonight surpassed any previous bargains not only for its huge reductions but the variety.
i bought 3 packs 710mg each of minced beef 11%fat reduced from £3.39 to 60p each. A medium (1.6kg)chicken from £4.09 to £1, pork loin fr£2.30 to 50p, diced beef £3,40 to 60p, 4pints of milk (sainsbury's 1%fat) 50p. There were huge amounts of them too, so there was lots of bargains for everyone. The biggest reduction is the minced beef. They were all in the Sainsbury's.
I shall make a mince beef dish to bring to John's place when i visit him this coming monday. Perhaps a dry curry.
Such a lot of fun and money savings. I get a lot of pleasure from this.

slow cooker

london

Last night I bought some half priced brisket of beef,for £2, and decided instead of roasting it, I will cook a curry with it using the slow cooker which i got free in a charity shop. When I saw it, the shop has not sorted it out yet, as It was a new donation, and I asked how much it was,and was told since they are not allowed to sell electrical stuff I can have it free.

So the beef with some potatoes and carrots was cooking all night. Just now, I checked it and realised that it has two inside pots, one smaller than the other, and i had been cooking it using the two pots one inside the other.without taking one out. What a find, this slow cooker. it has two inside pots of different sizes. I took out one of the pots and it is now cooking in the larger size pot.

added 1pm, The meat is cooked to perfection, so tender, it is irresistable. The potatoes and carrots were still firm. very unusual, as the veg usually gets overcooked. But i like my vegetables al dente, so that is allright.

Not so anonymous

london
I was browsing in the charity shop when the old lady who was minding the shop said to me 'you are looking very smart today.'
I was surprised that she started a conversation and also the choice of words. I was in shorts and t-shirt. Not smart surely? I laughed and said,'it is summer, so time to bring out the shorts.'
She asked me if i live nearby. And said that she sees me often.
Well, I thought nobody knows me around here, but it seems they do.Now I come to think of it, they must see me everyday wandering around. She told me she lives in a row of almshouses, in Rochester Row. I have seen it, tiny cottages meant for the elderly. They have coffee and tea mornings to bring people who live there together. She said there is also a place where they serve food for £2. She asked me where i came from, I said 'Malaysia'. She said she had been to Malaysia, long ago, in the 50s, when it was dangerous to travel by road to Kluang, where her friendhas his rubber estate. And she said they have to cross a number of rivers by ferry to get there. I told her I lived in Muar, one of these river towns with the ferry, when I was young. She mentioned another rubber estate in Puchong. Now, Puchong is no more a rubber estate, it is a satelite town near Kuala Lumpur.
On the way back, I passed such a place for the elderly which she mentioned. It was closed, with a sign saying St Margeret's drop in centre for over 50s. I often pass it. An elderly man who happened to be passing by, he lives in the flats above, saw me peering in and told me about it. They sell meals for £2.10 he says, and tea and coffee for 25p. There seems to be a network of these places catering to the elderly. I asked the old lady if anyone can go. She said if u r a guest of an elderly person u can.
Well, considering I can get a whole chicken for £2.70 from the supermarket I think it is cheaper to cook at home. But maybe these elderly dont know, or are too old, to cook for themselves.

second hand rose

london
I read adino in reply to a commentator in his weblog that charity shops wont work in malaysia, as people in malaysia dont like to buy second hand things.
Unlike the western world, where charity shops are booming.
If what he says is true,why is that i wonder? From my own experience, a family friend do not like taking clothes from strangers. She says it might be from dead people, or you dont know what disease the clothes might have touched. I daresay that is a common perception amongst malaysians. Maybe many have seen only very poor , down and outs wear discarded clothes, and so they associate it with destitutes. Many will have known poverty where there is no choice but to live on handme downs and recycle. Those memories must give recycling a bad name.Poor people make do with second hand. So to have new things is a sign that u have made good.
Here in the West, we see film stars like Julia Roberts receiving her oscar wearing second hand clothes and people realise there is value in vintage clothes. Here in the west, people value antigues, because they can see it is well made. There is no tradition of collecting antigues in the east. If it is catching on now it is because malaysians who have lived in the west brought that home. To us brought up in malaysia, the old things are not desireable. I remember seeing old mother of pearl inlaid heavy furniture baba style and not fancy them, because they are so uncomfortable to sit on. They have a central slab of marble, i supposed to keep the bum cool. I think it makes sense, because a cushion will just be too warm after it has been sat on for some time, but it makes it a hard surface to sit on for any length of time. These furniture are kept in the room specially reserved for visitors so maybe they are meant to be uncomfortable so no visitor will be tempted to overstay. Maybe the old folks knows a thing or two. haha.
I think there is no love of old things because things rot very quickly in the humid atmosphere. So when we see any old things in the house, they are full of mildew...
I was reminded of this song by babra streisand 'second hand rose'.(Now is the time when I wish i know how to put songs onto my weblog. or know of websites where i can download the song.)
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/barbra+streisand/second+hand+rose_20012735.html
the lyrics are very apt. The song implies there is a stigma to wearing second hand clothes. Maybe that is why i seldom read in blogs where people say they love browsing in charity shops and getting things free from recycling bins and even show what they found. Maybe people are not confident enough about themselves to confess to it. They see it as handouts and living on charity. They are afraid of giving the wrong impression to others.For people who love a bargain, and I am one of them, recycling bins and charity shops are great places to find them.

lost and found

a camelia, my favourite flower.

london
Its Simon again. He lost his work ID card.Again. He called me from work asking if I have seen it. I said I have seen it on the trolley next to the sofa but it is not there now. He asked me to search for it, but I couldnot find it. He even came back from work to look for it.
As usual, I did not join in,as my soul do not want to experience losing things and so do not want to join him in searching for it. haha. I refrained from telling him to keepit in one place all the time.I am sure he knows that and do not want to hear me saying the obvious. His soul wants him to experience the drama and anguish of losing things. haha.
Anyway, he returned at the end of his work day and I asked 'did u find it?'
'No', he said. And just after saying that, he went to the bathroom. I was in the wc taking a piss. When I came out, he was there holding the card in his hands. He found it. It was in the pocket of his bathrobe which was hanging on the hook behind the bathroom door.
he called back his work to cancel his lost report.
Well, his soul likes to give him the runaround about waylaying things. He does not put things in one place, that is why. Ah well, I am sure it will happen again, until such time as his soul decides not to have that kind of fun with him. It may be hard for others who always lose things to tthink of it as fun. But to the soul it is, otherwise why does it always repeat it? It is only when the soul finally have enough of it only then will that person change his habit and make sure he allocate a place to keep his things always. When a person changes,to everyone who witness him repeating that drama so often will say 'that person has finally come to his senses'. I think it applies to anything that happens in a person's life that happen habitually. Their souls want it, and they can only break that habit if their soul decides to change. To me, anyone can break a habit. All they have to change is if their souls decide it has enough and wants to try something else. I believe everyperson has a soul and an ego. That person's life become chaotic and there is no peace of mind when his soul and his ego want different things. And yet, (and this may sound contradictory) they both want the same thing. Its like a game, one part of the person acts as devil advocate.