Tonight is Burns Night and as an adopted Scot I am celebrating it with gusto.
Veggie haggis, neeps and tatties for din-dins and even a small bottle of malt to follow.
In honor the man I decided to wear a bit of tartan today...
Vintage 20s tux jacket, vintage 50s blouse top, vintage 80s Ralph Lauren tartan trousers, vintage 80s suede hiking boots (still dirty from when I helped mum do her kitchen up over a year ago, tut-tut) & a sequin beret (that looks a bit like a Jimmy hat when teamed with my hair) to add a bit of quirky glam to the proceedings.
When I bought these pants last November I couldn't do the zip up but now they fit like a glove, I love loosing inches without even trying.
Maybe I'm burning more calories trying to keep warm, eh?
I felt a little sad today (post-holiday blues no doubt) but a healthy dose of my all-time favourite comedian George Carlin soon had me giggling again :)
Here's a selection of my fave George Carlin quotes....
"Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town."
"I don’t have pet peeves — I have major psychotic fucking hatreds!"
"If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little."
"If it requires a uniform, it’s a worthless endeavor."
"I don’t like to think of laws as rules you have to follow, but more as suggestions."
"I love and treasure individuals as I meet them; I loathe and despise the groups they identify with and belong to."
"Property is theft. Nobody “owns” anything. When you die, it all stays here."
"The future will soon be a thing of the past."
"The only good thing ever to come out of religion was the music."
"Atheism is a non-prophet organization."
"The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it."
"Instead of warning pregnant women not to drink, I think female alcoholics ought to be told not to fuck." "You can prick your finger but don't finger your prick"
"What was the best thing before sliced bread?"
"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor."
"As far as I’m concerned, humans have not come up with a belief that’s worth believing."
"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."
Sadly George is no longer with us but thankfully his masterful comedy still is.
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx
I love snow so for me these past few days have been a real treat.
At lunchtime we swung by the £1 shop to get some grub for the wild birds before hitting a nearby parkland trail.
En route we ventured into the snow clad undergrowth to place fat balls and scatter some seed mix.
Not that I think that our feathered friends in this area are particularly hard up but it's a nice thing to do just in case there are a few of them going hungry in these snowy times.
We spotted a black bird and a robin but both were way too fast for me to get a photograph.
There were a lot of people out and about walking the trail, many more than on an average Sunday.
What I like the most about snow, is its seeming ability to make strangers smile at each other and even spontaneously break into conversation, something that is sadly not commonplace in London.
Snow is magic!
It wasn't actually that cold but that probably had something to do with the umpteen layers that I had piled on.
Re-emerging from the undergrowth. One chap stopped and asked if we'd lost our dog to which I replied "No, we're just feeding the birdies", he did look a little bit bemused...hehehe!
Once we'd reached the end of the trail Mark and I rewarded ourselves with a quick pint at an all but empty pub before making the trek back home.
As promised here is my account of the nightmarish speedboat journey that we undertook whilst on holiday a couple of weeks ago...
Island hopping, sounds lush doesn't it?! Sitting on deck topping up the tan for five hours, or not. Twenty minutes into the ferry journey all but a handful of people had gone downstairs. The speed boat in this picture was the same size as the one we travelled on from Koh Lipe to Langkawi.
On New Years Day
we left Koh Lanta to head for Langkawi.
As we were
leaving Thailand and entering Malaysia we had to stop off on Koh Lipe to go through immigration and
also to change from the ferry to a small speed boat for the last part of the journey.
All the way from
Koh Lanta to Koh Lipe the ferry was rocking to-and-fro and sitting on deck wasn't very comfortable, so we spent most of the five hour journey inside.
I was knocked out by the heavy diesel fumes and slept most of the way.
I was really
happy to get off the ferry on Koh Lipe hoping that it would be a quick 90
minute hop from there to Langkawi but I should have known better.
We made the same
trip from Langkawi to Koh Lipe two years ago, so I kind of knew
what to expect.
On that occasion the weather was pretty bad with lashing rain, thunder and lightning
but the boat was bigger and felt slightly safer to be on, the crew also gave
us life-vests & rain ponchos as soon as we boarded and our
luggage was kept in a hold underneath the deck.
The boat that we
boarded on Koh Lipe this time around was no bigger than the speed boat that Mark and I had dived
off a few days earlier which to me felt a little bit disconcerting especially
since all the bags were simply tossed to the back of the boat in a jumble &
not secured or covered up in any way.
At least on a
good dive boat everything is meticulously secured and you get a briefing about
safety on board (the whereabouts of life vests & first aid kit
etc) before you even get on the thing.
We were last on
to the boat as we chasing the connection and it was already stuffed to the
gunnels with luggage and people.
A yummy mummy with a tiny baby in her arms, families with young children
and even a pregnant woman...my immediate thought was "This is going to
be interesting".
I'm just going to
break off in a wee rant here before I go on cause I feel I need to vent!
Why oh why, do
some parents think it's a good idea to bring a tiny baby on holiday to places like
these?
Firstly going to
a tropical country you will probably have to inject your zero-year-old with
some nasty shit so it doesn't contract some serious illness, then put the poor mite
through the trials & tribulations of a long haul flight, then it’s the shock of going from a very cold to a very hot country, exceedingly strong sun,
stingy things in the sea & a plethora of insects that just want to eat you
etc etc etc...
Why this outburst
I hear you ask, who has made your
spleen erupt this time Jennie?
Well, maybe I'm
unfair cause I'm sure there are some parents that are quite capable in coping
with bringing a small child on a holiday like this, that's not to say that I
personally agree with their choice.
However on our
boat there was a particularly mad mother that had obviously OD
on YouTube videos sound-tracked by chill-out music
depicting happy bronzed Swedes sitting on the deck of a boat gliding over a
tranquil sea, sunning themselves and looking happy.
It is my belief
that she had not taken into account that the sea is unpredictable and as a rule
does not behave like those glorious stills featured on travel sites.
We had just about
hit the open sea when the boat stared rocking slightly and said woman started
screaming that she demanded the boat to turn around and go back to Koh Lipe and
if it didn't she was sure that the boat would turn over and we would all drown.
If the other little kids weren't pooping themselves with fear before, they certainly were
now.
I looked at the
crew and most of them were still upbeat and smiling, so I figured we were still
safe to go ahead to Langkawi; after all they make this journey everyday and
unless they were a crew of suicide-boaters, I reckoned they didn't want to die either and if they though it was safe
enough to go ahead, it probably would be.
The crew asked
the passengers what they wanted to do and most of us wanted to continue to
Langkawi but it was agreed that we’d proceed with caution, so two of the motors
where shut off, which significantly added to the journey time.
The swell was
building and sunset was fast approaching.
The waves were
hitting us side on, so at times it did feel as if we were going to tumble right
over.
By now the crew
had issued everyone with ridiculously substandard life vest.
Both the light and
the whistle was missing on mine and only one of the clips was in working order,
so I tied the vest to my body and grabbed our Scubapro torch from the dive bag,
better safe than sorry.
In my head I was
also working out a safe route to leave the boat, over the mound of unsecured
bags (that were now absolutely sodden where they lay) and the two motor blades
that would still be rotating.
All of a sudden a
big wave mashed into the side of the boat and as the bow hit the surface the hull made
a loud cracking sound.
At that point I
thought we’d had it but thankfully the hull was still intact.
It was around and
about now the crew started displaying some slight signs of being worried
themselves and they periodically lifted the floor panel to check that
everything was as it should be.
I was starting to
get a wee bit worried cause the sun was quickly disappearing over the horizon and I
still couldn't see Langkawi.
Granted looking
for land wasn't the easiest as every time you peered over the side
you’d get hit in the face by a furious whip of water.
Darkness fell and
we were still running on only two motors.
The
crew weren't very forthcoming in updating the passengers on how much
longer we’d have to travel before we got to our destination.
Then all of a
sudden hubby spotted the lights of the Langkawi cable car far away in the distance,
it was like seeing the holy grail!
We came onto the lee side of the island
and the waves all but abated, the captain put the boat into full throttle and
we were soon in the harbour.
Sodden to the bones, shivering and still
buzzing with adrenaline.
This was one of the most pant-soilingly
scary yet at the same time thrilling boat rides that I've ever taken.
When we arrived at the resort just before
midnight we had to hang up everything in our bags to dry.
Of course had I been smart, I would have
packed everything into bin liners and got a rain-cover for my
rucksack but alas I didn't, I will do next time for sure.
Unfortunately going by boat is the only
option to get to a lot of the gorgeous islands in this region but Langkawi has an airport so should you
want to visit and don't want to brave the waves you can fly there.
Here are a few clips from the journey
taken with Mark's GoPro (water resistant) camera...
It snowed all morning, so when hubby came back from work we went for a walk in the park, threw a few snowballs and took some outfit pics, as you do ;)
Today's Ensemble:
Musk Ox of Copenhagen parka coat
Three pairs of leggings
Crushed velvet leotard
Revamped kilt pin top
Vintage 20s gents waistcoat
Steve Madden boots
Tibetan prayer bangle
Studded collar
Earrings that I made myself
Knitted scarf as headdress
I'm wearing two of my favourite things today.
My 1920s waistcoat that I got from my mother-in-law about five or six years ago. I love it so much I have literally worn it to pieces, the armholes are fraying, the seams are coming apart and the lining is threadbare but I still think it improves with every wear. The last button fell off a couple of years ago but instead of replacing it I added a punky kilt pin. I call it my tatterdemalion waistcoat.
The second favourite I'm wearing today is my Danish made parka coat. I bought it from a car boot sale on a roasting hot summers day some years ago and got it for song. It is amazingly warm, I think you could quite possibly undertake an Arctic expedition wearing this.
I can see myself wearing this coat for many many winters to come, unless I of course emigrate to a country that doesn't do cold winters ;)
When we went to Ko Lanta in 2010 I fell
head over heels in love with all the beautiful dogs and cats on the island but
was also rather saddened by the fact that there seemed to be quite a few
straggly and malnourished looking strays on the island too.
On one of our pre-breakfast walks one morning we spotted a dog hiding away in
the undergrowth, he looked really unwell and from what we could see he had
a nasty gash on his leg, it looked as if he’d been stabbed, he seemed to be
very scared and as we got closer he showed his teeth and started growling.
We got some food
and water and put it down at a growls distance, moved away and watched as he
limped over and devoured it hungrily.
Later that day we went back but he had
gone and we never saw him again.
Throughout our holiday I had seen strays
being chased away by locals in a rather brusque manner, so I gathered that they
were not very popular on the island and would probably not be taken in or nursed back to health.
Therefore I was chuffed to bits when I on
our last day there spotted a notice about ‘Lanta Animal Welfare’ in a shop.
I thought, "Thank goodness these poor
mites have a guardian angel here after all" and promptly stuffed all my
remaining Baht in one of their donation boxes.
Needless to say I was thrilled to go back to
Ko Lanta so that we could finally pay a visit to this brilliant organisation.
I only wish
there was a Lanta Animal Wefare on every island in Thailand.
In the UK
animal rights and animal welfare organisations comes as standard but in many
countries throughout Asia they don’t and sadly
without appropriate laws, it’s very difficult to combat cruelty and promote
animal welfare in these countries.
When I read about the absolutely atrocious ways that
some people on Ko Lanta use to rid the island of unwanted cats, dogs and strays
I was naturally horrified but it also made me want to understand what really
lay behind such appalling behaviour towards animals and in particular dogs.
The majority of the population on Ko Lanta are Muslims so
I decided to have a gander on Google to see if I could find out if there was anything
written in the Koran about dogs.
As with most searches on the Internet,
this one yielded a heap of contradicting views and information.
From what I can gather there seems to be
two camps on the whole ‘Dogs in Islam’ issue.
There are those who consider any physical
contact with a dog an unclean act and state that Islam prohibits them from
keeping dogs as pets and then there are the more liberal Muslims that seem to
consider dogs in a more western context.
Apparently the Koran doesn’t say anything
expressly against dogs however there are several hadiths (important
sacred texts that many Muslims choose to live by) that seemingly condemn them.
"Five
kinds of animals are mischief-doers and can be killed even in the Sanctuary:
They are the rat, the scorpion, the kite, the crow and the rabid dog."
(Book #54, Hadith #531)
I
do want to mention that there are also hadiths that cast dogs in a more
favourable light and because of that I’m not content in believing that cruelty to dogs on Ko Lanta is simply down to peoples religious beliefs.
Maybe to some extent
there was some method in the madness when these scriptures were penned, serious
decease like rabies may have been rife at the time and the hadiths were written
to safeguard the people from being infected.
Unfortunately
rabies is still a real threat in this part of the world,
I found this information on the WHO website:
“More
than 55 000 people die of rabies every year mostly in Asia and Africa.”
“Dogs
are the source of the vast majority of human rabies deaths.”
Thankfully rabies is a
vaccine-preventable disease and the best strategy for preventing rabies in
people is by eliminating rabies in dogs through vaccination which is one of the
very important things Lanta Animal Welfare are doing.
I
can understand the fear of decease, the want to keep animal populations at a
manageable level and even that some people find dogs unhygienic and don’t want
to keep them in their homes, each to their own.
What
I cannot understand is how an individual is even capable of such unspeakable
cruelty as to throw boiling hot oil over a poor defenceless animal?
Surely
we’ve left the realms of religion here, or can people really rationalize doing
stuff like that off the back of their beliefs and not see the utter evil in
their actions?
A
brutally sadistic act like putting fishhooks in dog food or leaving kittens on
a cliff shelf when the tide is coming in would land you in a world of bother in
the UK but goes unpunished on Ko Lanta.
Keeping
the stray dog and cat population under control is of course very important but
it should be done humanely and this is why a place like Lanta Animal Welfare is
so important.
Through
the provision of a humane alternative to population control and education of
the younger generation they show the locals a better way of doing things and
this in turn will hopefully stop the senseless violence towards these beautiful
creatures.
This was the notice that I spotted in the shop back in 2010. The founder Junie Kovacs used to shelter the strays in her own home at the back of her restaurant & Thai cooking school 'Time For Lime'.
The proceeds from 'Time For Lime' went to build this fantastic shelter situated by the Muay Thai stadium, where Pra Ae beach meets Klong Khong beach.
If you are not a dog person there are plenty of cats to cuddle too.
Who needs elephant trekking when you can go on a stroke-a-thon outside the Happy Cat House :)
We spent a good few hours just cuddling the cats, they are very friendly.
I have a severe weakness for jet-black cats.
The shelter encourages visitors and there are free guided tours every hour.
The dogs are divided into four packs and spend the day outside in four spacious pens. At nighttime they stay in kennels inside.
More cuddly cats. After you are all cuddled out with the cats, you can take one of the many gorgeous and remarkably well-behaved dogs for a walk.
Bones, Tarzan (who is in the process of being adopted), cheeky wee Spot (who went for walkies with us), Lanta, Sugar and my niece.
Rocket (possibly the most handsome dog I have ever seen), Gorgeous Chilli and Momma (who we took out for walkies).
Whilst we were there on our second visit someone brought in a slightly different patient.
WALKIES with Momma, Spot and Star.
I really can't think of a better way to spend a few hours. We met some really nice people here too.
On our second visit I convinced my sister (who is afraid of dogs) to come with us. A bit of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy whilst on holiday and guess what I think it worked ;)
Denver was trying to catch miniature crabs as they scuttled across the sand and Pepsi was sniffing out the bigger ones hiding in their holes.
This is Dok Dek and he was rescued after someone poured boiling hot oil on his head. He's a real cheeky chappy with bundles of character. All the dogs and cats at LAW are looking for loving new homes.
After spending a few wonderful hours with the cats and dogs not to forget the lovely people at LAW chilling out at Time For Lime's laid back beach bar is the icing on the cake.
If you want to find out more about Lanta Animal Welfare please visit their website and if their work speaks volumes to you why not make a donation to this wonderful organization, they need every single Baht to keep the good work going.
Before we traveled to Thailand I read about a dog called Sky on LAWs facebook page and needless to say her story made me cry. When I saw her in real life I just wanted to take her in my arms and keep her safe forever. How can people be so cruel to such a beautiful soul? If I had the money and lived in a big house in the country I would love to give Sky a new home. I hope someone with the biggest of hearts finds their way to her.
I am so happy that there are people in this world like Junie Kovacs and all the brilliant volunteers at Lanta Animal Welfare, all I can say is thank goodness for them!
