"The Rounds," March 30, 2008

This actually isn’t old news, as I received a phone call from Bear about it a little after 5:00 P.M. this past Saturday afternoon, i.e., just over two days ago. And yhes, it’s more unhappy news.

B. K. Hubbard of Pattaya, a.k.a. “Hub,” passed away about 45 minutes before Bear called me; he had just received the call, and called me from his new base up in Surin to help start spreading the word down this way. Though I have initial info concerning the funeral, that has yet to be confirmed, but it should be by tomorrow. I’ll post it here once I have the information.

It’s particularly sad that Hub died just two or three weeks after he lost his daughter. But Hub’s passing wasn’t entirely unexpected, as he had had serious health issues for awhile, though it was sudden.

As far as John Grovenor is concerned, I’ve had no further information since my last update here Friday. By the way, I sent out an update alert on my third-party service Friday, but I think that must not have got sent, as there was only one more visitor to this blog after I sent it — and my list numbers in the hundreds.

So, I’ve decided to use Twitter as well, a service for which I signed up well over a year ago but then never did anything with. You have to join (free) to become a “follower,” which you do by going to my Twitter site at then click the “Follow” button you see there. It’s at this URL:

http://twitter.com/MekhongKurt

Though I havenn’t explored how to receive “tweets,” as the short messages the service allows me to send are called, on cell phones, it’s possible. So, if you want to receive update alerts from me on your mobile phone. set up your account to receive my alerts. NOTE: Be asware that many carriers charge YOU to receive messages, so you may not wish to do this.

Sigh . . .

"The Rounds," March 27, 2009

An update regarding John Grovener: night before last I heard that he isn’t technically dead, but is brain-dead.

Apologies for the uncertainty. When I wrote the other day, I was writing what several people had told me, but it turns out we may all have been misinformed.

As I now understand it, there are some legal issues involved; such cases can get really convoluted here (no criticism of the local laws intended).

Disclaimer: I don’t know if the latest I heard is correct. As far as I know, no one has spoken with Khun Ae, John’s wife, nor with anyone else actually in Phuket, so there is some uncertainty.

It does seem clear that John is in a really bad way, with little hope of recovery.

I’ll post more as I learn it.

It’s continued to be a pretty quiet week; yesterday, I was at the Square for well over an hour before even a single other customer happened along.

Let’s see, what to report. Burma Richard and his lovely wife Junko were in Japan earlier this month to visit Junko’s Mom. For those who don’t know, Junko would be something equivalent to a duchess were the imperial system still in effect; she’s an only child of a line that dates back about 800 years, a samurai clan. And since she and Richard have no children, she’s the end of the line — no siblings, cousins, etc. Anyway, as they always do, they went with her Mom to a mountain resort to play around in the snow and swim in some hot springs. Richard always looks forward to these visits, during which he just forgets about the world and lazes around.

Two guys have lucked out at their jobs, both landing positions right here in Bangkok, lucky devils. One is Rick S., and the other is “California” Dennis. Rick’s staying at an upscale hotel down by the Don Muang tollway, while Dennis is staying in a place he’s maintained here for some years now.

Can’t believe I forgot to mention this the other day. Greg and his lovely Missus, Khun Ae, had a baby back sometime around the first of the year. She’s been after him a good while to have a baby, and he finally relented — a first for both of them. Last time I saw them, a couple of weeks or so ago, her Mother was still here helping take care of (and spoil!) the family addition, though I don’t know how long she’s here, nor even if she’s still here. Congratulations to the happy parents!

Big “Crane” Joe is still in town; he’s been “leaving” for awhile now, but given the slowness of business, he’s not in any big hurry to go to the desert in Arizona, where he has a house. No one’s in any hurry for him to leave — he’s a heck of a nice guy, and very well liked around the Square.

Cajun Riley B. is going back to work at his job in Malaysia soon, then next time off will be heading back to the bayous of Louisiana to fish and basically fool around. His splendid Missus, Khun Lek, will be going with him; turns out she cottons to American food — specifically, Cajun food. Which Mr. Riley sure knows how to fix! Got to see Khun Lek the other night for the first time in a good long while, and that was nice. She’s great, and sure does make Riley happy. Nice lady.

Sweetie Pie’s 32nd birthday was Wednesday, and she apparently had a festive day indeed down at a friend’s in Pattaya. She called me Tuesday to say she’d be back in town for her birthday, but then she called me about mid-day Wednesday well into her cups — she and her girlfriend had gotten an early start about 5:00 o’clock Tuesday afternoon and hadn’t been to bed since! She SAID she would try to come home later Wednesday — but it’s about 7:30 A.M. Friday as I write, and she’s STILL not back. Or I don’t think she is, anyway; last time I talked to her last night, she was still one hurting kitten! Maybe today . . .

I know this isn’t a lot, but I’m trying to get back on schedule. I was pleased to see a rather steep increase in traffic, and want to thank anyone who visited and maybe sent along the link to others.

Enough for one go. . . .