Thailand 101

*phew* it's HOT... finally "summer" came to Phuket and my spirit has been lifted already. The weather is perfect, the swimmingpool is cool and a perfect shade of blue, our porch overlooking the whole complex is in the shade and I have plenty of book to get through. This truly is as good as it gets.

Still not drinking alcohol and still on a strict diet but all that kinda fades when you have a full long weekend ahead with this weather. (And Monday I'll be off the leach again and I'll celebrate it with some pool lessons from Michael and a bunch of low calorie beers ;))

Johan, Sarah and Marianne starting the weekend.

Johan, Sarah and Marianne starting the weekend.

 I started work early today and when we had our Swedish friends Sarah and Johan over the whole afternoon I could spend it being as lazy and touristy as humanly possible.  Now the sun is setting and I'm cooling down here in my office with a cup of coffee and some red shoulders. Later we'll go for the half hour walk to downtown Kamala for a steak and a few sober games of pool at Charlie Bar. Then home for an evening on the couch with some good movies... and some raw carrots.

A few days ago our Dutch friend Jan made his annual visit and he brought Sabine with him this time. Great to see him as always, but it was a very brief visit since they were heading to Koh Phi Phi already the day after they arrived. He might be back in a few days and Sabine certainly will since we have a lot of her stuff in the spare room now ;)

Time for the match of the week recap:
After the complete and utter epic fail against OzBar last wednesday I had more or less given up on pool and lost the passion for it, but since this is a team thing I of course turned up for this weeks battle against Apple Tree Bar... but I had a bad feeling about it and that feeling only became harsh reality when we stepped in and saw their new table. It was a bleedin' snooker table aarrgghhhhh. For those who don't know, the difference is huge between a snooker table and a proper pool table, mainly in that the wholes are half the size and the balls are equally smaller which makes for a completely different game requiring different skills and a very different strategy depending on your talent.

So there I was, stone cold sober, tired, hungry, slightly disinterested in pool, facing an impossible table and a bunch of guys who played on it all the time and were damn good at it... and my only baggage was the memory of last weeks disaster and not a single game since then. Yay fun...

Michael opened the match as usual but this time he lost convincingly, making it even more clear that we would be lucky to steal even a single point of the 11 points up for grabs.... Ahh but this is where the story takes a decidedly upbeat and very unexpected twist.

I stepped up to the table and decided to at least concentrate and do my best instead of just folding in advance, and whaddayaknow I played one of the best games of my life and beat both the unfamiliar table and the pretty decent opponent. Score one for Team Paradise Bar, and this time it wasn't even a lucky break or anything, I just played better than the other guy.

Johan was out with a major hangover from the day before so our friend Martin jumped in with 10 minutes of prep time and gave it a really good show, kudos for showing up and making a difference !

After the singles we were tied at 3-3 but for once we pounced in the doubles and had a slender 5-4 lead as we headed into the dreaded overtime zone. Long story short we won it 7-4 and the was much celebration. I think any of us would have sold the match for a 7-4 defeat before we got going and instead we ended up winning, guess we simply HAVE to be the extreme underdogs to perform. The only match we have ever been favorites to win, we got hammered. 

The whole evening was fun and there was a great mood on both teams, I can only recommend a visit to Apple Tree Bar (Or the Kamala Sports Bar as it is now called under the new owner) if you are ever in these parts.

The actual games were all close affairs and the snooker table actually made it more interesting in some ways. Much more strategy and safety play than usual. On the regular small pool tables a good player will clean the table and make the easier puts 99 times of a 100. On this table nothing was certain and even the best of the players had to adjust.. or miss what would normally be absolute sitters.

Queball pace became extremely important and usually that will benefit those who really can play (in contrast to happy-go-lucky-wanna-be-players like me) but for some reason I felt comfortable on it and at times I almost convinced myself I knew what I was doing, so the gap did not widen as it should have ;)

Newt played great, Nick was finally back in his semi-magician form, Martin1 was on fire (that last black... they are still talking about how the laws of physics were out of play for a snap instant there) Michael was as steady and solid as ever and Martin2 made sure he is on our short list next time we need a player and I played way over my meagre abilities and loved every second of it. FUN !!!  (and curling is off by the way, I changed my mind)

1 hour ago...

Guess thats it for now, sun is almost down, the chicadas are out in full force and I gotta go close the doors and windows before I go deaf.