Screwing everything in sight...

Get your mind out of the gutter you lot !

One thing I personally believe every household should have in it is a power drill. I had to borrow Murray's Bosch when I last hung photos in The Compound and as his has now blown up, I decided that as Veasna's birthday photos needed hanging and I have various other small projects in mind it was time to invest in my own.

A quick phone call to Murray informed me I needed to search out a maktec ( made by Makita ) as they are the only reliable drill in the country. So I headed off to Russian Market and again, the way vendors do business here amazed me.

First Shop; They only had new 10mm/non-hammer maktecs for $43 and would not even talk discounting. Warranty ? No..sorry.

Second Shop; They told me thay had new 10mm/non-hammer maktecs and then proceeded trip over all manner of dismantled power tools before bringing out 2 second hand maktecs. There was one fairly decent looking one which I plugged in and when I head it operate I started to worry these smaller drills might not have quite enough punch for serious screwing ( despite the fact moist khmer walls are softer than Camembert cheese ). He wanted $18. I offered $15. He accepted but no warranty. I told him I might come back.

Third Shop; I spied a very neat,orderly and large hardware shop on the NW corner of the market and lo and behold they had brand new 13mm maktec hammer drills. They asked $46. I offered $40. We settled on $43 with a 3 month warranty card and for an extra $7 I got a set of timber/masonry and metal screw bits as well as a phillips head and flat head screw bit.

So, Like I said, I am now prepared for some major screwing. First order of the day ;

Jeff's safety gate to stop Aliyah going upstairs.

Second;

Veasna's photo boards

This absolutely made my day.

As a fan of American Idol and in particular Simon Cowell for his ability to keep it real when everyone else around him is gushing forth with crap, this clip is truly legendary. Apparently I am a bit behind the 8 ball as this lass' performance on Britain has Talent has been viewed over 100,000,000 times on various websites but I am glad I got to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Enjoy.

Khmer New Year 2009 -Waiting for the Golden Cow

Back home, as 12a.m approaches on New Year's Eve everyone is usually tanked up,throwing up, partying their arses off and getting ready to snog some random spunk or their partner, pop some bubbly etc etc.

Grace couldn't hack it.ZZZZZZZZ

You know what they do in Cambodia ?. For about an hour leading up to 1.30a.m ( that's NYE
here ), they watch this inane TV broadcast with a bunch of holyish apsarars dancing around in a soft glow. The main event is when this Golden cow floats down from the sky and lands on the ground. Cambodians then light some incense and well...........that's it !

Is it here yet ? Is it here yet ?

Oh for Buddha's sake..hurry up !

The cow ! The cow ! It's here !

Mum makes a wish and I think the look says it all;
" come earlier next year you rotten bloody cow"

Needless to say, I have vetoed this scintillating event for the last 2 years.

GRACE; General Update

I'll tell you when I am finished with the spoon ok ?

Our little Grace is coming along marvellously. She now has her two top teeth coming down and is a very confident, inquisitive and all round easy to manage baby. She is eating EVERYTHING that we throw at her - baby foods, bread, rice soup, soft boiled eggs,yogurt, ice cream, mango and she can destroy a bottle of formula in seconds.

Her favourite mush.

She dominates her cousin Vichea and reduces him to tears with her " sorry mate, I want that toy NOW" tactics. She now sleeps almost the whole way through the night BUT has become a little AirCon snob. If she is at the end of her day and is very tired putting her in an AC'd room puts her out like a light.

The cousins at Grandma's house

She is even now swimming in The Compound pool !. Leakhana is the best mum and looks after Grace's every need and can read her like a book. She knows every little sound and bump and scratch and nuance and is very very patient.

Enjoying a cooling swim

Doof Doof Jeep

Well I sold the Jeep last week. Then the guy recanted. As part of the sale process I had to put some new Monroe shocks on the front and all of a sudden the car was riding like a Rolls Royce. After a heavy rain storm on Saturday afternoon and then battling waste deep water along 136 st in the Jeep to get to my Poker game whilst all around me were conked out, I have decided to keep it . I bloody love this car.

First order of business ? SOUND. I decided it was time for an MP3 player to be installed and I hit the strip where all the car pimping shops are. Two hours of haggling and waiting around and $40 later, I have a brand new sound system that PUMPS out the tunes. Luckily the Jeep's speakers were fine so I did not need to buy new ones. It makes such a difference to be able to tackle the Phnom Penh traffic with AC/DC blaring............

Next I removed the big roof rack to give the car a more streamlined look and finally, the AC will be tuned to make it Westinghouse quality.

Paul and Aileen's house warming party

The Lord of The Manor - Paul

After a boring, stiflingly hot day lying around with the nieces, Sunday night brought Paul and Aileen’s housewarming party. Paul has just about put the finishing touches on his palatial multi-level hacienda and whilst I have seen it unfold over the months as we play poker in his backyard, it was time for Paul and Aileen to show the house of to everyone. The jeep was loaded with kids and baby and all supplies; Zorok Beer, Wolf Blass red wine, baby formula, spare nappies,iPods for music supply, cameras etc etc and away we went. Luckily Paul’s house is about 1km from ours so it was a short trip.

Women.

On arrival the party was getting started with the usual poker suspects and colleagues, wives and girlfriends. Thousands of children were running about under foot and the flip flop pile at the front door took on Everest like proportions. After a few cold beers, the table was loaded with plates and plates of delicious food and everyone was soon noshing hard. Across the road another party was raging and the (mostly male) crowd was having an absolute ball dancing as the music pumped out.

After dinner I took to the bar (literally –Paul had removed a 2 meter section of his restaurant’s bar ) and did my best at mixing a variety of cocktails which seemed to go down ok although it was all a bit random because I was not sure how big the measure was – 50/25ml or 70/35ml. Paul’s new sheesha pipe fresh in from Afghanistan was fired up and everyone including some of the girls and some inquisitive young Khmer guys were choofing away as the party revelers across the road watched on with interest.

Grace and Veasna

A little later I sniffed out a card game going on out in the back yard. Some of Paul’s relatives and his chef and her husband etc were playing and I thought it might be fun to sit in with them. None of them spoke English so asking for instructions was pointless. It was basically just a case of sitting down and learning the hard way. What I soon figured out was that they were basically playing 7 card stud poker!! And even better – they were playing with small change. Just 2c saw you in the game! Lucky Luke joined in and a small crowd soon gathered to watch the white guys get fleeced. As I tried to steal pots by bluffing and muscling the Khmers with larger cash bets of $1, I soon got done trying to score a straight and a little later Luke was out doing the exact same thing.

A top night as we approached Khmer New Year and big thanks to the Gager Family for a great night.

Leakhana's new iTurd phone

Looks like and Apple iPhone.........

On Saturday Leakhana and Veasna took of for Central Market and on the list were some new school pants for Veasna, some silk to make a new traditional Khmer New year dress for Leakhana and some flip flops for me. So imagine my surprise when my wife arrived home with all of the above and a brand new 8GB Apple Touch Phone to boot! At a cost of just $120!

Now, bearing in mind we just swapped out her old Nokia for a new Nokia only a month ago and it cost me $100, I had to keep a cap on my ire. We were running low on cash for New Year (an expensive time for anyone involved with a Khmer family) and I had told my wife to be tight with our cash. So …yeah…seeing the Apple come out its box irked me somewhat though $120 was a bargain for this phone. Or was it?On closer inspection, it seems that whilst the Apple Touch Phone was branded with the Apple logo, it is actually a “Peaktel” phone straight out of China. Now, to be fair, Leakhana did know this but like many others, she was seduced by the sleek, shiny design and the touch screen functionality of the unit despite its non…er….Appleness. As a life user of Nokia phones, this defection was a big deal for Leakhana and my anger at her impulse shopping soon subsided as she explained she really just wanted to learn about new technology. Who can argue with that? Besides, I find it very hard to get mad with my wife.

The box says it's an iPhone....

So, being interested in new technologies myself, I quickly scoped up the phone and went into touchy-feely-test-the-functions mode. Within about 5 minutes I had made my informed opinion. This phone truly sucked the big one. For a start you just about have to punch the screen for the desired function to occur. Secondly, on opening a new SMS message, you are automatically in Chinese and have to scroll through the languages to select English. Every time! Going to the manual doesn’t help (yes…believe it or not I DO occasionally use a manual) because it is brief in the extreme. My prediction to my wife “You will be trading this phone back to a Nokia within a month” and I from then on referred to the item as “that Chinese piece of crap”.

Hang on a sec....what's this "Peaktel" in the manual ?

Later that night Leakhana joined me as I finished up playing the Poker Tournament at The Red Fox ( a respectable 5^th out of 18 ) and as we retired to a bar for a beer I asked her “ so how is that Chinese piece of crap going anyway?”.Her automatic and strong reply ? “ I HATE THE BLOODY THING!” We both had a good laugh and it is back to the phone shop we go.

30 Odd Years ago

What were you doing 30 odd years ago ? Like me, I bet you were tucked up in suburbia enjoying the good life ?I was happily attending Neutral bay Public School in Sydney, enjoying being a Boy Scout, riding skateboards, learning how to surf and generally leading the life of a happy little kid. Australia was and is the Lucky Country and the greatest threat I faced was a wooden spooning from my dad ( or my teacher ) for being a cheeky little sod.

I remember CLEARLY the nightly Channel 9 news reports about the almost weekly arrival of "boat people" from Kampuchea. As they desperately tried to escape the Khmer Rouge many made it in tiny overloaded boats, many didn't. I also remember that at the time the school yard jokes centred around Kampucheans and their skininess. As a 10 year old,I had no idea where Kampuchea was or why they were coming to our country.

Well, imagine my surprise that 30 years later I find myself living in Cambodia, married to a Cambodian lady and with Cambodian family . Life takes you on some amazing turns. I have blogged mostly about the banal, amusing and frivolous for some time now but the other night I was reading Pol Pot's autobiography whilst my daughter Grace ( half Cambodian / half Australian ) slept beside me. It is a very heavy read and when they get into the real desperate years, it is..well..harrowing. I just found myself thinking all over again how much Cambodia and it's people have been through.

This is where I choose to live and despite it's horrific recent history, I wouldn't have it any other way.

A Cambodian soldier holds a .45 to the head of a Khmer Rouge suspect in 1973

Survivors sift through rubble after the Khmer Rouge bombed Phnom Penh, the capital city, on January 1, 1975

A prisoner gets her mug shot taken. At prisons like Phnom Penh's infamous Tuol Sleng, prisoners were painstakingly documented before being sent to their deaths in mass graves later to be come known as the "killing fields." In total, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died between 1975 and 1979.

Forced labourers digging canals in Kampong Cham province, part of the massive agrarian infrastructure the Khmer Rouge planned for the country.

The Khmer Rouge sought to rid Cambodia of all Western influences that distracted its people from their agrarian calling. Cars, abandoned and forbidden, were stacked up alongside the road.

An exhumed mass grave, pictured in 1981, in the Cambodian countryside reveals the skeletons of those executed and buried together under Pol Pot's regime.

Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the jungle of western Cambodia as they attempt to halt advancing Vietnamese forces on Feb. 15, 1981.

All photos courtesy of www.time.com

Rivers of ( bloody good ) red wine

Last Friday night I got roped into auctioneering duties at a Penfold's wine tasting night at the Intercontinental. Sponsored by ABAC,ANZ and Infinity Insurance and with proceeds going to the Sunrise Orphanage I was a little nervous as I had never auctioneered before but I volunteered because I thought " how hard can it be ??". With 50 people in attendance and with tickets costing $80 for the super premium tasting session ( including an opportunity to swill the 2001 Grange Hermitage) our target was $1300. This would send one kid to a quality English school for a year. After a lovely dance performance by the kids from the orphanage, I milked $3500 out of the crowd and apart from the fact I had a ball and was in my element, I think the owner of the orphanage was overjoyed at the result.

As some guests did not turn up, I was invited to join in the tasting and I got to taste alot of wonderful wine. ..inlcuding the $400 per bottle Grange ! I had a great night and am now available for auctioneering duties should anyone need me.

Money Money Money

Well yesterday we had a very nice surprise indeed. It seems that the larger block of land we bought in Kep falls within an area slated for industrial development by the Governor of Kep. Luckily, my brother-in-law is very good friends with the Governor so rather than having our land simply stolen as is often the case, they have offered us a more than fair price. In fact, the 2700m2 block of land has been bought from us for the princely sum of US$100,000. After a phone call mid morning from Tra to confirm we wanted to sell, the cash was delivered to me, in a paper bag, mid afternoon and was safely in my ANZ Royal account before I knocked off work.

A 90% premium to what we paid a year ago. Not a bad return if you ask me.

Now.....about that XR400 I have been eyeing off...............

Welcome to the world Isabelle Brown

Chris and Isabelle

My mate Chris Brown and wife Ahya have just had their second child. A healthy 4.4kg girl ( that's 9.5 pounds folks !! ) with a crop of hair to rival Donald Trump and a ruddy complexion, she now completes the Brown's one boy ( Alex ) /one girl entourage. Chris is now looking for a clinic to have a vasectomy (as it is Chris this will be simple micro-surgery ) and I have told him I am happy to do it with my Leatherman multi-tool if needs be.

An exhausted Ahya in full Apres-birth Khmer attire.

Now its up to Gager and me to pop out another one each and then we will have a real little tribe happening.

Congratulations to Chris and Ahya on their new daughter and to Alex on his little sister.

Skate-O-Rama

On my travels on the weekend I drove past a non-descript shed and barely noticed in graffiti style spray paint the word SKATE on the front fence. I stopped to have a look and lo and behold there was a skating rink with polished terrazzo concrete floor, some whoop de doos and disco music blaring. A few khmer kids were strapping on in-line skates and I was wishing I had my longboard with me !

Veasna turns 17

MMMM "Perfume"....

My live-in brother-in-law Veasna turned 17 on Saturday so Leakhana and I decided to spoil him. He has been living with us a month now and ( or is it tow ? ) and he deserved a treat. The kids in my family ( hell..everyone for that matter ) have hardly ever celebrated their birthdays for two reasons - none of them seem 100% sure when their birth dates are and there has not been much money in the pot for cakes etc. I have been changing that over the last couple of years . I believe a birthday is important for these younger kids as it makes them feel special for a day AND it is a good opportunity for everyone to get together in a festival atmosphere.


The Compound makes for a perfect party venue with it's wide open courtyards and so it was that Veasna turned 17 . We gave him some beautiful photo boars for his room, his forst aftershave ( he doesn't shave and sees it more as "perfume" ) and also my special gift to him was a pair of garden secatuers for trimming all his trees and shrubs which he absolutely loved. Everyone had a fine time though I had to retire early due to having a splitting headache bought on by far too much running around in the dreadful heat.

Veasna pimping the 'Pound for his party

Srey Neung with her hands full.

Party Masks

Family shot

Self Portrait Super Pout

and finally Its amazing what a difference a few years makes.......................

Veasna at age 14 when I first met him !

Eden Poker 2

A few drinks at ABAC Sundowners and then on to Eden Bar for the Texas Hold Em tournament. Played for 5 hours and eventually dipped out. Total spend ; Buy-in - $10, Beers - $5.

What was more interesting is Eden's new sign. Take a GOOD look at it.

Morning has broken.

Here comes the sun.....

I have been going to work early this week and the sunrises have been phenomenal. That's one of the bonuses of living in SEA - sunrise and sunset are guaranteed to please. I love the early hours of the day here in Phnom Penh. The city is waking up, everyone ( except me ) is exercising, it is cool,food scents are starting to waft and it is just a great time to be alive !

The view as I drive ( blinded ) to work along Mao Tse Tung Boulevard.

Red Fox Poker

After a long hot day of chores around the house and having had a very quiet Friday night, I decided to go and sit in on the Red Fox poker game. The Red Fox seems to be poker central in Phnom Penh, with games going on most nights and many a time I have gone past the front of the bar and seen the guys playing and thought about joining them. Brett the owner had just put the finishing touches on a felt covered, oval shaped poker table and it was quite nice to sit at and the short haired Khmer spunk doing all the dealing was none to shabby either.

The tricky thing with the Red Fox game is that it is a Dealer's Choice game so I found myself all of a sudden playing variations of poker I had never played before - Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, Pot-Limit Texas, Flip etc etc. I knew this before I started and so I went into the game sensing I was going to lose money but decided to treat the losses as tuition fees and with no blinds and a simple 25c ante every hand, it was the cheapest way to learn possible. It is also a cash game ( not tournament where the winner takes all ) and this means that you can buy in and cash-out whenever you want which is great because I did not feel like playing cards for hours on end . I found myself amongst some very sharp players. UXO De-miners to the left, slum-lords to the right, shifty bar owners here and there and one poor hapless Australian tourist who thought it might be fun to sit down and play cards with some locals to see how it compared to his online experiences. Bad move. He soon left a bloodied and torn mess long thereafter.

Omaha as far as I can see removes a lot of the skill of reading players and the opportunity to bluff opponents and it really is a head twist as you try to figure each Omaha round out . There can be two hands ( a hi and a lo ) going on within the one game and and it all happens very quickly. Texas Hold 'Em is a slower, more protracted game with much larger pots. Interestingly, when the dealer button came around to me, I of course chose Texas Hold em and my success rate was very good.I took some very large pots but would then give it all back during the Omaha games. Very frustrating ! I hung in for a few hours ,watched my stack ebb and flow like king tides and after 3 buy-ins and a total loss of about $100, I decided it was time to call it a night. Luckily the wife turned up just as I was bowing out ( " what do you mean you lost ?? you never lose !" ) and we were soon off to Sharky Bar for a few pitchers of cold beer and some spicy noodles.

It was a costly but worth wile night and I can say at this early juncture I still prefer playing my Texas No-Limit to Omaha.

Eden Poker

Yesterday afternoon whilst consuming a cold Asahi, I got a hankering for a game of poker and a quick phone call confirmed that Eden Bar was holding a tourney from 8pm. At the allotted hour I turned up and about 10 of us headed upstairs to the intimate little private back room complete with AC, poker table and....best of all.....a young Khmer guy who did dealer duties all night and ran a tighter game than most croupiers in Monte Carlo. The group was made up of guys I had never met before and also a very sly looking Vietnamese lass. The game was No Limit Texas Hold Em with a $10 buy and re-buys allowed within the first hour. As it was tournament, there was a 1st,2nd and 3rd prize and during the night we were joined by another 6 or so players.

The total purse soon rocketed to around $300 and the quality of the game was excellent. Everyone knew what they were doing and there were some killer hands. I played fairly aggressively in the beginning and took some large pots and I then began mixing it up with some large bluffs which paid off handsomely as well. With extra players joining, the table was split into two and I soon found myself in another room without a dealer but with a drunken Khmer girl who had come straight from a wedding all dolled up and ready to play cards. She insisted on going all in on every hand with grandiose posturing but it was only a matter of time before we sent her packing.

Some 5 hours later I found myself back upstairs in the main room with just two other players. I had taken a place but with 1a.m looming and my energy and concentration slipping, I decided on a fairly brazen attempt at bluffing my way into the final two. Alas, it was not to be and I left the table with a respectable 3rd place and $60 having beaten about 12 other players. Less my $10 playing fee /$10 re-buy / $10 bar tab / $5 food tab = a total profit of $25. Very happy with my efforts , alot of fun and would definitely play this game again.

Maybe even next week !


--------------------------

Oh yeah...forgot to mention - whilst I waited in the bar for the game to start, I got chatting to a British press photographer. He showed me what was possibly the most amazing photo I have ever seen. He had been on Monivong Blvd the night before and had come across a shooting victim moments after the fatal shot was fired. This Khmer guy had been shot straight through his ear and the pool of congealing blood next to the body was just amazing, It looked like a huge pool of foot thick raspberry jelly and there was ALOT of it. Struth.

The Phnom Pen on hired help.....

Up here in Cambodia there is an abundance of cheap labour. And I do mean CHEAP. Adam...you would love doing business here - your average construction worker earns $60 a month and that's 6 days / 10 + hours a day. Casual rates for unskilled workers run at $1 an hour. With the Global Economic Melt Down forcing Cambodia's garment sector into complete breakdown and mass sackings a daily event, there are now more Khmer women looking for work than ever and many of them will probably end up back in the provinces tending the fields or maybe with some luck they will get a domestic help job in a house with some pale skins.

And herein lies the topic of today's rant.

What I don't get here is the average expats desire to hire a fleet of help the moment they arrive. There seems to be this inherent "I have just moved to a third world country and I can now afford a bum wiper so I am not going to lift one of my fat greasy fingers to do a single thing that I would normally do back home" attitude. I don't buy into the " I am too busy" bullshit nor do I buy into the "I am supporting the local economy by hiring locals" crap or the "It's part of my package" dross. Face it ; you are being lazy you fat whale. And I am not saying this out of envy..I can afford to hire staff but I was well trained by my parents to do my own chores.

Here in order, is my list of hired help wanker bingo terms;

Driver ; " I will send my Driver around for you" . WANKER Rating 10 / 10. Only CEOs or billionaires have drivers. Having one here reeks of either being a wannabe or being too scared to tackle the Phnom Penh traffic yourself.

Cook; " I must get home...our cook is whipping up some fusion Khmer". WANKER Rating 10/10. Obviously you and your wife are shit house in the kitchen but why advertise it ? Do a course or practice in the kitchen together.Stay and have another beer you poof.

Guard; "I will have the guard open the gate for you and then wash your car if you like ?". WANKER rating 8/10. granted, some areas of Phnom Penh are dodgy but the "guards" here are 17 year old kids who are either asleep or doing their homework. If a gun toting home invader rocks up and wants in - you are fucked so save the money.

Gardener - "Our gardener is outside cleaning the pool". WANKER Rating 7/10.Ok...granted....I am jealous you have a pool but get out in the sunshine and scoop those leaves yourself you lazy bastard. Then go for a swim to cool down. I used to love doing the garden back home.

Nanny - "Our nanny(s) are taking the kids out to the Water Park this weekend". WANKER rating 10/10 ( for more than one nanny) 7/10 ( for singular nanny ).Yeah...great..way to delegate parenting of your own child. Nannies are OK if you have multitudes of kids to deal with but if you have one kid....WANKER !

Cleaner - " Our cleaner does all my skid marks" WANKER RATING ; neutral. For some, this staffing level is an absolute necessity and whilst we don't have a cleaner and do it all ourselves, I am OK with this. Let's face it...who wants to clean the bloody house - it is way too hot for that.

Laundry Maid - See above.

So there you have it. Contentious issue I bet but you know what I really hate ?

"I was showing the new Laundry Maid around the house yesterday and I caught my driver having it off with my gardener and I was horrified because I thought the Nanny and the Guard were the only staff ( apart from the cook and the cleaner ) who were getting up to no good.It is so hard to find good help..."

WANKER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---------------------------------------

Wanker Bingo is usually played in a boardroom during a presentation and the rules are just like regular bingo, but instead of crossing out numbers, you cross out those annoying buzzwords and phrases that people use to sound important.

“By keeping our fingers on the pulse we can begin to interface and streamline the viable option scenario before marrying the synergies without reinventing the wheel” BINGO !!

Puff Daddy

Lock and Load

My poker buddy and International Man of Mystery, "Afghan Dan" ( real name withheld ), arrived back from his "contract" in Kabul,Afghanistan, last week. Dan is a shady character who moves best at night and whilst the poker crew know what Afghan Dan does up there in that war torn region none of us choose to discuss it out of respect for his secre....er..privacy. Hell, all the poker players are involved in dubious activities of some sort- from flying the Royal family around ( Luke ), satellite mapping ( Paul ), controlling the nation's water supply ( Jeff ) and Championing bad haircuts ( Chris ).

At any rate, during a skype conversation the other month to see how Afghan Dan's guerill...er.."contract"....was going, I asked him if there was any chance he could bring back an AK47 for me. He didn't hold out much hope so I asked if instead he could bring back another W.O.M.D, a traditional sheesha pipe. You know....hubbly bubbly, hookah. To my surprise Afghan Dan said "no problems" and so last night I bowled over to his bunker and picked up my new toy, along with all tools required and two tubs of Dubai Tobacco's finest apple and mint puff. Dan even threw in a Kabul Golf Club hat and shirt - may Allah bless him.

The W.O.M.D is ready to launch.

Ammunition

After a dinner of roast duck and Chinese style pork, and with a bottle of Chilean red on the table, it was time to lock and load this puppy and Leakhana and Veasna watched in awe as I assembled the beautiful, camel adorned W.O.M.D with all the skill of a raghead moozie fundamentalist fatwah declaring terrorist insurgent putting together a car bomb. Although there were no instructions, I had a fair idea of what to do from years of training with smaller bong...er.....W.O.M.Ds so the coals were soon blazing and the sweet sweet aroma of apple sheesha filled the living room. Even the wife had a few long draws on the pipe which just made her plain silly.

Bombs away

The hilarious thing is Afghan Dan's container arrives soon with pipes for several other members of the poker crew so on the last Saturday of every month I envision sheesha's galore and with Teemu and his resin connection, things could get real messy !