All Quiet on the Eastern Front

11th February 2025

It's been a gentle, settling back down period since Holly went back to the UK on the 23rd January. We tidied up the house, took a look around, re-adopted our general pattern of activities and got back to our low-key life.

We continue to mourn Four-Legs, whose limited mobility meant he failed to get out of the way of a car one evening in January and got hit. Ben and Ellie have placed his ashes on the windowsill in my office overlooking the garden, his favourite spot. We all miss him dreadfully, but especially Ben, for whom he has been a constant companion for over 17 years.

RIP my old friend

We also lost Trevann's brother-in-law Graham to cancer in January. He was a great friend to Chris and Jill and an exceptionally kind and generous man.

Graham regaling us with stories - probably car-related - on our visit in September.

Enough of sadness - what else has happened? Holly posted her holiday pix, which was interesting. It looks like she had a great time, despite her old mum and dad!

At the end of January we enjoyed a lunchtime catch-up with the oldie Greenhouse crew - Jack & Kathy from Oregon and Sue from Perth.

A rare treat for us - delicious food at Ock Pop Tok with good friends.

 We discovered that the old bookstore L'Etranger has been turned into a little cafe/restaurant. The owner Simon is keen to have live music there and invited Trevann to play one Sunday.

It's a nice informal set-up so will probably become a regular eat/drink spot for us.

Then on the Monday we took Trevann's paintings along to the Lao Friends Hospital for Children. He's donated them so they can be either auctioned or put on the walls.

Kia, in charge of social media.

We were shown round the hospital by Pierre, the Development Manager. I was surprised to find myself so moved by the sight of a ward filled with cots and little beds. The hospital is funded by donations and is the only provider of free healthcare for children in Laos. Over 40,000 children are treated every year - many for preventable diseases or conditions, such as beriberi or other vitamin deficiencies. Diseases of poverty.

The staff were a wonderful, smiley presence and it was great to see the male members of staff getting free haircuts when we were there.

Barbers from LP donate their time and skills once a month.

Motto: Treat every child as if they are your own.

Healthcare in Laos is definitely improving. Next door to the Children's Hospital a brand new Chinese Hospital has just been completed.

Back in Naxangveuy we've added a sign to our gate. Our house in Poole is called "Hillside View" so we thought we'd have one here too!

And in town, the Chinese New Year holiday is over so the streets should be quieter.

They tried an excellent experiment, closing off the main street to vehicles in the evening. Unfortunately it seems that they've changed their minds and reverted to leaving it open. Shame

Just a nice pic of a green crab spider.

So that's it. Apart from the ever growing flock of chickens in the garden. I wouldn't mind but they are so destructive!

Oh, and we signed up for another year here and our tenants signed up for another 6 months in Brighton so all good. The weather has warmed up too. Generally 30+ degrees mid afternoon and about 17 at night. Still no rain (since September).