Off to Central to raid the food hall to purchase essential ingredients for she who must be obeyed’s ham fussilli surprise, the surprise being that it doesn’t always have ham in it.

While there we take little sister to visit the much advertised “pet show” on the ground floor. We find a stall offering an assortment of dogs with well-scrambled genes, a sad looking terrier in a 1930’s look bathing suit, and a series of cages containing distressed wild animals which those with no compassion might be inclined to keep as a “pet”.

I am a sucker for media. Apart from living too much of my life connected to the interwebby, I love movies, music and computer games and I am constantly on the look out for good stuff. My helper in this task is Metacritic.

A year ago today I had the dubious pleasure of making a blog entry from the comfort of the intensive care unit of Bangkok Pattaya Hospital.

Recovering from a broken back was as about unpleasant as I expected it to be. Three months in a restraining brace was a form of torture. Then the brace came off and a new pain experience presented itself when all the muscles which had been on a three month holiday complained about having to work again. Lots of physio, exercises and hot pads; but the pain never really improved and I became resigned to a life of back agony. Then in August, the back decided I had been punished enough and everything started to feel better. It still hurts a bit, still stiff and I expect I will always live with a level of discomfort befitting a crushed vertebrae.

But it could have been so much worse. I still have no recollection as to what happened that afternoon. But I have seen what happened to my car and I realise I could easily have been killed, or paralysed, or had my perfectly chiseled features reduced to pulp. The fact that none of these things happened is down to:

1. The grace of god
2. Karma
3. Luck

My very good friend Desmond Tutu would go for number one. She who must be obeyed is in the number two camp. Me? I was bloody lucky. Whatever the reason, today is a day to celebrate being alive, being in one piece and still being almost unfairly handsome. So to mark the occasion I went sailing.

The wind was promising but it never blew enough to for planing windsurfing. So out with the Serenity which is 4+ meters of pure pleasure in lighter winds.

Late afternoon on the beach south of Jomtien. After the storm, the sea was smooth and reflecting the setting sun.

Amara’s Windsurfing Club, after the storm this afternoon:

A bit like American Graffiti, but with a smaller guard dog.

I love my main camera, a Canon 1D. It cost far too much, but it has performed flawlessly for more than two years and taken tens of (hundreds of) thousands of shots. The trip to shoot the rally in India was an example of its excellence; four days of hard shooting with the camera ending up covered in dust and muck. It delivered thousands of great shots and it never missed a beat. I didn’t even have to charge the battery. It has more than paid for itself over the period I have owned it. It not only produces shots that customers are happy with, but just having it round your neck gives the impression that some serious photography is about to take place which must be worth the money being charged. This is often just bluff on my part, but it works.

I expect it is capable of giving excellent service for many years to come; but yesterday Canon announced the new 1D and I fully expected my natural “new gadget, want it” hormones to kick in. But I was rather pleased to find myself disappointed. There was the usual offering of more megapixels and better high ISO performance; but I was also hoping for 15 frames per second, but it stays at the existing 10. And there is now a video mode, which is interesting but not sure how much I would use it. And the whole offering is soured by an increase in price from $3,500 to $5,000. My lust metre is at zero.

Later in the day, Apple announced a new range of computers, and they are actually good upgrades, but I don’t want them. Or rather I don’t need them. When I had Windoze machines, every trip to Tukcom was an adventure. What exciting new part was on offer to boost performance? Would I return home with a bag of goodies and rip my machine apart yet again; never knowing if it would burst back into life after I had rebuilt it? Then I got an iMac and could look forward to days like yesterday to see if I could “justify” an upgrade. Then I got a Mac Pro and stuffed it full of hardrives (4), memory (10GB) and a raunchy graphics card. I now have my ideal computer which does everything I ask it to do, and quickly, and quietly, and reliably. Pop across into Windoze and it is a mean gaming machine too. It’s going to be years (that means more than one) before I feel the need for an upgrade.

Plugged into my Mac Pro is an Apple keyboard and it is excellent. Also plugged into my Mac Pro is a Logitech mouse, and it is also excellent. Originally it was an Apple Mighty Mouse, but it was crap. I had been warned by more than one Apple owner that the computers were good, but the mice sucked. And they do. Very little feel to the buttons, and the tiny scroll wheel looks cute but is difficult to use initially, and impossible to use later because it stops working. But Apple have solved this problem by eliminating the scroll wheel with the new mouse announced yesterday, the Magic Mouse.

I know I am under pain of death never to mention “Twitter” in a post again; but there you go, I’ve just gone and done it.

Yes, I know it is a very stupid name, and the “tweets” that go with it sound even more infantile; but it really is a surprisingly vibrant community where interesting issues bubble to the surface daily and are pursued. Forget about pre-teens from Idaho churning out junk; follow some respectable media people and you will be exposed to much of interest.

Here’s an attraction that is bound to boost the tourist arrivals over the coming months. It’s called Fish’N’Feet and the concept is simple. Stick your feet in a tank of fish and let them suck your flesh. The fish apparently enjoy sucking on dirty, sweaty feet; you apparently enjoy having you feet sucked, and the owner of the business pockets 90 baht. It’s symbiosis in action.