Wednesday 8th October 2008. Today is the start of the Old Codgers' Perambulations and the first trauma of the day will be for Marilyn to part with the love of her life - not me, I'm going with her. She takes Muffin for a walk and then leaves her with Angela where she will have a great time in company with a pack of Pointers. Thank goodness it's a glorious sunny day so that I can get on with putting all the Fuchsias and Geraniums in the greenhouse and finish planting the bulbs. (Have already planted onions, shallots and broad beans. Have never been so ahead of the garden in my life!!) It takes all day and am just about to get in the shower when the car arrives to take us to Heathrow. The car is part of the Business Class deal with Emirates Airways. Marilyn is worriedthat we may be held up in traffic and has ordered it early. Realise that I have not got a spare pair of glasses so ring opticians for details of my test so that I know what to get if I lose them. A somewhat comic scene as the optician rings back when I am in the shower shouting for Marilyn to answer the phone but she has disappeared. Its not every day you talk to your optician's receptionist whilst in the all togethers. The run to Heathrow is without a hold up so we are hours ahead of ourselves but it has it's advantage as we are offered seats on an earlier flight on an aircraft that has fully flat reclining seats. A real plus. We barely have time to take full advantage of the goodies in the hospitality lounge but smoked salmon and Black Velvet goes down a treat. It's a clear moonlight night and I'm like an excited schoolboy looking out of the window at all the pretty lights on the ground . The English Channel looks like a mere river from this height. Marily much taken by the flight attendant - Jamie -"Oh!! Young Man!!" - who looks after us very well. Plenty of G & T for her ladyship and I just couldn't say no to a glass or two of Champagne. The lights of Kuwait are brilliant and the flares of the Oil rigs in the gulf beam out in the dark. The sun is setting with a wonderful red glow as we approach Dubai - our first stop.
Masses of new building work at the airport. It is vast and we have a lot of walking. What surprises us is the masses of people sleeping on the floors throughout the terminal building - totally wrapped in sheets looking like corpses layed out after some disaster. Weird. The hospitality lounge is very full and not as well appointed as the one at Heathrow but they do have today's (Thursday) papers already thanks to the wonders of modern electronic technology. We have a couple of hours to wait so spend the time reading and people watching. All sorts coming and going - some women covered from head to toe in black only showing their eyes, some men dressed in wonderful pristine white robes and headgear, western bums in trainers and tee shirt, business men in suits on their mobiles looking earnest and a couple of wide eyed Old Codgers off on their 'trip of a lifetime' taking it all in.

Our next leg is to Bangkok where we will stay for a couple of nights. A different aircraft this time which seems smaller. It does not have such nice seats and the food is not so good but the Champagne before take off is a nice touch. We fly out over the Gulf of Oman - I can see at least 50 tankers at anchor off the coast which I presume are waiting to load oil - and then along the coast of Iran and on over Karachi. Can't see much of India as there is light cloud cover and later climb above 33000 feet to clear nimbus clouds. Night falls as we approach Bangkok and we have another 'light show' of a big city at night. The charming Thai girl courier who meets us makes conversation by asking us how long we have been together and how big our family is. Answer 40 years (much wide eyed surprise) 2 sons 5 grandchildren. She says all the right things with plenty of smiles and bowing and sends us on our way in the taxi which Marilyn drives all the way from the back seat with her foot hard on the break for most of the way. Book into the Dusit Thani Hotel - a vast pile of a place with eight restaurants. We are upgraded for some reason that I am not sure of - probably overbooked on standard rooms - so we have a room with a sittingroom and sumptuous bathroom. We are feeling a bit tired so can't face going out on the town tonight and opt to dine in the buffet style restaurant which is beautifully presented. A very wide choise of cuisine - Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Western. The oysters were great as were Crayfish (two types and big)prawns,scallops,smoked salmon, asparagus, chili duck, lamb, thai vegetables, green tea flavoured creme bruille, fresh fruit etc. And so to bed. Temperature outside 30c. No pictures yet. Sight seeing tomorrow.