Paul Arden | Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Finally my feet are warm again. And I don’t feel stiff! I really noticed how stiff I was feeling in the cold European winter. Here in the tropics I’m nimble again, albeit 9KG heavier than when I left!! Which is rather a lot actually. No doubt I’ll be able to turn this into Ironman energy quite quickly I hope. 9KG in one month!! British Beer!! Lucky I didn’t stay for two months!!
One thing I may not have mentioned but I will now, is how friendly a place is Malaysia. Even people you don’t know are nice. When you live here you tend to forget that and think it’s normal.
This year I’m going to properly learn the language. That’s my New Year Resolution! I thought about it on the plane ride over and I think it would be a really excellent thing. I have tried to learn Bahasa Melayu before but gave up because I’m useless at languages and surprisingly lazy with anything that’s not directly related to fishing. But it’s that sort of thinking that prevents progress. So this year I will dedicate time every day to learning Bahasa Melayu. And of course I shall do this while fishing!
About twelve years ago I cycled half way around Australia by mistake with a Hungarian language book strapped to the handlebars. And I did learn a lot of Hungarian this way uk best essays.org. Which I have since forgotten of course. Bahasa Melayu is not nearly as impossible to learn as Hungarian and so by carrying a handbook visibly positioned somewhere in the Rocket C, I should finally be able to learn this language.
Incidentally I picked up the Rocket C from Etamax yesterday who have done an outstanding job on her. New aluminium floor, repairs to the transom, rubber floor covering (that is far more professional than my gluing attempt! ) It will be interesting to see what the top speed is now, probably not much more than before, because I think that has more to do with the hull shape, but I should be able to reach the plane with more weight aboard. A wonderful job, that genuinely exceeded my expectations.
So lovely to be back. Sad to say farewell to my family over in the UK of course but hopefully now that travel is possible again, we will see each other more often again.
It looks like I have a busy time coming up. Quite a few guests have booked fly fishing trips this summer. Maybe one this month – assuming the fishing is good. Sungai Tiang is open. I had a phone call today from the producers saying essays services reviews.com that they are planning the second season of the fly fishing TV show (the first season is to be aired across Asia starting in April). I have two Ironman events planned: Desaru 70.3 in May and Langkawi 140.6 in November. And we have the Sexyloops is 25 in September to organise. 25 years of Sexyloops!!
Wow. The Year of the Zonker is going to be hectic! More info on the Sexyloops 25 meet shortly. I know you’ll want to book early to get cheaper flights. Depending on whether one particular airline refunds me £219 excess luggage fees for cheese and olives, after finding the (apparently) wrong pricing information as the top hit on Google, will determine whether or not I will recommend this airline! And indeed ever fly with them again.
Have a wonderful day. I’m going fishing!
Cheers,Paul