And here we go again

The Missing of T'eo has commenced for another year!  I'm currently at Changi with about 1 hour to go before we're off again to the land of Dragons.  T'eo has once again been left in the capable hands of mom and dad who shall continue to spoil him rotten and worship him as the centre of the universe which he assures me he is.  Camille, the youngest Seccombe, kindly did not seem to like the idea of me leaving.

No!  I've spent far too much time training this new slave to let her go!

Well, fine.  If she's going then I'm going too.  My other slaves will have to come along as well, of course.  But not the ungentlemanly grey thing.

I have to admit that I felt quite David Tennant-ish before leaving (that's a Doctor Who reference, not Harry Potter or Hamlet) but that's probably due to the constant access to hot showers, boursin and, of course, T'eo, Padraig, Kipling and Camille.  And I guess I liked seeing some people in Australia too.

Sadly my desire to bring 10000 books for each child along with some sturdier frisbees meant that I got to pay for excess baggage (cue 'In the end I had to leave her behind' quote) so hopefully the students will appreciate them.

And speaking of books, I'm currently reading 'The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets' which is great fun if slightly confusing at times.  I've just read about Fermat's Last Theorem' which involves a proof to a mathematical question.  Apparently Fermat worked out their was no possible solution but just wrote down that he had proof but didn't write down what the proof was.  My first thought was that once I become the Doctor's companion and after seeing the Big Bang, the first life on Earth and dinosaurs, it might be nice to go and see Fermat and ask him to right it down.  What I had forgotten was that in the very first Matt Smith episode he mentions that he has it.  Well, I didn't really forget that he said that, I just wouldn't have understood what he was on about at the time.  And I think this just proves that I would make a perfect companion for the Doctor.  (It may be worth pointing out that in about 1995 somebody did work out the proof but it's probably not the same since he used modern technology to work it out and Fermat lived in the 18^th century or something.) 

I've also found out that there are vampire numbers.  Vampire numbers!  They are numbers where you use the digits of the number to recreate the number like 136 948 which is 146 x 938.  The two new number are apparently called 'fangs' hence the vampirism.  This now means that I'm going to have to become a mathematician just so I come up with Zombie Numbers.  No idea what they might be but I'm going find them!

And I am now back in the Ambient!  But the internet doesn't like me right now so it may be a while before I can properly post this.  The Druk Air flight was fairly uneventful though I did have a whole row to myself until Calcutta which was nice.  Also got to see Kanchenjunga which the pilot helpfully pointed out and  warned people not to point at goats when climbing it (See Swallowdale.).

Fortunately fellow BCF-er, Sharon, was on the same flight so I didn't have to return all by myself but she's decided to spend some time in Paro before coming to Thimphu.  Two other returners, Jon and Sarah should arrive tomorrow and I have a strange feeling we may be visiting Seasons, the pizza place with truly amazing hot chocolate, more than once before departing.  (Update – we managed to get there twice with hot chocolate drunk both times.)

Some advice for those of you who would like to stay at the Ambient from Sunday night to Monday: Get the key to the back door!  The Ambient is closed on Mondays which means if you are staying there it might be difficult to get out of the hotel. I did ask the night before if I'd be able to get out and was told that it would be fine.  That meant that rather than the main door getting unlocked at a normal breakfast hour, it got unlocked at 10:30.  Fortunately, I had a super healthy breakfast of a chocolate bar and finally was released to find morning tea.  Unfortunately,  another problem was that many places are closed on Mondays.  I finally found an open tea shop and have never felt so resented for existing and wanting to be a paying customer.  My current plan is to have a shingle made with 'The Condemned Man' painted on it to hang over the tea shop's door (see Cold Comfort Farm).

It is now the 16th of February and I suppose I'd better post this thing before it gets too much longer but will try and post relatively soon.  Given that it's Sarah's birthday this Friday we get some time off, or is it because it's the fifth king's, I should be able to get some more internet access in the not-too-distant future.  So I shall end by saying Hugs to All and Happy Birthday to Padraig for tomorrow!