In 3 month's time I will have been in the UK for 3 years. Ploy, my wife, is still in Thailand, running her restaurant business and taking care of our three dogs. Bad timing, and now the pandemic (Thailand has closed its borders until at least the end of May) means we haven't seen one another for more than six months, but then when I first moved here, because money was so tight while I tried to reestablish the business, it was a year before we saw each other.

We had always had a suspicion that running our business in Thailand was viewed detrimentally by some would be customers. Even if that wasn't the case the constant hassle with visas and work permits, employing (well paying for) four Thai employees we didn't need, me not being able to own more than 49% of the business, hassle with deliveries and Thai customs - it just became too much. And as I approached sixty, the only country where I could work without this hassle was the UK. So, somewhat reluctantly, I returned. It wasn't easy. Leaving nothing here when I first emigrated, I returned to find waving a British passport around did not open any doors. But I persevered, and I now have nice little one bedroom apartment in Ayr, Scotland, and my pride and joy, a small factory for my company.

And as my third anniversary here approaches, I have been able to move away from the 12 hour days and 7 day weeks (just as we have lockdown and I can't go anywhere!), and spend some time doing other things, such as start writing again. I had a number of other books planned, but settled on a book about opera, or more specifically, operatic tenors, The Forgotten Tenors. The chapters are all mapped out, the preface is finished and Chapter one is almost complete.

I'm trying to write every few days or so, so hopefully, the book will be completed in four or so months. A nice Christmas gift for all my readers to purchase.

I haven't written anything in my diary since I left for the UK, so I hope that this post will be the start of some more regular posts.