Retro time - Nintendo Game & Watch

Do you remember those neat little Nintendo handheld LCD computer games called "Game & Watch"? They were most popular in the 80's, or at least they were with me as I collected around a dozen of them back then. They featured great mini-versions of classic games such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Balloon Fight, and so on. Check out this site for loads more information about them: www.gameandwatch.com

And here is an excellent thing - there are Flash online game versions of four of the best Mario ones, which you can play now by clicking on these links:

  Mario Bros.

  Donkey Kong II

  Donkey Kong Jr.

  Mario's Bombs Away

Coup blimey, what a week it's been in Thailand!

My timing's as impeccable as ever - I came back home to the farm (which is right in the middle of Thailand) from Bangkok three days before the military coup which (as of today) still sees tanks and soldiers on the streets in parts of Bangkok.
(I say my timing's as impeccable as ever because I left Patong Beach in Phuket exactly one week before the tsunami struck at the end of 2004. Lucky or what?!)

However (and unlike the terrible events of 2004), this has so far been a very peaceful coup, with no fighting and no loss of life, and with apparent support for it right across the country. Certainly where I live in rural Thailand people have accepted it and see it as having been necessary after all the political turmoil and resultant social problems of this year. It's certainly a uniquely Thai way of sorting a serious national mess out, and my hat off to them for having the guts to do it in this way.

The Thai peoples' (justified in my opinion) complete loyalty to their King helps ensure that whatever happens with their governmental system, Thailand never really changes at heart - and that is an extremely good thing. Although they are Westernizing here at an amazing rate, clearly they are in no imminent danger of losing that essential "Thainess" that is treasured the world over.

Updates to my Sonic and Mario games website

Sitting around on my farm in the middle of Thailand has its charms and appeals for me - clean fresh air, abundant fresh produce to hand, relative peace and quiet, well away from the Rat Race. But I still work on my websites when I'm there, from time to time, just for fun. To that end I have made some very big changes to my Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Brothers games site, with the additon of loads of new Flash games (taking the total to over 50 games now). Here is the link for the site: www.dan-dare.info. I hope you take a look and have some fun...