Hello to you all!

It's been over 5 months, due to work load, since I've been able to get at my vice and fly tying material. The vice had been staring at me from where it was set up in the office - pleading with me to play with it and open and close its jaws.

Well, I filled my rucksack with foam, feathers, hooks one pair of shorts and one t-shirt , dismantled the vice, popped it all together in the rucksack and took off for a break to Thailand. I laughed at customs when they searched me coming into Thailand as they were like amazed at all the tying gear and fishing gear and asked me where are your clothes!

All the essential things you need, as a travelling fly designer - or should I say fly tying geek. :)

I can hole up in a room somewhere sort of nice and definitely warmer than Athol in winter and cheaper for me to live day to day and set about designing some new designs, using a few new types of material I've been dying to work with.

Today since 6.30 in the morning I've been in a total dry fly design mood, using foam and CDC string stuff and I'm getting a slightly sore bum as I managed to get it a little sunburned and I'm sitting on a plastic garden seat working. But progress is being made at last and I'm pretty happy with a few of the designs.

The foam and the CDC fly designs are starting to look sexy!

Thailand, in case you don't know, has some of the loveliest people, but also some of the best fly tying factories in the world. I have been lucky through the years to have been invited inside some of them, past the tight security and it's amazing to be surrounded by hundreds of some of the worlds best fly tyers and see how they operate.

When you spend as much time as me in a room or believe what 
reception say, you get the best clear views of the Beach!
Which there is not - I found out it's just rocks!

I'm on a sort of island place where people come to scuba dive or dance until their feet are sore at full moon parties. I do neither of them, so when they see me tying as they walk past my room, some of the people just don't get it, which makes me smile.

My 13 star hotel, is reasonable and I have only three rats that live in my room, one comes from a hole beside the toilet and chews my tooth brush, the others come from above and have managed to chew a hole above me in the ceiling which they stick there head through and I'm sure they're eyeing up my fly tying gear to munch - or my willy :)  I asked the lovely monk that owns or works here to do something. It only took him 10 mins and he was back with a ladder and some clear tape and covered the hole. He made me laugh as he called it Karma tape. I don't know how long it will last, but for the mean time the rats can't put their heads through and tease me.

The Karma prevention sticky tape to keep the rats from landing on my bed.

The August news letter might be from the UK, if I end up there, back in the highland lochs, with the heather fly and to learn more spey casting and do some casting lessons.

Take care all of you and thanks for your support,

Cheers, Stu