The Pattaya Otter pokes his whiskers out from his lair and sniffs the world around him. Morning All. The Pattaya day can roughly be divided into 3 parts, Morning which lasts from approximately Sunrise until around 11 AM, Afternoon, which runs from then to about 4 o’clock, and Evening, from that time onwards. Night time is a whole different story - for another occasion. I am speaking here for those of us who are not trying to earn a living here (trying to earn a living is yet another story), but are retired here permanently, semi-permanently or just on a fleeting visit. For a good many, more especially but not exclusively those whose stay is of a more temporary duration, morning is in fact a foreign country - occasionally hazily glimpsed, rarely visited, and even then only with fleeting memory. But for those of us who try mostly to follow the adage of ‘Early to bed, early to rise etc.’ morning can well be the best part of the day. Try venturing out of doors shortly after sunrise and you are greeted by a fresh warm balm not unlike an English Spring day, and most unlike the eye-searing, skin burning, glasses fogging, sauna that meets you a mere couple of hours later. It is also a time to come gracefully to terms with the start of another day, to gather news, deal with routine tasks, and prepare for what lies ahead. Of course Pattaya is not exactly a Shangri-La of tranquility and unless one lives well out of town, the dawn is greeted not with a gentle twittering of birds but more the crash, bang, wallop as the pile driver on the nearby building site (there is always a nearby building site) starts operation and a whining grinding sound as the owner of the welding shop on the street below begins to earn his daily crust (I also am greeted by bird-sound, but twittering it is not - more an unearthly squawk and screech at break of dawn). So unless heavily sedated by excesses of the previous night, lying-in is not an option. The Pattaya Otter has therefore recently, and rather belatedly, decided to maximise the benefit that this enforced early rising has imposed by altering his morning routine thus. Rising around 7 AM, a leisurely stroll to the bathroom to wipe the sleep from my eyes, and then a cup of instant coffee completes the waking process whilst watching the news on the television from BBC World. Breakfast is temporarily forsaken until later. The news finishes having given out very little of personal interest (I like to hear how Chelsea got on last night but am more likely to be given the ice hockey scores from Uzbekistan - BBC World please take note, we, the expat Brits are your audience not Uzbekistanis who even if they could understand English are unlikely to tune to you to hear their sports results). The World Weather then informs me that there are snowstorms in Outer Mongolia - riveting. The World Business Report then comes on bringing news of stock market values and currency rates. I still continue to view this, why I don’t know, I have no shares and am not contemplating a currency exchange in the near future but it still seems compulsory viewing. However at the same time, I usually turn to my computer to check my E-Mails and also find the real news I am interested in (Yes, Chelsea did win - Hooray!). Having deleted the usual plethora of mails containing offers from Nigeria too good to miss, and responded to any that are actually meant for me personally, the time is now approaching 8 o’clock and time for my daily exercise. This in fact now consists of a swim in our condo pool below (I have tried, and failed to keep going to various gymnasiums and keep-fit classes, and now settle for this as a more appropriate form of exercise for someone of my maturity - it’s also a darn sight less daunting prospect each day and as such stands a better chance of being continued). So after a quick look over the balcony to check the pool cleaner has finished his work and the first swimmers are arriving, I grab my towel and catch the lift downstairs. There are usually half a dozen or so fellow early risers already in the water when I arrive and there is the odd muttered ‘Guten Morgen’ greeting from one or two (fellow Englanders are absent at this hour), to which I respond with a clearly pronounced  ‘Good Morning’. Ten lengths of our good size pool is my norm, followed by a few water exercises learned at my last keep fit class. Then it is back to my room for a hot shower and then at last breakfast. The choice of breakfast available in Pattaya, as has been reported before, is enormous and growing by the day. However I normally settle for eating in with just fruit juice, cereal and another cup of coffee. There are many other options close to hand, just downstairs I could have a choice of various European or Thai breakfasts. Actually I can recommend, as an excellent hangover cure, the traditional Thai breakfast of a large bowl of rice soup liberally sprinkled with spices and chillies, and usually including some meat or fish and even a fried egg - if you can face getting it down, but as normal daily fare it is rather a severe shock to the system at such an early hour. Unfortunately I have not found a means of getting my daily paper, the English language Bangkok Post, delivered to me, so buying it involves a  short walk to the supermarket just outside the condo gates, and en-route a new cafe has opened up offering a very tasty full English breakfast, so on occasion I give in to temptation and eat there instead - thus undoing most of the good work the pool exercises may have done. Then it is back to my condo, and yet another coffee, usually taken out on my balcony overlooking the pool, whilst reading the paper. And with this early start it is still not yet 11 o’clock. so perhaps a few more minutes relaxation on the balcony watching the world below. There is no point in rushing, with the exception of supermarkets and public offices, most shops and other places needing visited, don’t open their doors until around 11 - hence the arbitrary cut-off of ‘Morning’ at this point in the day. And now it’s time to face the rigours of the afternoon. But that’s another tail.