Don't Need The Whole Dog!

After coming back from Ecuador, I struggled to recapture the spirit of adventure that I had experienced there. My search guided me down several strange paths, from an assault on the world of reality TV, which was a disaster, to an attempt to start a career on the ocean waves. Which was a disaster. I still maintain that joining the army was not a disaster – though my parents, most of my friends, and the rest of the army tend to disagree. Mostly, I think it was going AWOL to Thailand that was disastrous, at least for my army career – but I had so much fun there, it was hard to care about what was going on back home. Thailand had it all for me; animals to volunteer with, paradise beaches to enjoy, good friends to make and a party scene so intense it swept me up and carried me away for the better part of a year. I also did a spot of diving, training up to be a dive-master in the hope of making a living beneath the waves. But… yeah. That was a disaster…

The Treorchy Project

This was the renovation project which took up the first half of the book. Filmed by Talkback for the TV show Property Ladder, it was fraught with problems from the start. Which of course, makes for excellent TV! It’s less good news for the poor sods who have to sort it out, however… If you’re interested in watching the show, it can be found HERE.

Rear Lounge BEFORE
BEFORE: The lounge, complete with its hideous tiled 70’s fireplace.
Bedroom 2 BEFORE
The upstairs was no better. Small rooms, mostly empty, they still needed most of their walls replacing – because they were 100-year-old lath-and-plaster!
After coming back from Ecuador, I struggled to recapture the spirit of adventure that I had experienced there. My search guided me down several strange paths, from an assault on the world of reality TV, which was a disaster, to an attempt to start a career on the ocean waves. Which was a disaster. I still maintain that joining the army was not a disaster – though my parents, most of my friends, and the rest of the army tend to disagree. Mostly, I think it was going AWOL to Thailand that was disastrous, at least for my army career – but I had so much fun there, it was hard to care about what was going on back home. Thailand had it all for me; animals to volunteer with, paradise beaches to enjoy, good friends to make and a party scene so intense it swept me up and carried me away for the better part of a year. I also did a spot of diving, training up to be a dive-master in the hope of making a living beneath the waves. But… yeah. That was a disaster…  

The Treorchy Project

This was the renovation project which took up the first half of the book. Filmed by Talkback for the TV show Property Ladder, it was fraught with problems from the start. Which of course, makes for excellent TV! It’s less good news for the poor sods who have to sort it out, however… If you’re interested in watching the show, it can be found HERE.  

Thailand!

Escaping to Thailand was one of my better decisions. I had a fantastic year, made some of the best friends I’ve ever had, learned new skills, and rid myself of a few million braincells. I probably wasn’t using them, anyway.  

And, if you’ve made it this far… well, you might just be interested in this. It’s the TV programme featured in the book – Property Ladder, with Sarah Beeny, does The Slaters! Does us royally, in fact. My apologies in advance for my hair 🙂

The Slater Family on Property Ladder!