We had a most unseasonable Christmas lunch at my own request this year; no roast turkey, nothing special at all, except the Christmas tree, just a big chocolate ice-cream cake that Miko bought me from Swenson’s and there’s still a lot of it left in the fridge under my personal guardianship. This frugality agrees with my conscience as well as my pocket-book.
The best time really was the midnight Christmas Eve carol service at St Theresa’s that Ek was forced to stay awake for, so as to come with us (he’s so much like the fat boy, ‘Joe’, Mr. Wardle’s servant in The Pickwick Papers – an eye on the comestibles when not asleep). The church was packed for a good sing-song with the school choir and rather wobbly orchestra; and there was Lady Noy and Iggy from the tennis group too.
It’s New Year’s Eve (Leo’s 6th birthday) as I write this and we had a glorious day on the beach with him. A fresh breeze had the waves crashing on the foreshore, and Leo braved them joyfully to reach us further out, exalting in the salt spray and the billows for hours on end.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!
One wall of our living room is decorated with this year’s Christmas cards, all neatly stuck to strips of long red ribbons flanking the little Christmas tree with its lights that also served us well in Macau. I find the streams of cards a calming and heartening sight as well as a colourful seasonal backdrop; a steady reminder over the holiday season that there are people out there to whom we’re joined in bonds of affection and a shared past of some kind or another.
There is an evil plot to supplant the humble Christmas card with irreverent and irrelevant ‘E-cards’ (‘E’ for Electronic and for ‘E-mail’ I imagine) which I heartily disapprove of, having been at the receiving end of some pretty ghastly ones this year. Although I did succumb two years ago with a subscription to Jacqui Lawson’s (super, in my opinion) versions which just expired. ‘Just as well’, groan some recipients!
I have it in mind to make my first New Year’s resolution a bit early, with a vow to banish ‘E-cards’ next Christmas. They don’t last the twelve days.
This is grandson TenTen dressing the Christmas tree.
I’ve been remiss yet again in keeping up this journal (all spare time devoted to learning and doing internet journalism). Lots going on this Christmas now with eleven visitors due shortly from Bangkok this Christmas afternoon, when there’ll be the ritual opening of presents (by the young ones) at the tree. Also thoroughly seasonal was the midnight service at St Theresa’s, where we took pains to arrive really early and thus got seats inside the body of the church this time. We were delighted to find ourselves not far from players from our tennis group at the Sheraton, with Lady Noy to the left and just in front was Iggy. The school choir was excellent.
The doorbell’s ringing just now, and I must end this at once by wishing each and every one – A Very Happy Christmas!
Met up with Welshman S and his dog near City Beach this morning. He asked me had I been playing last week when poor old Banteung had fatally collapsed on court at the Sheraton. I said I had not, but felt I ought to add something to express my surprise, and so added that the victim had neither smoked nor drank. S, ever the witty Taff, replied – “Then that was the reason for it then!”.
Apologies for my absence, but the past couple of weeks have turned out to be busy ones.
Daughter Niney and friend Rachel changed their holiday plans to spend ten days here having. fled from the constant rain of Koh Samui down south. At the same time grandson TenTen and Rung were here from Bangkok during the extended school break for the king’s birthday. On their heels and ‘out of the blue’ as it were, came Miko’s son, Ek, fresh back from his travels to join the scrimmage. It was lovely to see them all, and to have the house come alive, but hectic, and I must admit I appreciate the stillness now.
Politically Thailand remains on the edge, but with demonstrations and street protest put on hold at the king’s behest.
I managed one afternoon of tennis, that was marred by tragedy, as one of our number collapsed at the side of the court and was later certified dead. Once again – ‘In the midst of life there is death’. Banteung was a highly competitive sixty-four year old lifelong sportsman, who neither smoked nor drank; the shock left me looking over my own shoulder.
Last Sunday morning’s church service turned out to be surprisingly jolly as a vacationing young Swiss priest shared his genuine enthusiasm for the coming Christmas. He spoke from the heart of his pure joy, and I have never seen a preacher use his whole body to convey his mood as this man did.
Saraburi students terrified as training tank fires at their school
Saraburi – Over 30 students ran for cover when a training tank accidentally fired into their school compound Friday.
The students were having lunch at the canteen of Wat Thung Salika School at 11:30 am when they heard an explosion so they ran for cover.
It was late found that the explosion caused by a shell fired from a tank for training from the training ground of a cavalry unit from the other side of the mountain.
Captain Prakorb Imjai, who is in charge of the training, said the shell was not dangerous because it had no shrapnel and made only explosion sound.
– The Nation 2009/12/4
My youngest daughter turned up much earlier than expected from Koh Samui, where the beach was idyllic, but the unrelenting drizzle was not, and thus it turned out we were able to celebrate her thirtieth birthday in nice style on a dry. cool moonlit evening, al fresco in a favourite restaurant.
She was travelling with the old school friend she meets up with once every year, and it was evident that they must know each other really well as they related the horror story of their four hour high-speed ferry trip from the rain-sodden island back to pick up a bus on the mainland. Apparently it was a rough sea crossing and most of the passengers suffered from pernicious mal de mer, including these two, who were so ill that they found themselves sharing the same vomit-bag, and not minding much at all. It must have been bad, because at one point, despair led to the thought that it might be preferable to jump overboard. Despite this harrying adventure they tucked into their dinner creditably enough, such is the resilience of youth.
I’ve has a few days away from this journal due to the arrival of visitors, and then the continuing fight to master the arcane art of internet freelance writing absorbed me (my first piece was submitted last night to a well-established outfit named Associated Content whose web site I stumbled across and who seem to offer a fair system of ‘payment by results’). I wrote about a thousand words more quickly than I did the actual online submission of this opus, finding the learning curve to be steep as I battled away until midnight to get the job done. But a start has been made.
Time out from social whirl and the grindstone seems worth celebrating by the inclusion of a photo taken on ‘Home Beach’ , where I still make time for peace and quiet at the welcome beginning of this year’s cool and dry season on the Gulf of Thailand
Looking at this photo of Leo had me thinking about the close shave we had with his health last April. In abbreviated form this is what happened.
He was breathing heavily although the sun was only just up as we did the early morning walk in the country park last Spring, and when we got home I noticed he wasn’t chewing his food properly. The vet took his temperature and thought he probably had a cold, giving him an anti-biotic injection, and when I mentioned he wasn’t eating normally, she tried to look in his mouth, but Leo, usually the most helpful and compliant of animals, seemed unwilling to open up. In fact, it turned out a a few days later when we went back to the vet again, that he wasn’t being obstinate, but was completely unable to open his mouth more than about an inch. He was suffering a life threatening disease called Masticatory Muscle Myositis (MMM).
It took a lot of time, intensive nursing, and cost a bomb too, before he pulled through, but ti was all worth it and this is how he looked this afternoon as we took a breather in the sunset on Home Beach.
