Sunday, April 25, 2010

Excitement not needed

First I want to apologise for the obscure Friday photo… It wasn’t really cryptic, I’d labeled it ‘this is how I feel today’ but I realize it wasn’t really clear to everyone.

Maybe it shouldn’t be obvious. You don’t come here to hear my woes do you? I was sad about the trouble on our streets again the previous night. I worry about the children going to school about Husband being safe because he works in the business district. And, call me shallow, but I want to go to my usual Starbucks in Siam Paragon mall to write.

I’d sat up on Thursday night, listening to helicopters whirring around outside while glued to Twitter. Then I went and watched the news (which was in Thai, obviously) and all I could understand were isolated words – streets, hospitals and so on. Not that it mattered: the visuals were all that were needed.

Then it didn’t kick off again on Friday night, or Saturday night and I struggled to piece together what was going on. I stopped obsessing about what was happening. I even started to relax a little.

Following breakfast this morning I went off to do some food shopping. As the taxi turned out of our soi (road) thirty or so motorbikes whizzed past us. Each one carried two soldiers, each with BIG GUNS.

Uh oh, I thought.

Stretched between Sukhumvit soi 27 – 31 were lots of soldiers. My taxi driver managed to tell me that the mob (his word) had come to the PM’s house, thinking he was there. (He wasn’t.) Needless to say, I didn't hang about. The rubbish pictures were taken from the taxi.

PS Picture bottom right: does anyone else think there's a bit of Dad's Army going on here?


11 comments:

Queenie said...

It's actually a relief to hear about how things are with you, rather than trying to piece together bits and pieces from the BBC website and reading between your lines. (Can you get on the BBC website? If so, does what you read there bear any relation to what you're experiencing?) Life must be enormously stressful and disrupted for the four of you just now. I was reading another blog yesterday and almost every post was a whinge - I don't feel well, work sucks, I haven't written any words, woe is me - and, yes, that was something of a deterrent, partly because moan after moan gets boring and partly because the writer was moaning about such everyday things, it left me thinking they simply had an overwhelmingly negative view of the world. But nobody could ever accuse you of that, and anyway, what you're living through is hardly an everyday experience. Except for you, right now, it is going on every day. So bring on the woes, if they're what's uppermost in your mind - and how could they not be? I hope you end up somewhere nice and peaceful in July and, in the meantime, stay safe. Sending hugs x

Susie Vereker said...

How dreadful it all sounds. Have been thinking about you. Soldiers on Sukhumvit? So hard to imagine.

Carol said...

We've been watching the events unfold and have got more anxious as we've read where the trouble is spreading to!! When we were there the tension was there but it was nothing on the scale that your experiencing now!! Feel free to air your worries...problems shared are problems halved!!

*hugs*

C x

Jenny Beattie said...

Queenie, thank you. We are curtailed but that's okay... we can't do and go where we want but that's not such a bad thing. People live with much worse conditions. Our local vicinity is mostly safe but because the PM lives close by (it's a private residence here and not a Downing Street situation) we do get some activity. When the demonstrating was down near parliament it hardly impacted us at all but now that they're based in the shopping district, it is right on our doorstep. It means I have to go to Emporium and not Siam Paragon but well... tough, huh? Get a grip Jenny! I worried today when I was shopping - I wanted to buy several bags full but I couldn't explain to the taxi which way to go home (avoiding PM's place) so instead I dashed in for my oats and blueberries (please don't judge me on the foodmiles! It's my small pleasure in life.) and then OMG, I couldn't walk home because it was past all the guns! I did taxi home and he had the sense to drive me not past the PM's place but not because I could explain it to him. Frustration is the word. Not being in command of the language, not knowing what's going on, getting information via the BBC website! It's frustrating.

Jenny Beattie said...

Susie, I know, I was shocked seeing the motorbikes but you should see the embassy too. They aren't using the Ploen Chit entrance and the reds are so close.

Carol, it's totally different now. When they were down in the old town - what did it curb? Going to chinatown? Taking guests to the Grand Palace. Now it's all around us; right on top and the potential danger for being in the wrong place at the wrong time is HUGE.

Still, there we go. We're here and exams must be sat.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

It all sounds very frightenting. I'll be thinking of you and yours and as Carol said, do feel free to air your worries, anytime.x

Talli Roland said...

Please stay safe. It sounds crazy there and I can imagine it must be quite a tense situation for you. Thinking of you.

Sue Guiney said...

Scary, a little funny, but mostly scary. I guess I'm naive, but although I've always known about all the unrest in your part of the world, I always thought Thailand was sane and safe. Not true? Do continue to take care of you and yours, please. xo

Chris Stovell said...

Good to hear from you - have been fretting on your behalf. Stay safe.

Jenny Beattie said...

Debs, thank you.

Talli, thank you. It's odd: a sort of ongoing worry. Not always at the forefront of my mind but always here.

Sue, I think mostly they are. Their 'way' is to put others first, seeking out the middle way; however, I imagine that can lead to some pent up feelings...

Chris, thank you. Mostly it's easy to stay away... apart from my stumbling into the middle of it yesterday!

Unknown said...

JJ - every new cast you and yours have been in my thoughts. You are handling it beautifully from the sound of it.

Hopefully you turn all this emotion into your writing.

lx