Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Shadows


Hi,

The humidity in Chiang Rai definitely adds to the feeling of being in a tropical zone.  The morning began without a cloud in the sky, but by early afternoon there were dark clouds everywhere.  It cleared a little for the afternoon swim, and no rain yet.

It's nice to know that this one really was an 'Easy Monday' song.  If you almost had it, the chorus may help you:
"And __ __ __, baby, now __ __ __, though we really did try to make it.  Something inside has died and I can't hide and I just can't take it..."  Hint:  You won't want to be late with your answer.

We've been doing a little dance with the internet.  First it's there and then it's gone.  Having exhausted all of the troubleshooting options, I made a call to 3BB, our internet provider.  Fortunately, they have English speaking operators that try to offer tips.  None of them seem to work so this morning we finally got a tech to come to the house.  He did some resetting of things in their modem and things looked promising.  Everything was working great.  About 10 minutes after he left the same pattern appeared.  That seems to be the way it goes, works fine while the repairman is there and then quits when he leaves.  I think it's Murphy's Law.

I picked Lisa up from her massage and we went up the highway to Makro.  We noticed that on the southbound side there was a police motorbike check.  On our way home we kept seeing bikes going the wrong way or stopped by the side of the road.  They had seen the check point ahead and either didn't have their helmets or some important paperwork.  There are some alternate routes, but it's a long way around.  To their credit, we see a lot more riders wearing helmets these days and that's a good thing.

Yesterday a policeman came to the house and talked to Boot about a 'box' that they are going to install on our road.  It's like an emergency call-box.  There is apparently going to be some kind of patrol as well.  At first Boot was upset because there is a monthly charge for the box.  We called a friend of ours who is a policeman and he confirmed that this is a new thing that's happening all over.  Today Officer Blu returned and we had a 'sit down' to talk about it.   Boot translated what he was saying and it turns out that it's a new government policy.  We paid our money and he told us he'd be back next month on the same day.  At one point he tapped on medals on his shoulders to indicate that he was a high-level officer.  Like we have any choice but to trust him.  

The road in front of our house has moderate traffic during early morning and late afternoon hours.  During the day there are occasional cars, bikes and trucks.  Sometimes there is a rare Samlor siting.  The picture below is unusual because this Samlor isn't carrying passengers, it's hauling a very large load.  The photo was taken from an upstairs window in Lisa's studio.  He appears to be talking on a cell phone.  What?

                   Loaded Samlor on a country road.

Have a  Happy Tuesday.

                    Peace,
                               Danny

"Sometimes life's shadows are caused by
our standing in our own sunshine."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson


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