Making enemies (part 1)

It is good to know that I can make enemies in the Land of Smiles just like anywhere else.

Walking to work, I came across a well-built woman in her 40s who was hopping on to the back of a man's motorcycle.

They were on the sidewalk rather than the road, but then Thais think nothing of using the sidewalk for their motoring needs. It's more convenient.

'The farang is blocking my path - Ee hiya!' she exclaimed.

The word 'eehiya' comes from the word heeya (เหี้ย) for water monitor, a kind of lizard, and serves as an expletive.

One dictionary defines it quaintly as 'Damn!' It is not a pleasant word, and Thais do not use it in polite company. But I was blocking her path, so 'Ee hiya!' I became.

I kept walking. Twenty seconds later, I came across a truck loading large blocks of ice into a roadside noodle shop. The blocks are as big as a large suitcase, standing on its end. The shop uses the ice to keep ingredients cool, and in chopped-up form, serves it in drinks.

The ice blocks are too big to lift off the back of a truck, so must be pushed off. Young men on the truck use hand-held steel forks - the kind used in slaughterworks - to position the blocks at the top of a ramp on the back of the truck.

They give the blocks a push, which then slide down the ramp, across the sidewalk and into the maw of the shop.

I don't want to get hit by one of these iceblocks as it whizzes across the sidewalk. They are big. Every week when I come across the truck, I stop and look to the left, to make sure the path is clear.

Normally, the shop staff or the boys on the truck are polite, and tell me when I can cross.

Yesterday, a young woman saw me hesitate, and asked: 'What's he afraid of, getting a broken leg?' She then burst out laughing at her own joke.

On the last day of the month, the man from the power supplier turns up at our condominium to read the power meters - and cut the power to those rooms whose owners have yet to pay the monthly power bill.

My boyfriend normally waits until the last day of the month to pay, because it's the day when workers in this city get paid. Unfortunately it is too late for the power company, which has sent out warning notices by then.

On the last day of the month, I can be working at the computer when the screen suddenly goes blank, the fan stops, and the lights go out. The power man is here again.

Last month when he cut the power I raced down the hallway to confront him. Normally he just switches off the power at the mains, which are next to the lift.

I need only flick the same switch to restore power again. It is a pointless and annoying gesture, but they do it anyway.

I confronted him, because I knew we had paid the bill. Maiyuu had sent me a text message an hour before saying he had paid it, but the power supplier did not tell the meter reader in time.

Unlike the woman on the street, I did not swear, but I did speak my mind.

'You have no right to cut people's power. This is the day when people get paid. You know that, but still you cut their power. How do you know they are not paying their bill this very minute? We have already paid ours!' I said angrily.

'Do you have a receipt?'

'No, but if you call your office I am sure they will tell you.'

Today, while boyfriend Maiyuu was sleeping, the meter reader came back again. I took the precaution of switching off my computer - it does not like power outages - and was contemplating waking Maiyuu to ask about the bill when the power went off. The fan beside his bed stopped.

The rise in room temperature woke him up. 'Who switched off the fan?' he asked dozily.

now, see part 2