Making enemies (part 2, final)

Today, however, rather than merely turning off the mains switch, the meter reader really did cut the power. Flick that switch as many times as we liked, we could not get the power back on.

'He's never cut it like that before. He did that because you had a go at him last month,' Maiyuu said unhappily.

I went downstairs to the condo office. They were just as unsympathetic.

'Almost every month, your room has its power cut, because you have not paid your bill.'

I rely on boyfriend Maiyuu to pay the utility bills. It is the one of the duties he performs, in return for the privilege of keeping my ATM card. If I cannot get access to the card, then I cannot pay the bills. I must wait for him to do it.

'You have until 3pm today to pay, or you will have no power all weekend,' the office manager told me cheerily.

I went back upstairs to pass on the news to Maiyuu, who scolded me for making him lose face in front of the office.

'I will get a motorcycle taxi driver to pay it.'

A group of guys wearing their tattered orange vests sits in the market. They park their motorbikes on the side of the street, and sit around waiting for customers. They have their own little wicker table, with an ice box and cup on top.

I followed Maiyuu down into the market. First he went to the bank, to withdraw B6700 for our power bill. That was a lot of money to entrust to a motorcycle guy who neither of us knew, but Thais are a casual lot.

Then we walked to the motorcycle taxi stand, only to find it empty. This being pay day, the motorcycle taxi guys were busy. The streets were full of traffic and shoppers, as the buzz of economic activity - fuelled by full paypackets - filled the air.

Maiyuu was annoyed that I followed him. 'Why are you tailing my backside?' he asked.

In truth, I was worried we would be unable to pay the bill on time.

'Why don't you pay it yourself? I asked.

'I can't be bothered.'

I looked at my watch: midday. We had just three hours to pay our bill, or we would have to spend an expensive weekend staying in a hotel - for who can live in a room without electricity?

Eventually a man turned up on a motorbike. Maiyuu gave him the cash and the bill, and told him to pay it immediately. Maiyuu must have used their services before, as the man knew where to go. The whole exchange took no longer than 10 seconds. Maiyuu paid him at the same time.

I went for a walk, and tried not to think about the unhappy prospect of a weekend spent in a hotel - thousands of baht wasted, because my boyfriend is too lazy and irresponsible to pay the bills on time.

Arriving back at the condo, I told the office that we had now paid. 'The power man will come back by 5pm to put the supply back on,' the manager told me.

However, returning to our room, I found power had already been restored. Clever Maiyuu had found a way to switch it back on himself.

He had taken a look at our fuse box, and noticed it looked different from those of the other tenants.

'He pulls out two wires from under our meter,' Maiyuu said, showing me. 'So I just stuck them back in again, and the power came back on.'

Maiyuu called the power supplier to say he had paid the bill, but they were rude. The man who answered the phone passed on a remark to someone close by, who we suspect was the meter reader. Referring to Maiyuu, he said: 'Mun tor ma (he is calling).'

The word 'mun' is a personal pronoun which Thais use to refer to friends or even their own family in a familiar but brusque manner. Used with strangers, it is derogatory. Maiyuu wasn't supposed to hear it, but he did.

This reinforced Maiyuu's impression that the power man pulled our wires to get back at me for the way I spoke to him. I am sure he would have taken his time coming back to the condo to put them back in, too. Bugger him!

'When I heard that, I decided not to tell them I had restored the power myself,' Maiyuu told me. 'He can waste a trip out here for nothing. Serves him right.'

Maiyuu was back in my good books: his tough stance reminded me that we were fighting this battle together. After making so many easy enemies myself lately, I couldn't agree with him more.