Air con problem fixed

The air conditioning man turned up yesterday, as arranged, and met the people in the room next to mine at the agreed time. Who said Thais don't turn up to appointments?

The air con men spent most of the day in their room, cleaning the noisy air con machine, refilling it with coolant, and attaching it to the outside of their balcony. Now, when they turn it on, I can barely hear it.

I paid the office B1000, or half the air con man's fee. I suspect the condo management, rather than the occupants of the room, paid the rest, in which case I might be in the good books with the condo office. A job well done by all.

Now, all I have to worry about is my noisy neighbours on the other side, the Chinese family who think nothing of entertaining their child noisily in the hallway outside my room. These people rent two rooms, one on each side of the hall. They cross the hall so often to get from one room to the other that they must think they own the place.

I thought of using boyfriend Maiyuu's watergun on them, which he bought for the Songkran water festival last year, and has languished unloved in the bathroom ever since. Then I thought better of it. I don't want to give these people an excuse for persecuting me. If I was to squirt Granny every time she takes out Tinkly Bells (the kid wears bells on its feet) for a run around the hallway, they might develop a grievance, and start making noise deliberately.

I shall have to come up with a better way to tackle the problem, one where I do not lose standing with the condo management. I have told the office that in my view, small children should not be raised in condos. They belong in rowhouses or in apartments, which in Bangkok tend to be cheaper, smaller and even more squalid than the place I am in, but where few people bother to spend any time, other than to sleep.