Pulling the finger out (3, final)

This blog is about to celebrate its second anniversary. It is only fitting, then, that I should usher in the third year by meeting loyal reader Ian.

Ian is visiting Bangkok from his home country, Australia. I have invited him for dinner next week, which my Thai partner Maiyuu will cook.

Hardly anyone visits our place these days, and in fact my boyfriend has become a virtual social recluse. If his friends from the condo knock at the door, he ignores them. When I come in from outside, he gets me to lock the door.

The room in which he spends most of his time, which is also the one with the door for receiving visitors, is a mess.

The home decorating is unfinished. Three walls have been painted, but one remains.

The fourth wall is also the hardest one: the television and stereo cabinet, fridge, and shelves sit against it.

To get at that wall, we would have to move all those things first. To make room for them, we would have to move boxes of clothes and books which have sat in the middle of the room since the redecorating work started two months ago....and so on.

When I first told Maiyuu about Ian's pending visit, several weeks ago, I asked him if he could finish the painting before he comes.

I don't want my guest walking into a place that's unfinished, especially as I have been waiting so long for him to get the work done.

By avoiding his own friends, he can put off painting the last wall. But if I invite one of my own, I thought, he would be forced to finish it.

If not, we would have to entertain my friend in what looks more like a bomb shelter than the guest room and dining area which it used to be.

Maiyuu would feel shamed into finishing the work, I thought - and early responses were encouraging.

'Yes, I'll paint the wall and have it finished in time,' he said.

Last week, however, we encountered a small hiccup: Maiyuu told me that he'd changed his plans for the room.

'I will buy wallpaper from Chatuchak market, and paper the last wall in bright colours instead,' he said.

That will leave us with three walls which have been painted in a purple cherry colour, and a fourth wall in an as yet-unseen brightly-coloured wallpaper...but I said nothing.

The important thing is to get the work done.

The weekend came and went, and with it the opportunity to buy wallpaper at Chatuchak Weekend Market. Maiyuu spent most of that time at work, making clothes.

Finally, the news I had been dreading arrived.

I reminded Maiyuu that Ian would pay us a visit next week, then asked if he would have the last wall wallpapered in time.

'No. I won't get it done on time. However, I'll make the place look tidier than it is now.'

So, my cunning plan to pressure Maiyuu to get the last wall done has failed. He has let my deadline slip. Yesterday he spent most of the day sleeping, though he did cut my hair, and cook roti Indian bread while I was seeing friends at Mum's shop.

The day was not a complete loss, but the fourth wall is nowhere closer to getting done. We haven't even bought the wallpaper yet. And what about all those cans of purple paint which sit in the bathroom? We might have to give them away.

Maiyuu does not mind cooking in a place which is still in the midst of being redecorated....and he hopes that the two farang who sit down a week from now to enjoy his meal won't mind either.

Time to roll out cunning plan number two. Ian, how are you with a paint brush?