I teach English to the offspring of a regular customer at Mum's shop. The children go to a school in Nonthaburi, outside Bangkok, where the family has another home.
Usually, they travel from their Bangkok home to school and back every day. Their mother drives them there, and picks them up. The journey takes about 30 minutes.
Mum told me the other day that their children would start sleeping the night more often at their home in Nonthabuuri, which is five minutes from their school, to save on petrol.
On those nights when she does not bring them back to Bangkok, my teaching services would not be needed. Normally I teach them on my nights off, soon after their mother brings them home, about 6.30pm.
I also teach a group of students close to work. A few days ago, the father of one student called to say they were busy studying for exams. 'I'd like to cancel in the meantime,' he said hurriedly.
The extended family runs a restaurant close to my office, where I eat before work. Last night I asked one mother how the students were going.
'The real reason they have quit studying is that I have no money,' she said.
The father gave me the exam explanation to save face.
We were standing in front of a small grill which stands next to the restaurant, where the mother makes pork satay on a stick.
Two young women from the neighbourhood ordered half a dozen sticks of satay, which is dipped in a sweet sauce.
Thais love sweet food. As soon as those customers left, another couple of girls arrived. I stood on the mother's side of the grill, where we were enveloped by a cloud of smoke.
Every night, she takes her children home via the Pra Ram 2 motorway, a 15-minute drive. 'It is costing B80 a day just in petrol,' she said.
I offered to teach for free in the meantime, as I do not want to lose a regular source of income.
Mum, who looked embarrassed to get such an offer, said she would talk to her children again.
I do not hold out much hope of getting the students back, as the family is struggling with other financial problems - the air con in the upstairs part of the restaurant, where we meet for class, is broken.
But if I do end up teaching English for free, then I hope oil prices go down in a hurry. Then they can start paying me again.
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