Croissant surprise, stubborn motorists, PAD plots

Boyfriend Maiyuu made a tasty snack with sliced bread which looks like croissant.

He made toasted ham and cheese sandwiches out of it. It looks like ordinary bread, except it has flaky texture like pastry.

The surface is covered in pastry circles and whirls which we normally associate with croissant bread rather than the plain sliced stuff.

But he didn't make the bread component himself. 'I bought it at the 7-11,' he said proudly. 'I have only ever seen it there.'

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Two of the cleaners at my new condo had a good idea. Why not drag potted plants into the courtyard area, to stop cars parking there?

This condo, as smart as it is, has a small problem: tenants (or visitors staying the night) park their cars in our courtyard.

They drive in the entrance to the condo, but rather than carry on to the parking building at the far end of the complex, stop in front of the place where they are spending the night.

A fountain sits in the middle of the courtyard closest to my building.

Motorists are supposed to do a U-turn back out, or carry on to the parking building to the east.

Most tenants just stop at the fountain, as they can't be bothered.

This is annoying, as the rest of us must pick our way through their vehicles to get to the entrance.

The courtyard is part of a children's playing area, but if the cars are there, kids can't use it.

A sign tells motorists not to park in front, other than for short visits. Most ignore it.

Small potted frangapane trees sit on the courtyard periphery. Two cleaners yesterday dragged them into the space where the cars normally park, to deter them.

It worked, up to a point.

Last night when I came home from work, I saw that one stubborn motorist had decided not to take the hint.

He managed to find a place to put his large silver car in that restricted space anyway.

'Some idiot Thai has decided to park his car in front, in spite of all the evidence that says he shouldn't,' my colleague and neighbour farang C complained in a text message. He must have seen it, too.

'I think we may need to put a rude notice on his car,' I replied.

As I write, I am contemplating what to say.

If I write in Thai, and the owner is indeed Thai, he will probably just ignore it.

If I write in English, he'll get a fright, I hope.

Now, how best to put it?

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'The yellows hired thugs to commandeer the LPG tankers during the street riots,' an Esan trader told me.

'Can you imagine the reds setting fire to buses? I can't. The yellows were behind that as well,' she said as she was making my lunch.

The woman runs a small eatery close to my condo. It consists of a few plastic tables and chairs, a cooking area, fridge, and a tarpaulin cover to keep away the rain.

The shop is a short walk from my condo and the serviced apartment opposite, which has many farang tenants.

Despite that, few foreigners ever visit this eatery, perhaps because they are fussy about their food.

It is clean - by Esan standards, anyway.

I have visited her shop a few times to eat khao pad krapao. The owner, a woman in her 40s, runs the place with her husband, but has plenty of help...at least two other women were cooking.

Her teenage son also turns up regularly, as do the young motorcycle taxi drivers who have a perch outside our place.

The other day I started chatting to the owner about politics. Coming from the Northeast as she does, it was no surprise to find she likes the reds over the yellows.

The reds were not really behind the mayhem on the streets last week, she reckons. The evil yellows hired thugs to do it instead, to impersonate the reds and undermine their credibility.

The reds (United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship) back former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, whose support base is in the North and Northeast.

The yellows come from the People's Alliance for Democracy, backed mainly by Bangkok middle-class types, bureaucrats, and the palace.

Next time I visit, I shall ask the owner's name, as I want to write about her again.

If I have been looking for a new Thai crowd where I can mix, I may have found it at this little fence-side shop.

For now, however, it is enough to know that she is as steadfast as any other northeasterner in her support of Thaksin, and loathing of the PAD.

Her son, who was raised in Bangkok, can't see the point in supporting either side.

'The yellows are happy, as the Democrats are in office. But when the next election comes, they will be booted out and the Thaksin-backed crowd will come back in.

'Then the yellow protests will start again, and so on it goes. The trouble will never end,' he says philosophically.

Next time I visit, I shall also ask about an attempt yesterday on the life of PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul.

The media 'firebrand' was shot up by bad guys as he was on his way to work.

Sondhi, post-op

Gunmen following his vehicle opened fire with automatic weapons. More than 100 shells were found, but Sondhi sustained only a surface wound to the head.

The PAD reckons that renegade factions of the military or police might be behind it.

After a three-hour operation at Wachira Hospital to remove shrapnel from his head, Sondhi was moved to Chulalongkorn Hospital.

Security for Prime Minister Abhisit Veijjiva has been tightened.

I am sure my new Esan friends can find an equally plausible explanation for that one. I am looking forward to hearing it.