Speaking my mind

I paid a visit to the noisy builders and spoke my mind.

They stated before 8am yesterday, which I thought was too much.

Plumes of dust filled the air around my place as the construction crew working on the site of a condo nearby took pneumatic drills to a driveway laid only months before.

It's a common enough sight: one team of Thai or Burmese builders, hired on the cheap, does a sloppy job.

The next team hired to fix their work must dig (or drill) it up and start again.

Most of the men and women on site look Burmese. I asked to speak to the head guy.

A woman wearing a protective scarf over her face pointed me towards a tallish man standing in a makeshift shelter about 20m from the scene of the action.

As I approached, I watched his eyes. He looked nervous.

'What are you doing, starting before 8am? Rents around here are expensive. Some people are still asleep,' I said. 'The noise has been going for hours...it's hard to think.'

I threatened to call the police or the council if he didn't smarten up his act.

'They wouldn't dare come,' he said.

'I don't care. I will do it,'I said in an angry moment.

'I promise we will go no later than 5pm,' he said.

We had to shout to make ourselves heard.

I asked his name, told him mine, and shook his hand.

He looked delighted to get a farang handshake, and gave me a broad smile.

Shortly before 5pm, I went back a second time, and spoke to someone who could have been the architect.

'The drilling job will take another two or three days...but we will start later in the morning, to cause you less bother,' he said.