Ade & Jos adventure day 20: Footless
Monday morning, and another week begins here in Bangkok…
Up early for breakfast, today is going to be a little bit busier than my usual Mondays here in Bangkok, today I begin to take our suitcases and clothes over to the new apartment ready for our move at the end of the week, I walk Jo to work, the streets don’t seem to be as busy this morning, there are a few food sellers on the street but not as many as usual.. But still, it’s quite busy.. The temperature is a little cooler today too.. Still nice and warm but not as humid and sticky as usual. I leave Jo and head back to the apartment, I type up the days blog (on weekdays I type these up when I get back from walking Jo to work, it’s 9:30 here now so about 2:30 am in England) After posting the days blog I set about moving the cases over to our new apartment.
Crossing the road here in Bangkok is an interesting experience. In England for example you wait for a gap in the traffic then cross over… Here, there is no gap in traffic… Instead you wait for an age then if traffic slows a little, you take a leap of faith and just go for it… Keeping an eye out of scooter riders, who can and will use any part of the road or footpath that they can get their little scooters on to. Scooters are a vital part of transport here in Bangkok… But I for one bloody hate them.
So.. I eventually manage to cross the road with my two suit cases (just two for now, this move is going to be a gradual one) get access to our apartment block, get in the lift up to the 31st floor (not the 35th like I did the other day) and take the cases into our new apartment. Jo has managed to throw (yes throw) as many items of clothing that she can mange into this case… It is rammed full of clothes.. Some I recognise… Some I don’t.. Some worn.. Some still with labels on… Knowing Jo all these years I can almost be sure that when we leave this apartment, some of those labels will still be on some of those clothes. I sort out the mess of clothes, hanging shirts, dresses, skirts up in the walk in wardrobe and putting jeans and sportswear on a shelf… I’m quite pleased with how organised it looks, but i’m dreading how it will look once Jo goes in there looking for something to wear. I fear I may have to ban her from her own wardrobe.
After i’ve put this first batch of clothes away I make my way back into the city to meet Jo for lunch, she’s taken a liking to clear noodle soup here in Bangkok, so she heads off into a food hall to find some, I opt for chicken fried rice, cooked fresh as you wait and it cost only 50 baht (about £1.18) and it came with a bowl of clear soup… Jo had chicken noodle soup.. My rice was delicious, my soup was nice too.. Jo on the other hand didn’t enjoy hers.. What she thought were little chicken balls were actually fish balls, she also didn’t like the actual chicken either…. I think she’ll be avoiding that particular food stall in future. After lunch Jo headed off back to work and I went back to the hotel…. My friend the maid had been and gone by the time I got back, so an undisturbed afternoon of playing Playstation for me! (not playing Jos game tho.. She still hasn’t forgiven me for ruining it last time)… Before I knew it, it was time to meet Jo from work (yes time flies when you’re playing Playstation).
A walk up into the city, up through the busy streets, dodging scooters a I go… Over the bridge past the one footed beggar ( He lays on the bridge a few days in the week, he’s usually asleep with his begging cup by his hand and his footless leg blocking the path) so yeah, he has the imaginative name of “Footless beggar”.. He’s not asleep today tho.. He’s awake.. He also seems pretty pissed off with the world.. I’ve encountered him awake before, he usually holds his bowl out silently asking for money.. Today he’s being quite aggressive about it.. Waving his bowl about and grunting at people… Footless my friend, you need to work on your people skills.
I meet Jo from work, she decides she needs to go to the bank to check her bank balance, she’s had money go into the account and doesn’t know where it’s come from…. 10 minutes of Jo vs ATM later and we are still non the wiser… We walk back home via the apartment, I need to check our mail box (as I do every day) and we also need to pick up the suitcases I left there earlier… I’ve been calling back to England every day for the past week or so because i’ve been waiting for a letter from the inland revenue about some tax money I think i’m owed… I’ve been calling home, asking the boys to call me if any post arrives.. Well, the letter did arrive. Here in Bangkok. Turns out I may be owed money (I’ve calculated that yes HMRC you DO owe me money) but I can’t claim for it until the end of the tax year because, thanks to my DJ business i’m called as self assessment… Ahh well, it’ll be a nice bonus in April… I hope.
We have a relaxing half hour at the apartment, i’m eager to show Jo how organised her wardrobe looks (lead Jo, keep it organised), Jo discovers that if she lays in the bath she can watch the sunset….we then leave ready to go back to the hotel…. Half way down in the lift I realise i’ve forgotten the suitcases. Great.
Jo has a telephone meeting tonight so we order take out for tea… Kebab from the Lebanese plays we discovered last week… Delicious.
Jo’s meeting goes on for an age, eventually it ends and Jo decides she wants to go for a night time swim, so down to the pool we go.. Jo swims, I just relax on the sun loungers, there’s a young couple in the pool messing around with a GoPro in the water.. I fear our arrival may have censored what was going to be filmed. Jo enjoys her swim then we head up back to our room, time to settle down to watch some TV, it’s “The walking dead” and then catch up on “The Flash” tonight…. Jo falls asleep half way through the second episode of “The Flash”..
Time for bed I think…
Night night.