Thais, frightening

I think Thais like frightening people. We saw this in many ways today. First, when we woke up, the headline of the newspaper was about an enormous sinkhole appearing in a road in Bangkok, capable of swallowing cars whole.

Second, when I got to the office (after a taxi driver drove me in a very mellow, yet utterly terrifying manner) everyone delighted in telling me that I should have left for the airport half an hour ago, because of the terrible traffic and the four hour lines to get through passport control.

Third, the hotel spent ten minutes looking for our luggage, or (probably) nine minutes looking like they were looking for our luggage, then one minute to trundle it over.

Fourth - ah, lucky fourth - was our taxi driver to the airport. He almost ran over a motorcycle as we pulled out from the hotel, and the drive to the airport, although uneventful, always seemed to be creeping towards disaster.

Christmas Day

We woke early today, to hear the waves crashing on the beach and the wind blowing. We were still optimistic that it would be a fine day and we could take a boat to the islands, but our hopes were misplaced; the sky stayed overcast and threatened rain.

Meeting up

I drove to Bristol, to meet up with Ben and Rich, old schoolfriends that I've known for almost two decades. Rich is now working in Edinburgh but was flying down for the weekend, while Ben's been living in Bristol for a while now. Both of them have lived in Bristol before, so perhaps they're gravitating to it like moths to a mixed metaphor.