• Sunday, November 26, 2006

    Family chores, recycling Thailand, trouble in the south and hot Thailand...

    Another Sunday which means the weekly ballet lesson with the daughter and her mate. Today is a double whammy of kids stuff as there's another party this afternoon. Oh joy! According to the invitation this one is a pool party, great. The mercury is hitting read which means us parents can stand around in the garden and sweat like buggery. Where the hell is winter????

    The trouble in the south shows no sign of abating. News from the Bangkok Post today is the murder of the head of a community school, three monks and the closure of more than 300 schools in Pattani because of the high risk of violence. Local businesses have been forced to close on Fridays and Sundays because of demands by Muslim terrorist groups. It's getting harder to see how this will end, if ever.

    Up here in Bangkok it is easy to read about the body count and forget. It's easy to become desensitized to the reality of what is going on. The papers report another killing but that's all it is from here. It doesn't affect the person reading the paper so they don't worry too much about it. Imagine living somewhere where your kids can't get an education, not because of floods or any extremities of weather but because the chance of one of the staff or pupils getting decapitated or burnt alive is too great. From the comfort of my home office up here on the edge of Bangkok it is a situation impossible to fully comprehend.

    There was some good news too. Recycling. In a previous post I mentioned recycling in Thailand and the men and women who cycle around collecting recyclable products from rubbish bins. Now there's a big drive to recycle drinks cartons. Millions of drinks cartons made from expensive imported European pulp are trashed daily because people just don't know any different. Things are changing. The great carton recycle is upon us. There's money in it which means people will take note. And, the environment will benefit. Great news.


    Family chores, recycling Thailand, trouble in the south and hot Thailand...

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