Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Not all as it seemed
It has been a busy day ticking things off the Things to do List. Bill took his turn with the vacuum cleaner, whilst I wielded the iron. So we are reasonably up to date on the housework front.
This afternoon we were both describing. I decided to put some things on to EBay which I failed to sell either in Pilgrims or at the car boot sale last week. There has been interest. I got a bid very early on. But that bid no longer stands because I felt I should withdraw the item. It is a Camberwick Green book of nursery rhymes - a paperback book; at least that's what I always thought, and I have had it for some time. After the bid came in a question was received. The questioner felt that the picture showed the inside of a book that would have had a hard back cover. As soon as I read the questioner's words and looked very briefly at the book, I knew he was right. How very stupid of me! I have written to the bidder to apologise and explain why it has been withdrawn. I also offered to send it to him for nothing if he actually would like it as it is.
This evening we watched a BBC 3 programme about Thailand - based mostly in Phuket. This was investigative journalism and revealed aspects of life that we know nothing of. The journalist first stayed in a cheap Phuket hotel and marvelled at the service - perfection! That is what tourists expect in Thailand. Then she changed sides and worked with the chamber maids, who worked very long arduous days for what is deemed to be the minimum living wage. She saw how those women lived - in awful conditions. Many had children, being raised far away. One had not seen her children for over 2 years because the cost of getting home was so much and she needed that money for the children's food and clothes.
Then she turned her attention to the sea gypsies at Rawai. Just such a person took us out in his long tail boat last year to an island with a huge Buddha on the cliffs. The sea gypsies came from China 400 years ago and settled the land. But there were no such things as title deeds. They live now in exceedingly cramped and squalid conditions on just 5% of the land that they used to think of as their land. And even that 5% was due to be swallowed up in developments for more tourist activity.
Our young journalist, Stacey aged 23, took this matter right to the top in Bangkok and it maybe that the sea gypsies will get some rights now to live where they have always lived. I joined a Friends of Rawai group on facebook a while ago. Maybe the sea gypsies should get more of my attention.
This afternoon we were both describing. I decided to put some things on to EBay which I failed to sell either in Pilgrims or at the car boot sale last week. There has been interest. I got a bid very early on. But that bid no longer stands because I felt I should withdraw the item. It is a Camberwick Green book of nursery rhymes - a paperback book; at least that's what I always thought, and I have had it for some time. After the bid came in a question was received. The questioner felt that the picture showed the inside of a book that would have had a hard back cover. As soon as I read the questioner's words and looked very briefly at the book, I knew he was right. How very stupid of me! I have written to the bidder to apologise and explain why it has been withdrawn. I also offered to send it to him for nothing if he actually would like it as it is.
This evening we watched a BBC 3 programme about Thailand - based mostly in Phuket. This was investigative journalism and revealed aspects of life that we know nothing of. The journalist first stayed in a cheap Phuket hotel and marvelled at the service - perfection! That is what tourists expect in Thailand. Then she changed sides and worked with the chamber maids, who worked very long arduous days for what is deemed to be the minimum living wage. She saw how those women lived - in awful conditions. Many had children, being raised far away. One had not seen her children for over 2 years because the cost of getting home was so much and she needed that money for the children's food and clothes.
Then she turned her attention to the sea gypsies at Rawai. Just such a person took us out in his long tail boat last year to an island with a huge Buddha on the cliffs. The sea gypsies came from China 400 years ago and settled the land. But there were no such things as title deeds. They live now in exceedingly cramped and squalid conditions on just 5% of the land that they used to think of as their land. And even that 5% was due to be swallowed up in developments for more tourist activity.
Our young journalist, Stacey aged 23, took this matter right to the top in Bangkok and it maybe that the sea gypsies will get some rights now to live where they have always lived. I joined a Friends of Rawai group on facebook a while ago. Maybe the sea gypsies should get more of my attention.
