Perhaps this blog post should have been "please refer to blog of same date last year..." The Florist Resort threw their annual shindig last night, Xmas Eve dinner, billed as a BBQ on the beach. Something got lost in translation, it wasn't on the beach and BBQ was stretching things a bit - a BBQ grill half the size of a domestic grill pan rather ineffectually warming up satay sticks... But hey there was the entertainment. A band played, not too bad. This was followed by the Thai dancing, four of the housekeeping staff doing their bit, three of whom I think were remembering long ago dancing lessons, and did very good bending back the fingers Thai hand movements, but the fourth a young girl needed her L plates, obviously education cuts mean Thai dancing is off the curriculum these days. She was copying the others but a second or so behind everyone else... a bit like the buffering the dicey wiffy sometimes creates here. But then the headline of the evening appeared. Regular readers will know the juggling bartender as an old friend. All I can say is he may have improved a bit, he threw a few new moves, only dropped three flaming Malibu bottles and broke only one. Result! It is somewhat disconcerting though to see the manager fussing around before his act starts making sure a couple of waiters are around with the dustpans and brushes either side of the "stage"... But he does do real bartender duties at £1 a go for any cocktail of your choice when he's not performing. But I shouldn't mock, in a world where most hotels in these parts charge upwards of £100 for a compulsory Gala Dinner on Xmas Eve, this one was £12 (beverage extra), and not compulsory. The hotel are very good to me so I am pleased to support them in return. Just a pity more guests didn't feel the same way, it was a bit empty....
I wimped out before the dancing started and was back on my terrace watching the torrential rain by 9pm.
So Xmas morn dawns and hallelujah, the rain has stopped so off I go for an early walk before the heat really builds. I reflect that of course here it's just another day, kids are going to school, shops and markets operate as normal, the bit of the main road I walk along is the usual rush hour of cars and motorbikes. I also reflect that for some people here, Xmas is not the wild present giving and peace to all mankind that we see. I pass a guy who does the "private recycling service" here. That translates to a poor bloke, thin as a stick every morning going through the black bags of rubbish that people leave out for collection to take out the plastic bottles. At 13p for a 600ml bottle of Nestle water in the 7/11, I can't imagine how little he actually gets paid for each one he harvests. What a job. And then there are the migrant workers. There are apparently some 2.5 million of them in Thailand, many working on building projects. They are bussed about to their jobs in the back of open trucks, crowded, out in the sun in a way we wouldn't be allowed to move livestock in the UK. Covered from head to toe to keep out the sun they must be cooking in the above 30 degree heat. I can only imagine how that feels to the men and women, yes, as many women as men are on the building sites I see working. These migrants are mainly from Burma and Laos. And of course yesterday at a court here in Samui, the two Burmese guys were found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of the two British backpackers last year. I don't know all the ins and outs of it all but I do know that there is certainly a groundswell of opinion here that a miscarriage of justice has taken place. People say they know who is really guilty but it can't be proven or they are too frightened to testify. Who knows but a tragic situation all round. All I can hope is that the real truth, whatever that may be, emerges sooner rather than when and if it's too late.
So Xmas day progresses normally, that is I loll about on a sunbed, catching up with the Professional Masterchef Final on Slingbox and try to stay cool! Then I decide to do my domestics, take my laundry in to the Chinese laundry and nip up to Carrefour for supplies! It is in Carrefour that our Xmas miracle takes place. Every year I've been here I have searched for a mince pie. I've tried bringing them with me but they don't travel that well and three weeks in a suitcase doesn't do much for them. But i have never found one. So today in Carrefour I decide to have a little check in the bakery department and I spot in the "mini pie" section what looks like a small apple turnover shape with what looks like, joy of joys, mincemeat oozing out of the sides. Can I really have found the holy grail, a mincee in Thailand? Thai typo's are so common, this must mean mince pie, not mini pie. I can hardly contain myself and hand over my 12 Baht (24p) for my prize. This, I think will go so well with my purchase of Mont Clair Brut and make a true Xmas feast. So I must go now and see if this is indeed the miracle for which I hope. But thinking it through, the true miracle will be that the Mont Clair Brut tastes anything like wine, let alone champagne.....
