Sunday 11 April 2010

Troubles and other fun happenings

A very eventful week indeed.
Lots of great ministry done and bible studies started.
Unfortunately we came home on Thursday after a nice early start at the pool for a swim and breakfast, them a couple of hours running errand to find that not only did we not have electricity but that our electric meter had been removed. No electric is more uncomfortable than it at first sounds. It wasn't just that we couldn't work as we had planned as we had no internet but also no AC, no fans, no water (it works off a pump from the well)..not anything. It seemed that our landlord hadn't paid his bills for a while! It had already happened with the internet about a week after we moved in. Nick was merrily trading and all of a sudden no www. We tried resetting etc and finally went down to the local office where they told us he hadn't paid for 5 months. It was all sorted after a few hours and quite a big loss for Nick.
So as you can imagine this was the last straw. We had lunch, a very hot and sweaty one, and got a call from the landlords friend who speaks English saying she was sorting it out and it would be sorted by 6pm. Great but that was 5 hours off so we phoned some friends and decided to meet in an air conditioned coffee shop for the afternoon. It was very nice and relaxed and by the time we got home at 5.30pm the meter was all back in place. We told the landlord though that we were not staying there the 6 months now though, that he could use the deposit we paid for next months rent and we would leave after that. We figured that if he can't even pay a 1400 baht electric bill the chances of us getting 23,000 baht back is virtually nil!
We have a whole month to find somewhere though so we will take our time and make sure all is correct before we say yes.
Today we are watching the sad news reports from Bangkok and wondering if our assembly will be cancelled at the beginning of May. It hasn't affected us here in any way and hopefully it won't.
This week though is the Thai new year, Songkhran, so a few things are cancelled such as ministry Monday and Wednesday. For two reasons, some drink too much and drive so it is not safe to be out Tuesday and Wednesday, also they throw water as part of the festival, which is only OK if you are dressed in shorts and t shirt. Anyway it will be a good opportunity to catch up on some work and laze about by the pool.

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