The saying is that when a person hits 60, he/she is ‘over
the hill’. But, I contend, and Dr Iain Corness is the living proof, that once
over the hill, one gains speed!
There he was, standing poolside at Ib and Kannikar
Ottesen’s splendid spread, The Residence Garden, packed with the glitterati of
Pattaya and some places further afield - all there to celebrate the good
Doctor’s fifth cycle, sixtieth birthday.
Literally hundreds of the
Doc’s closest friends showed up to wish him a happy 60th birthday! (Photo by
Howard Greene)
It was, indeed, a night to remember, with great joviality,
resonant speeches, jokes, puns and cliches rolling around, a poem by Elfi, a
magnificent oration by Peter (junior) - he kept it to a modest 20 minutes. There
were even a ‘few words’ by Peter (senior) who was able to look at Iain as
almost a ‘youngster’!
Yes, Dr. Iain Corness, born in Lisburn, Northern Island on
the 18th of November, 1941, had survived - rather, had thrived, considering the
shaky start as a Second World War baby - for 60 years on Planet Earth.
There was a disgusting “60s” era wig which adorned many a
head that evening and a photographic mementos is produced here.
The Doc himself regaled the crowd with his usual wit but, as
numerous extracts have been run in last week’s “Successfully Yours”
column, we will not add here, except for re-iterating the stories of the people
who have influenced his life or, better, the people who have helped him to reach
the 60s.
His mother, of course who is still “going strong” at 84
and his father who died aged only 56.
Peter Malhotra who, as Doc said, “is the ‘brother’ who
was - and still is - his ‘alter ego’, guiding him along new paths, sometimes
fraught with pitfalls”; the lovely Khun Neera, assistant to the director of
Bangkok Pattaya Hospital who convinced Doc to become a consultant at the
hospital; and Bryant Berry, managing director of Northern Thai Real Estate, who
was “an inspiration at all times.”
The Doc finds that one of his major roles as consultant to
the hospital is to liaise between expat and Thai patients and the medics. “The
expectations are very different,” he said. “The farang feels
‘short-changed’ by the Thai medical system, whereas the Thai feels
‘deprived’ if he cannot go home with a bag bursting with multi-coloured
pills!”.
So, the good Doc starts out on the long journey to his
seventh cycle - 11 years and some 350 days hence. However, I must end this small
tribute casting a little doubt on the respective number of cycles. My contention
is that he is ALREADY on his seventh cycle. For a man like Doc who has lived
many an “eclectic cycle”, there, in his office, was an “electric cycle”
- the “Ecolux Electric Bisikun (sic)”. That is number seven, by my count.
Happy Birthday Doc - and, as Trink, that reigning master of
the cliche and trite phrase, would have it: “keep ‘em coming!”
The
Queen Victoria Inn in Soi Yodsak
Vic,
Bert and the staff at Queen Victoria Inn
Surprises
and happy, Alvi Sinthuvanik won return tickets to Koh Samui