by Dr. Iain
Corness
Richard Jones is a man who has never managed to get a
job he applied for, but has been very successful with positions that have
been offered to him. He has just finished his contract with a touring
liner and will be tying up in Thailand this month.
He
was born in Cardiff in Wales, the son of a travelling salesman in
industrial diamonds. His father was away for much of the time, and Richard
was an only child. He felt that this helped him to be more independent in
his life. With his father a traveller, this may be another reason why
Richard has been one as well.
He enjoyed the social aspect of school more than
anything else, and was in the top 50% but failed to complete his final
year at school firstly through illness and then an advertisement he read
in the local paper, offering training to be a radio officer at sea. He
embarked on the 3 year training course, at the completion of which he was
told by his tutor, “I can guarantee that none of you will go to sea. We
are all trained officers ourselves and all we can get is teaching
positions. There will be jobs in the electronics factories.”
So before he was condemned to a factory job he went for
a two month jaunt around Europe. At the end of the time he was out of
money but was befriended by the captain of a luxury tourist canal barge
who offered him a two month job as a deckhand. Those two weeks turned into
8 years, in which time he went from deckhand to pilot and eventually the
skipper.
This was seasonal work between March and October and he
spent the winter months travelling; however, at the end of one season, his
employers were unable to pay his commission cheque but offered him a sales
and marketing junket around the world in lieu. He went to Canada, the US,
Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and then Thailand. This was 1991, he was
25 years old and it changed his life forever. “I guess that’s where I
got the bug. I saw my first angel in Kings Lounge Patpong and my first
palm tree in Samui.”
In 1991 some other events took place too. The most
notable was the Gulf War, and since most of the luxury canal barge
tourists were American, they cancelled en masse. The operators of the
barge told him to hang on in Bangkok to see if the season would improve.
It did, enough for a few months at least, and Richard, being an
enterprising young fellow stocked up with “designer” shirts bought in
Bangkok, which he took back with him and sold along the tow paths of
Europe.
At the end of the season this was enough for him to
then do a TEFL language teacher’s course in the UK and get him back to
Bangkok, which really had him hooked by this stage. In his own words, he
scraped a living in Bangkok but then serendipity came again in the form of
a meeting with two influential people in Bangkok. The place? The Thermae
coffee shop at 7 a.m. Getting up or going home, it is of no consequence
now, but the upshot was a contract to teach English administered through
the Thai Chamber of Commerce. This was enough to keep him afloat, if
you’ll pardon the nautical reference!
He also met another person who was to become a long
term friend in Thailand. That was Kim Fletcher, the landlord of
Shenanigans in Pattaya these days, but back then he was the “star
turn” in Jools Restaurant in Bangkok (or perhaps it was the court
jester). Richard and Kim hit it off, both of them have a deep interest in
70’s rock music.
However, it was not Richard’s time to become a Thai
resident, instead Richard received a call from the Cunard line, owners of
the QEII and the Sea Goddess ships. They had an immediate position for a
cruise director, was he interested? Since he had not applied for a job
with Cunard, he naturally wanted to know how they had found him.
Apparently a Japanese lady had left his CV there a couple of years
previously!
Richard was interested, and after an interview in
Singapore he was told to report for duty in the US Virgin Islands as soon
as possible to be the cruise director for the Sea Goddess ships. A
position he held for the next 9 years. He relates that those years were
“an amazing experience” where he went around the world sampling every
possible tour that has ever been invented. “To stand on the Great Wall
of China, and get paid for it” was one of the amazing facts from that
time. However, “If I ever see Pompeii again, I’ll scream,” said the
well travelled and toured Richard. He also met the world glitterati,
including Ringo Starr, Cliff Richard and even Ivana Trump.
Whilst this was the good life it was not ‘Goodbye
Thailand’ as the terms of duty were 16 weeks on and 8 weeks off. Those 8
weeks were taken at the place where you signed on - in Richard’s case -
Bangkok. He is now looking for the land-based position that will take him
on. “Maybe I can stay in one place long enough to hold down a
relationship!”
For Richard, success is merely, “To be happy and
enjoy life and be reasonably well off, so as not to worry. I’ve met so
many incredibly wealthy people - but they’re all miserable.”
With such a colourful life so far, was there anything
he would have liked to have changed? “Well, there’s a few girlfriends
I’d change,” he shot back immediately. He then became philosophical,
“I’ve never followed my own advice regarding Thai girlfriends!”
There are many males in Pattaya who would agree with that statement.
Welcome to the real world, Richard.
