Bizarre defence 1
Some folk offer the most odd explanations of curfew breaking. A Rayong guy was stopped after police noticed he was driving slowly down the highway in the wee hours. He explained he was looking for his wife who was very absent-minded and frequently wandered off. Police then asked who was laid out sleeping on the back seat of the vehicle. You are right – his wife!
Bizarre defence 2
Police raided a “mua soom” or a group of five people drinking beer, laughing and joking contrary to the state of emergency regulations at the time. Their defence was that they were drinking from cans and bottles in the garage which were so old that the alcohol content had evaporated. One of their number then drew attention to an internet site which said exactly that. It seems you can’t believe everything you read on the world wide web. It’s a pity.
Open for booze
When the dry season ended on May 3, there was a shortage of hard information about the new opening hours for off-sales. Some stores thought we were back to the good old days of 24 hours opening. Others thought the authorities probably meant 6 am to 6 pm, or maybe 11 am to 6 pm. Then again they might have meant to go back to 11 am to 2 pm and then 5 pm to 6 pm or even to 8 pm. Or maybe a cut-off time at 10 pm to coincide with the start of the curfew. Not surprising that a suspicious public decided to stock up in a rush whilst they could.
Corona balance sheet
Many people have commented that an upside of the pandemic has been environmental improvement as smog clears over cities and the turtles come back to lay their eggs on the beach devoid of humans. Over the entire world, pollution may be down by 10 percent or so. On the downside, there has been a truly gigantic increase in the amount of plastic used in the packaging of takeaway food and temporary knives forks and spoons. Whatever happened to that campaign?
Fake news breathes
Following a comment in Pattaya Mail that one of the silliest fake news stories about Coronavirus was the one suggesting you hold your breath for three minutes, a reader wrote in to point out somberly that such a practice is dangerous as you will die rather than recover. Thanks for that. But not sure if holding your breath longtime is any more stupid than the notion from a senior American source that drinking or injecting bleach might be a cure-all. Either way you meet your Maker sooner than you might like.
Future of take-aways
Some argue that the April closure of sit-down eating opportunities in cafes and restaurants, now sort-of rescinded, means that people have now got used to home delivery of food and will not resume their eating-out traditions. Certainly possible, but let’s remember that add-on charges mean that delivered meals by motorbike can work out more expensive than taking your seat in a restaurant. The jury is out on that one.
Technology takes over
Even people who have never learned to send an email nor even to turn on a computer will surely agree the Coronavirus scare has provided some mind-boggling developments. Temperature testing by hand-held device at the entrance of the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital has been replaced by a walk-past machine which silhouettes your whole body and gives an instant temperature reading without a human pressing a button near your head. On Pattaya’s Beach Road these days you might hear a drone overhead barking out the latest orders where you can sit or asking you to move along.
Toilet paper shortage jokes
The pandemic has given rise to many jokes on that subject. Here’s a couple. “If you need 144 rolls of toilet paper to survive 14 days’ quarantine, you should probably have seen the doctor long before Covid-19.” And, “I spent yesterday trying to explain to my kids why a guy eating bat soup in China led to a toilet paper shortage in Liverpool.”
 |
 |
 |
