-- Today, (23rd.), a'noon. tee rak & I went for our usual walk-about:
- We looked-in at Silom 4. and saw that the T'PHONE. PUB. was set-up and there were several prs. of customers enjoying refreshments; THE BALCONY BAR was in process of being set-up - tee rak, (at my insistence), asked when they would be CLOSING tonight and was told at 22.oo.hrs..
- Farther on we saw a Sec. Gd. leaning-over SILCOM's hoarding; in reply we were told that SILCOM. would RE-OPEN 241030.hrs..
-- Around the KRVI. statue all of the forenoon's tentage had been struck-down; the PK. would remain CLOSED until monday morning; the whole area was generally deserted.
-- We walked-along R'damri. rd. all the way to the PRATUNAM I'sect. with no hindrances; in fact we noted howmuch work the BMA. laborers must have done to clean-away all of the red shirts' debris & remains.
- I am not unaware that many of us farangs have been known to mutter 'TIT.' - often with teeth clenched; or else we shrug our shoulders in an 'Mai pen rai.' gesture at another perceived failing wch. would never ever happen in our own home-countries; but this time one should give the BMA. their due for the speed with wch. they've cleaned-up & removed the trash.
- Just short of Sarsin rd. we watched a fireman atop a long & extending ladder removing the antennas from the red shirts' aerial. I asked a fireman how high the man was and was told that the ladder could reach UP as far as 150ft..; my off-the-cuff calculations - based on the distance from the ladder's pivot to the base of the aerial, approx. 42ft., and the Angle of Dangle as shewn on the ladder's Inclinometer, approx. 65degrees, - put the man UP at around 92ft.. Another fireman, in the trolley that rides UP & DOWN tracks on TOP of the ladder was having his photo. taken by one of his companions, I made a 'Smile, please.' gesture at him, at wch. he broke-out into a broad smile. We chatted in Thaiglish; he asked me if I wanted to join him in going-up? I mentioned that when I was in my early thirties I had worked atop a 200ft. electricity-type pylon, (using my hands in explanation to supplement my vastly inadequate Thai.), and thus heights were no problem to me.
-- In the burnt-out space between ZEN TWR. & C'WORLD. a couple of fire-hoses were playing still; the ent'ce. was blocked-off to keep-out all non-essential pers..
-- At the R'PRASONG. I'sect., (the S'vit. rd.), a largish gp. of volunteers was working alongside the BMA. workers in scrubbing the rd. and structures along it.
- Between the I'CONN. HTL. & CENTRAL - C. LOM were three BMA. water-trucks, with one of them hosing-down the supports for the o'head. skywalk with a large gp. - a rough count of maybe as many as a couple of hundred - helpers who were hard at work; in the usual Thai way they'd turned it into MORE of a work-fest., thus most were working-away in good spirits: laughing & joking even as they toiled. Other volunteers were circulating and were distributing cold drinking water.
-- Tee rak & I walked along Wireless rd. to the Br. Embassy, wch. - not unsurprisingly - was CLOSED tighter than the proverbial fish's a***hole.
-- We walked-back around LUMPINI PK., along Si Lom rd. and back to the app't. - arriving just before the rains did!
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