Honda dream.

  Arthur turns back the mosquito net and hauls himself out of bed. Tui is still sleeping like a teak log. Should he make a cup of tea? Or get one in town? Perhaps potter down to the fishpond to get the juices flowing and see if Tui gets up in the meantime? Either way it looks like another hot one. Maybe a good idea to get the shop open early, not than anybody will be looking for books first thing in the morning but it’s good to be a bit disciplined. Expats have to keep busy in Thailand. Too easy to slip into bad habits. 

  He wheels the Honda Dream out to the track and gets the engine going. There’s old Somchai off to the outhouse. Soon Yai will be getting the charcoal fire going. Then she’ll be down to the pond to see if she can rustle up a couple of catfish. As neighbours they were pleasant enough. Tui popped in to see them now and again and they always had a friendly wave for Arthur. Not that he was ever quite sure what they thought of living next door to a farang and his new concrete house. Whatever it was they kept it to themselves. Not like some in the village. Gossipy buggers. Squabbles never far below the surface. But that was village life. Same everywhere. No getting away from that side of things.

  Yes, all in all, life could be worse. Arthur has a good wife and a nice house. Well it’s not really his house. It’s in Tui’s name because that’s as close as farang can get to owning property in Thailand. But he trusts her 100%.

  Arthur rides the bike carefully down the bumpy track and through the main street of the village. There is nobody about. Just a few chickens already scratching around and a whiff of wood smoke from Tui’s sister’s place. Nice that the dogs don’t bark anymore.  Nice too having the bookshop to go to. A quiet place to sit and think about things. Strange the tricks life plays. Funny to think that he should leave England, come all this way to a remote corner of Thailand and still find himself in the retail side of things. Not that his little bookshop in Sakorn Nakhon could compare with being a tobacconist in Carshalton, which is what Arthur had been in a previous incarnation, but there were some parallels. The retail trade was the same everywhere. There was the same responsibility to get the shop open every morning. The customers expected that. Not that he saw many.

   Maybe it’s time for another Bangkok expedition Arthur thinks. Tui had suggested a week in Pattaya. Why not? He could combine it with meeting Simon. When had he last seen him? London was it when Arthur was over for his mother’s funeral. Simon had taken him to a trendy restaurant. And now he’s coming to Thailand. Hmmm. It would be strange to say the least.

   OK, now Arthur is turning carefully onto the main road. This bit can be tricky. Arthur crosses a small plank bridge and turns sharp left onto the hard shoulder avoiding the raised edge of the tarmac. The hard shoulder has its own set of hazards, potholes, chickens, snakes, dogs, sharp discarded barbecue sticks etc. but it tends to be less perilous than the road itself. Today doesn’t look too bad. Hardly any traffic about. Just a couple of songthaos but no trucks or buses yet. Should be a nice little ride into Sakorn Nakhon thinks Arthur.