Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, August 08, 2004

My elder daughter is writing a novel set in Thailand. She was doing some research recently and came across the following comment:- ‘Sanuk’, the Thai for ‘fun’, is paramount in the Thais' way of life. The Thais think that for something to be worthwhile it must be sanuk. If it's not sanuk, it will very quickly become boring to them. Thais can frequently be seen laughing and enjoying themselves in whatever they are doing. If the enjoyment wanes, the activity will probably stop. Hmm.


Which reminds me - The national Traffic Police are reported to be unhappy that they are being pressurised by the politicians to test more drivers and issue more fines for drunken driving. Ignoble, I suppose. Meanwhile, closer to home the local traffic police have taken up the call for more fines with abandon, though admittedly only for bad parking. Last night we saw them towing and booking all the BMWs, Mercedes and Audis parked on the pavement in the streets around the big private club on this side of the river. It was the night of the debutantes’ ball - a big occasion in the town - and this police action is, I suspect, totally without precedent. There must be a chance that some of the car owners are not friends of the Chief of Police and so will have to cough up. This makes me feel better about the low chances of success of our appeal against our own parking fine of a couple of months ago. It shouldn’t but it does.


I read the report – in the Culture section, of course – of the first bullfight on Friday night here in Pontevedra. The markings used range from ‘A Silence’ all the way up to ‘Two ears and the Tail’ - taking in An Ovation, One Ear, and Two Ears along the way. As each bullfighter takes on two bulls, he can, for example, score One Ear and one Ovation. Or any combination of the above. Provided, of course, that he survives both bulls. Imagine being reminded in the national press that you had scored ‘A Silence and A Silence’. You might just want to go out and throw yourself on a couple of passing horns. Though I don’t suppose you give the fee back. You can always blame ‘ignoble’ bulls.


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