Mary's Diary (Part 16)
Maria Berg (72) made a wish come true: she moved to Thailand in October 2012 and she has no regrets. Her family calls her an ADHD senior and she agrees. Maria worked as an animal caretaker, student nurse, animal ambulance driver, lady bartender, activity supervisor in day care and as a caretaker C in private home care. She was not very stable either, because she lived in Amsterdam, Maastricht, Belgium, Den Bosch, Drenthe and Groningen.
Sewing machine
In the Netherlands I received an antique Singer sewing machine as a gift. So I use it regularly and enjoy it as well as it does. Made covers for my couch, mended clothes, you name it. Suddenly there is no movement anymore.
Now that's just like a moped or a car, it just has to do it! What done now? Took the whole sewing part apart and sprayed everything with a spray can of WD-40. On that bus it says that everything that is stuck will be loosened by this stuff.
What all came out, unbelievable, maybe that machine hasn't been cleaned for decades. Threads and scraps of fabric. When everything was clean, put everything back together and…it still didn't work. No matter what I tried, it wouldn't move. Then don't look at it for a while, I don't feel like getting angry.
After a few days I sat down again and now sprayed the wheel with my miracle spray can and let it work for an hour. He ran like a train again. I was completely happy, even though I felt a little stupid that I hadn't thought of that before.
The handsome man
In my list of Thai men, the handsome man at the immigration office was someone I would have loved to have dinner with. Now I had to hand in a paper at that office and who did I bump into? That's right, the handsome man. Started a whole conversation with him and was so bold as to invite him to lunch. He accepted the invitation.
I was there with my son, so the three of us went to a restaurant. I still thought he was handsome and he still had a pleasant voice. During dinner my son and he got to talking, they talked about the most diverse things. I will definitely see him again, my son invited him.
The red surprise
When the dogs were still alive, a red tomcat also came into my garden, who played very nicely with the dogs and let Kwibus drag him through the whole garden. Due to the presence of the dogs, the cat's food was on the garden table. Now that there are no more dogs, that food is still there. There is also a house on that table, where I put the food in when the rainy season started again.
For about a month and a half, the tomcat has brought another red cat. Together they wait for food to be served. The tomcat is close by and the shy cat is at a distance. Now the cat restaurant opens at 6 o'clock in the morning. If I'm a little later, they are meowing impatiently. If I want to hurry up, I think they call.
Fourteen days ago, it's barely light and I'm not quite awake yet. I walk to the garden table to put down the food. There lies the red surprise in the house. Three cuddly red balls of fluff from a few weeks look at me with wide eyes. So red cat number 2 is their mother. Yes, and then what do you do? I have a week ago, but have a party tent placed over the table, at least the family will be dry when the rain starts.
The nose no. 2
All over the world people are walking around who are not satisfied with their nose. So they decide to have him changed. Here is a list of famous people who have had their nose changed:
- Michael Jackson multiple times
- Charles Aznavour once
- Juliet Grego ten times, you read that right
- Silvester Stalone twice
- Cher once
- Jaimi Lee Curtis once
- And several people around me.
Now I live in Thailand, for me the country with the cute noses and guess what? To my surprise, dissatisfaction with the nose here too. It is often found too small and made longer. It's strange that so many people are not satisfied with their nose.
A snake?
My daughter-in-law and I had been away and she drove me home in the car. I always leave the wooden outside doors open, only the mesh doors I lock. The neighbor spoke to my daughter-in-law, I had to close the wooden doors, a snake had tried to enter. Daughter-in-law in a panic.
The strange thing for me, it was not told whether he was big or small, no color was mentioned, nothing at all. Then I said, it must have been the garden hose, because it is near the door and I had to laugh. That turned out to be completely wrong, I should have taken it seriously. I'm sticking with the garden hose for now.
The band
One morning when I wanted to cycle to the supermarket, 5 km from here, my one front tire turned out to be flat. No problem, removed the tire and inner tube and started with my tire repair box from the Netherlands.
Tape glued, let it dry for two hours and put the tires back on. While inflating, a huge bang and the tire was flat again. That was a bit scary. The tires came off again, the inner tube was really shredded. I could see myself confined to my house until tapes were sent from the Netherlands.
Anyway, with my daughter-in-law and the flat tire to the local bicycle shop. My daughter-in-law showed me the tire and the bicycle man asked: how many do you want? What a relief, they were just for sale here, 50 baht each. Bought two and returned home. The valve is a lot thicker, but if I keep my hand on the pump, I still get my tire full, luckily, I can go anywhere again.
The first rain
Saturday the first rain shower, with storm and thunder. So the party tent was put up just in time and weathered the storm. Everything stayed dry, including the red fluff balls.
Ten kilometers away, where the school is, where I occasionally go, things went less well. The roof of the kindergarten is badly damaged. Lucky it happened on Saturday, then the kids are free, so no injuries.
Maria's Diary (part 15) appeared on February 26.
Submitted communication
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I enjoyed it again Maria, thanks! A red surprise like that is better than a green surprise (snake), but luckily you don't let yourself be fooled!
Goodbye Maria,
It is always a pleasure to read your diary!
You write so beautifully and lifelike.
Only 8 more months and then my dear Cecilia and I will be in you and us again
dear country. Unfortunately always only for 2 months
Regards,
Bob
Maria, another wonderful story.
Would you still get the man?
Waiting in suspense and looking forward to the follow-up with the man from the emigration service.
Garden hose – hose – wasn't it that old bicycle tire?
I look forward to your next entry.
Hi Mary,
Enjoyed your wonderful sense of humour.
Always look forward to your bits.
My husband and I (almost) immediately shouted “she bought a party tent for the cats””
I think the wildlife is very happy with your presence there.
Only, I thought I had just gotten rid of the nose phobia, are you going to list all those renovations again.
So this is again peeping at noses.
Earlobes and noses point in one direction when viewed from the side, so it's a breeze to get through.
And yes, the Thai ladies usually have that "sunken part" on the bridge of the nose filled in, for a more European nose.
I do think that in a next column (2 further) you have an outright female colony.
We have them here in 3 sizes, namely SML and Extra Large are or is mummy and daddy.
And they have a bond between each other.
Regularly and with a lot of noise.
A scream and a scream of I have you there.
Not for a while now and that's because 2 cats had a huge fight and wanted to fight this out on one side of our house.
(At least that's my idea. they still haven't recovered from the shock)
Sitting at the PC I really see 2 flashes running with an emergency speed over our sandstone path and I heard 2 splashes.
They were running at such a speed and I don't think they saw our pool.
The second one that punched in caused it to be pushed a bit further at first.
I have never in my life seen how fast a cat swims out of the water and crawls out.
Now I understand where the expression "you look like a drunk cat" comes from
It really doesn't look like it.
Whether they have sat in 220 volts with a leg.
I was in stitches over this.
I never expected this to happen to a cat.
So my husband now has to do something to close the entrance there in the garden.
But I think those animals here are in heat 12 months a year, read pregnant, so the hangovers w…..and there was an accident here.
I can't turn around or there's that little bitch running again.
There will be more of course, but 1 lady is very fanatical.
Look forward to your next piece.
goodies,
LOUISE
Nice cat story, you can put it into words, you could write a book.
Mary
I forgot to say.
If you can make all these stories, plus the beginning, in which you are taking the big step to Thailand, this is a very nice book.
Because you can't tell me that this is happening in the Netherlands without mistakes, fun things, hilarious events,
disasters etc. has gone.
However??
LOUISE
Hi Maria, I am very disappointed, do you have another man in mind? I may be too young, but I thought we would do something together in the Netherlands. But hey, who knows? And a word about your sewing machine; my mother has a Singer, my aunt has a Singer and my sister is a sewing machine. Hope to see you in the Netherlands soon.
Hi Maria, with us in Drenthe every red cat is a hangover, in Th- is that different? or maybe two lady boys and adopted brood?
Nice piece by the way, wish you a good time there, in July we will have another month with vac-in Th-, I will then shake each red cat to see if they rattle / or not.
Sincerely,
Jan.