14th Asean Summit,Thailand and other stuff

Well folks the 14th Association of South East Asian Nations Summit is coming nearby next week. The summit is scheduled to take place in Hua Hin/Cha am from 27th February for a long weekend so I guess it is going to be pretty lively down there and security is going to be very pronounced and the traffic will be horrendous. Maybe this is why my car was so thoroughly checked before parking it in the Hilton Hotel today, mirrors under the body and a boot check.

The welcome signs and parking restriction notices are being erected. In Hua Hin and the surrounding area it appeared as if a major cleaning operation was taking place: they were hosing down the over head wires and there were people using what looked like angle grinders to polish/clean the kerbs. I seem to recall Thailand hosting a similar event a few years ago in Bangkok and there was much consternation at our dear friend Khun Thaksin's attempts to hide the riverside slums of the city by erecting huge white screens.

I am sure the Summit will provide a much needed boost to local hotels and tourism in general.

I was thinking about the Glasgow nonsense arising out of Celtic playing Rangers on Sunday and the historic and indeed continuing sectarianism in that part of the world. As a student in the mid 1970s I worked in a bar in the south side of Glasgow, The Titwood, and this was a popular match day watering hole for football fans going to Hampden Park. Outside of these events it was a Hun shop, but I think everybody that worked there was a Catholic so there was an amazing banter across the bar, some of which was utterly objectionable and some which was very funny and witty.

I remember one Cup Final Saturday when Celtic were playing Rangers. The regular Huns were in, excited about their pre-match prospects, plus a fair number of visiting fans with loyalties to both Celtic and Rangers. The pub had a strict no colours policy so you never really knew who was what! I don't recall there ever being any trouble. Anyhow a wee guy, a visitor, is standing on his own at the bar and having a good drink for a Saturday morning, beers and whisky chasers. Perhaps his ears were burning because of the banter between the bar staff and the regulars but he calls me over and says something like: "Son what's your name?", "Gerry" I tell him and he looks at me and I may have explained to him this was short for Gerard. He then asks me an extraordinary question:"Do you know someone called Gerard Majella?" This is the saint I am called after! He beamed when I confirmed this and said something like: "You need to know who you are talking to in places like this....."

I am pleased to say I am a thousand miles from all this stuff, both mentally and physically. Thank God, how pernicious it really is. Interestingly Wikipedia tells me St Gerard Majella is the saint ".....whose intercession is requested for children (and unborn children in particular), childbirth, mothers (and expectant mothers in particular), motherhood, falsely accused people, good confessions, lay brothers and Muro Lucano, Italy". There you are! I better let my pregnant wife know about this!