When in Rome

There's something strange I noticed the other day...in Thailand there are lots of hazards to look out for every day - it's just an inherently unsafe place...when you put a plug into the wall there's a big spark and when you plug your camera into the computer at the internet cafe you get an electric shock(!)...the roads are definitely the dodgiest place to be though - people don't really seem to have any appreciation for how dangerous it is for them to drive like idiots - when you add to that the fact that there are no seatbelts in the backs of cars and people on mopeds don't wear helmets you would imagine that there are a lot of fatalities (thankfully people here tend to drive pretty slowly, otherwise it would be an awful lot worse)...Someone told me before I came that mopeds were seen as a mode of family transport over here, I thought that he might have been exaggerating...but no, it's true - on my first day here I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a woman (with 3 kids!) flagging down a motorcycle taxi to give them a lift! Women just perch on the back (sidesaddle) not holding onto anything...well actually that's not strictly true I have seen some of them holding onto babies!

But all of that isn't what I find strange...what I have been surprised by is my reaction to it...it really doesn't take long before you see all of these things and just shrug your shoulders (if there's a reason why people in Thailand tend to be more relaxed it's because if you weren't you'd die of the stress! Maybe it's an evolutionary thing...survival of the most relaxed or something)...but more than this - what is probably the most ridiculous thing is that you find yourself doing what they do...the other night I found myself riding a bike back from the footy in the dark (with no lights) on the wrong side of the road(!)...and on another last week there was a trip to the park for some of the babies and the girls (not us) at the orphanage and they rode in a van designed for 5 people...there were 17 of them!

It's weird - it doesn't seem to make any rational sense. If anything I should be more cautious here not less. To be honest though, just in case anyone's worried about me (unlikely I know) you shouldn't be - I'm generally pretty cautious...

Right then, due to the (not so) unprecedented reaction to my disclosure about the male-female ratio over here...I thought I should just let you know that you shouldn't hold your breaths with regards to any "developments"...Afterall, I'm not here for the women, I'm here for the children...you can insert your own Gary Glitter joke here...

Btw - remember I said that there had been some developments with regards to my PGCE application? Well, apparently there was what, in the business, they call a complete cock-up...I was actually offered a place on the course in January. Unfortunately, they didn't send a letter to say so, nor did they send me an email, nor did they update the online "tracking" service on the website! And so, because I'm not a clairvoyant and hence didn't respond to the offer within 7 days, that was counted as a decline on my part! Anyway, luckily everything is sorted now, and even though the course was full they have allowed me to join it...I only found all of this out through a stroke of luck and the fact that my brother Mark was kind enough to make a couple of phonecalls for me - so thanks very much to you Marko!

Also, with regards to the anonymous poster...you were definitely on my shortlist of candidates - but I have to say that I was ruling you out on the basis that some of what you said seemed a bit too girly to be you - what's got into you man?!