One Reason Why I Live Here--a Postscript

The umbrella that fell apart in yesterday's rainstorm never made it home with me. I made a few impotent attempts to make it work properly and then left it in the back of the pickup that I rode home in, fuming.

Anybody who's been patient enough to read this notebook that I keep on this blog knows I'm more often than not annoyed by the pickup trucks that carry people from one end of my neighborhood to another. As I waved one down today to come home after a quick trip for food and the paper, I was amazed to see the driver give me a radiant smile--and my repaired umbrella.

This is Thailand, people, even though that phrase is frequently abbreviated to a perjorative T.I.T. This is the community that has decided to be kind to an elderly farang woman, despite her obvious crotchets, and this is the sort of truly beneficent behavior that makes me melt into a puddle of gratitude.

I love this country and this story is one of the reasons why.