Postcards from Thailand #53: It's (Not) My Party (And I'll Leave if I Want to)

in Actifit7 months ago

The wife's cousin recently had a new baby boy. Congratulations are obviously in order. This was her second child, her first being a little girl who just happened to celebrate her 8th birthday a couple of weeks later. This could only result in one thing...

Oh no...

Family party time!

Now let's get this straight. The extended Thai family that surround me are great and I'm not always an anti-social, miserable old bastard; except I probably am, but even so, I dont mind an hour or two of 'good' Thai food washed down with copious amounts of whisky to the background of traditional Thai entertainment and music...

Did I say a couple of hours?

I meant an hour...at a push. Anyway, the party kicked off at 4pm and they'd really gone to town. All the family from the mainland were over and we'd got the gazebos up in case of rain, caterers in and the usual dreaded, pumping one million megawatt PA system. Everything has to be loud here.

We arrived at their house, which is just 500m from our house, fashionably late at 5pm as we were working. Walk? I dont think so! By motorcycle, of course, leaving it close to the gate for a fast getaway. Sadly, the Tom Yam Kung was already on its last dregs which put the wife in a right old mood. The baby was being paraded around to meet its family and I never even saw the birthday girl, and all the while my ear drums were systematically being thump, thump, thumped further into my skull.

Then the dancers appeared...

Fair play. We'd managed an hour! The wife made my excuses (I say my excuses as she always uses me as excuse for everything to save her losing face and knows I can't understand what's she's telling people) and separately snuck off to where the bike had been strategically parked.

Getting home, we tried to watch a movie, then ended up going for an early night, but asleep was not forthcoming. Despite us leaving the party, the 'music' could be heard just as loudly and clearly at our house as it was at there's. I'm guessing it was a good night, the FiL didn't make an appearance the next day until about nine, and he's usually up at five.

Hope everyone is having a great week and thanks for stopping by.

@nathen007


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14/11/2023
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Daily Activity, Walking

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Hahaha, an hour. Thats like me. There is only so much small talk I can manage and if it is with the inlaws that gets reduced further!

I'm actually quite lucky though because the wife is as miserable and grumpy as I am at such events so early getaways are the norm for us. This is why whenever the really big does are on at New Year and Songkhran, we've usually left the country! Hope all is well young(er) man :-)

Young(er)(ish) man, lol!!

That is quite handy. I find my missus is always keen to not leave and engage in rubbish small talk with everyone and their dog and I am like HEEEEEELP!

All good here mate, hope you are too!

Why do I have this tingly feeling you avoided the birthday girl cos you don’t do well with babies? :)

Haha, my wife and I spend 9 hours a day, 7 days a week working with kids so we both prefer our autistic / adhd 'family' to the real, grown-up one! That said, we don't have kids of our own and if I were being honest, it's nice giving them back at the end of the day!

In all seriousness, if you have any issues with special needs kids at school and need some advice, just give me a shout :-)

So rude of you not to say hello to the kid,you did get free drinks and food because of him!!!

Where are your manners Martin ??!!!!

lol...she wasn't even there! The Birthday kids had all been taken to a kids play centre and she'd had her present in the morning.
As for free...
How these events work is that everyone gives an envelope , like the the Chinese red envelope style, with some money in it, in this case for the newborn, but the same applies at weddings, funerals and other gatherings. Trust me, the guests are the losers! Hence they go on into the early hours so people can get their money's worth!

Martin is a good boy haha @livinguktaiwan

So your not a party guy @nathen007 lol. Some of my friends are like that so I understand it well. Have a nice day....

So your not a party guy

That all depends on who is at the party! But generally, large family parties, no lol

I never been in a large family party lol. Last night I've attended a bday parties with a bunch of visitors hahaha. I can't moved while picking some foods at their yummy table hehehe...

We refuse to even attend these now. @bingbabe was never a party person and tends to avoid her 'own kind' in England.

LOL Well, In the UK, these huge family gatherings are maybe once a year but in SE Asia, they'd celebrate anything, and when you live close to your family, you see the buggers everyday, anyway! Hence it took us a long time to make the move from Bangkok permanent.

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Guess you guys pretty much had a blast of an event. Am still confuse on the part you meant "Its(not) my party. Anyways congrats for her giving birth to a healthy child, children are always blessings

Thank you so much :-) I always use an old song title to try and fit my Actifit posts. This was the closest I could think of !

Thanks do much for dropping by and good to meet you :-)

Hmmm back in the days when songs where lovely ☺️ oh! and thank you for thanking me ☺️