Ayutthya, the Thai ancient capital has been inundated since last week. According to news updates, Bangkok is next. Photos and video footages, while informative are scary. I’m listing this week’s highlights as I go. Think, think… sounds like this will all be about gratitude. One major blessing is never running out of things to be thankful for.
i. Still walking on dry, solid ground. Bangkokians have been told to brace for the flood particularly on October 16-18. We haven’t been flooded yet. This is when you are really glad predictions or calculations are wrong.
ii. Cartoons. Most information released to the public seem either exaggerated or inaccurate while blame and criticism trend by the hour. I get an overview of what’s going on from editorial cartoons. They’re rather easy to analyze.
iii. Books, tea and coffee. Panic-buying all around. I don’t have to join the throng that emptied grocery shelves at virtual lightning speed. There’s enough to keep me occupied until things get back to normal. I’m so thankful for internet connection too.
iv. CJ is safe. Inasmuch as I miss my kiddo, I’m really thankful he is not with me right now but living life normally with Grandma in PI. This calamity is easier to handle knowing I only have to deal with my own safety and not worry about his.
v. Literary comfort. There’s Noah and the first rainbow, Coleridge’s ‘water, water everywhere…,’ (I love how poetry calms the nerves) and Tennyson’s
“Be still sad heart and cease repining; behind the clouds the sun is still shining, thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life some rain must fall. Some days must be dark and dreary.”
The same lines I mentally chanted while on a flight home for my father’s funeral in 2005. “This (flood or any other trouble) too shall pass.” Thanks to whoever said that.
Susanne hosts Friday’s Fave Five at Living to Tell the Story.
Hazel Ceej 