Wednesday Walk: taking my old car to the garage.

Luckily I have found a nice and friendly garage in the neighbourhood years ago. So, some old staff have become my friends. The mechanics recognised my car as it’s the oldest Toyota model that I could still drive around doing my errands. This old car was an unexpected gift from my father after my graduation. So, this old car is very special and dear to me; I couldn’t sell it and buy a new car. This car has become my loyal friend and mechanic ‘pet’ that will accompany me during my journey. People at the garage had stopped trying to persuade me to get a new model of Toyota long time ago.

I have so many precious memories with this old car. We had lots of good time with my father during the last years of his life; I took him to the seaside and we went to several temples with my small nieces and nephew. I often took my farther out shopping every few months for new clothes. So, this old car has so many stories of fun time, exciting adventure with kids, mishaps and close escape from fatal accidents including memories of past families. The garage mechanics were very impressed with my old car as it could still perform very well. Some staff had to assist in sourcing spare parts for my car as factories had stopped producing some old cars’ spare parts. So, having amicable friendship with some key staff has been a blessing for me. This took time to cultivate and progress over the years.

I missed some old senior staff who had already retired; those old gentlemen belonged to the era of very civilised culture and good manner with kind hearts. They reminded me of my father’s generation of old school way of doing business where words became their bonds. The old manager allowed me to negotiate for special reductions on prices of spare parts as I was in the group of long-standing customers. There used to have special membership cards with points and other benefits but these were scrapped during the period of financial collapse years ago. Now I just hope we would never have to face another ordeal in the near future.

After putting my car under the care of the staff, it’s time for a walk and get some snack. Only a few minutes down the road, I found ice cream on wheel! An amazing Chinese man with alert mind and physical stamina was pushing his ice cream trolly along the road. He was about seventy-eight years old! He was originally from Hong Kong; his parents migrated to Thailand since he was very young. So, I had the opportunity to practice my Cantonese Chinese language with the old vendor.

He was very nice and kind; he was selling his ice cream at half the usual price. He told me that he’s happy that way; he wanted to see happy customers getting more ice cream and he’s willing to take little profit. I had a very nice coconut ice cream for my lunch and took a few photos before saying goodbye to him. A staff at the garage came out to get some ice cream too. I hoped I would catch him along the road again someday for more ice cream.

Walking along this old road, I was struck by some bright billboards along the row of townhouses. I wondered if motorists would have the time to read all the details. Perhaps during traffic jam, drivers would be entertained or distracted by all the advertisements. I liked the way the residents tried to improve their surroundings with pot plants and hanging baskets along the footpath.

Strictly speaking, people couldn’t really take the liberty of doing gardening on footpath or public spaces. The degree of flexibility in our culture and the innate anarchy inclination in most people meant that rigid rules wouldn’t work in our society, for better or for worse depending on the situation. I could see that there might have been in informal gardening competition along this road. People were trying to outdo each other on pot plants. I should bring along some medals to place on the top three winners one day.

I was surprised to see a bird cage hanging in front of a townhouse. I knew about the cultural fashion of people in the south of the country whereby bird cages would be seen hanging in front of houses. These were supposed to be a special kind of birds that people would enlist in birds’ songs competitions! This particular bird looked like a wild bird which wasn’t the kind of singing birds for competition. This caged bird looked like one of those wild birds sold on the black market. But it wouldn’t be able to survive in big city by itself now.

I also met a man selling pot plants on wheel. That gave me an idea; I could start a small plant nursery one day and sell these online for some income. But I had better improved my gardening skills and knowledge as soon as practicable. Poor people without higher edacution qualifications could sell things on wheels; so they didn’t have to become thieves. I tried to support these vendors whenever I could; I liked to buy brooms and jasmine garlands from vendors on wheels. They had to walk for hours in hot weather and traffic jam everyday to earn their livings.

I just hoped that they would be allowed to earn their income without being harassed by the local authority. Rules and regulations had been written to secure more market chair for multinational chainstore and make life harder for ordinary people. We really need less government and smaller government which would mean reduction in taxes and corruptions.

This local road reflected a myriad of people from various backgrounds and social class trying to survive in the world of sudden changes and uncertainty. During the plandemic lockdown, most shops and houses were closed and very quiet. I could see at least two vet clinics, one dentist clinic, a few drugstores, a few medical clinics and several grocery and hardware stores. So, seeing more people and activities during a bright afternoon really cheered me up. Though the road was still empty of traffic, things were looking up and the atmosphere more invigorating. The red local minibuses have started doing their business as usual. I would be taking one of this red minibus to get to Sathorn Pier for the express boat for my sightseeing later. Hope that you could join me on my boat trip too.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#wednesdaywalk hosted by @tattoodjay.