"Where have you been," his recent friend asked of another Italian asked who climbing off his motor bike.
We were outside a Family Mart on the island of Phuket.
"Ko Samui," the man, short, bald headed, very Italian, replied.
"Enjoy?"
"OK. There is pleasure every. My God."
He had escaped the echoing corridors, the surveillance, the derision of Bangkok, the halls surrounded with a laughter he did not feel.
He had lingered in Bangkok, Khron Tep, for days, perhaps it was months, working or recovering, his prolonged sobriety punctured by increasingly rare increasingly wild benders.
Why so keen on the setup?
"He's going down," one of the voices said in yet another crowded discotheque. "That book."
"Leave him be. Let him get his life back together. It's what he says himself. He would like to sue you for stress. Leave him alone."
He had repeatedly pointed out: "They make their own story."
"For him, it's five minutes to midnight," one of the voices stated.
But it wasn't that many days before another asked: "Who is this guy?"
He had merely questioned someone about seed banks in response to a long ago story about Glasgow. What, they thought he didn't know about these things?
All was well in an infinitely strange way; as if he had escaped the pressures of the past; as if nothing could equal what he had already gone through.
There was no mercy.
There would never be any mercy.
Among those he met. For the people with whom he lingered.
He didn't know whether to stay or go.
He said it repeatedly to confuse the people who trailed him, laying yet another false path on their highway to hell.
But in fact it was genuine enough.
There were "pathways", that phrase the public servants he had become acquainted with during his decades as a journalist were so fond of using in their documentation.
Their relentless seas of paperwork.
Of confusion.
In his case there was no clear pathway opening up ahead, as it usually did.
He didn't know how to enjoy; had never thought or sought such an outcome.
Here on the island there was something of the same feel of his own city, as if it could all be washed away in an instant; as the tsunami had proved.
The Impossible, the story of a British family who survived the tsunami, so white washed you would have thought no a single Thai person had died, is running in the cinemas. He wasn't about to see it twice, although he liked to see movies twice. You saw different things the second time round.
"It's not that sort of movie," one of the 12 steppers commented, idling away their idle days on the island, as if they had never worked, never kept up a professional pace, never crammed too many things into one day.
They were a little like the welfare dependent but with their own means and abandoned to luxury: to do one hing a day was more than enough.
He reached out across time and space, fell in the ditch, laughed at the sky. It was the same everywhere. We are all standing on the earth. But only some of us are looking at the stars.
Or as the Daily Literary Quote from Roman Payne declared, those who "revel in the voluptuousness of the life that surrounds them."
THE BIGGER STORY:
Cardinal Pell spoke of Christ's message of peace but acknowledged there was less peace - and sometimes no peace - where there was evil.
"My heart, the hearts of all believers, of all people of goodwill, go out to all those who cannot find peace at this time, especially those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians; Christian officials, priests, religious, teachers," he said.
"I am deeply sorry this has happened. It is deeply contrary to Christ's teachings and I too feel the shock and shame across the community at these revelations of wrong doing and crimes."
Cardinal Pell's message comes as the federal government prepares its terms of reference for a national royal commission into abuse within institutions, due next year. He said faith in goodness and love was needed to cope with disasters and hurt.
The message of Jesus Christ, he said, was a simple "great truth" open to all and rooted in history.
Ahead of the most celebrated day on the Christian calendar, commemorating the birth of Jesus more than 2000 years ago, spiritual leaders reminded followers Christmas was a time for reflection and hope.
Anglican Church of Australia Primate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, said it was a time of celebration, new imagination and potential renewal for both society and individuals.
The leader of Australia's Anglican community said the story of Christmas reminded people of God's hope and life.
"It is easy to lose heart when we look upon our world," Archbishop Aspinall said.
"It seems society has become habitually cynical and mistrustful, our public discourse thin and impoverished.
"We are thirsting for a new spirit - new ideas, new generosity and a new gratitude for all we have and are. Christmas is the time for new imagination."
Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen - in his last Christmas address before his retirement next year - said it was a time for reconciliation with God and each other.
"Reconciliation is a big theme for us Aussies," he said.
"Notably, we need to be reconciled with each other; not least, we more recent immigrant settlers with our indigenous First People.
"Reconciliation has to flow out of love."
Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, offered a prayer for the coming year while reflecting on Jesus's birth.
"My prayer is that 2013 will be characterised by peace in our society, tolerance and respect for young and old, and an ability to look beyond the immediate moment to the hope which God provides each of us by his coming," he said.
"Then we know that we are valued and we can make our city, our home, a better place.
"It is significant that God came to people in material poverty to show the great worth of each human person."
World Vision chief executive and Baptist reverend Tim Costello, said 2012 was a "grab bag of blessings and curses" for many Australians.
But Christmas was an opportunity to step away from the pressures and expectations of normal routines and find new possibilities.
" escaped the worst of the financial woes affecting other countries and our economy is still strong," Reverend Costello said.
"But on the other hand, many of us are struggling to keep up with our household expenses."
Churches of Christ federal coordinator Craig Brown made special mention of the young people abused by churches but said the institution may be able to partially restore lives.
Canberra Catholic Monsignor John Woods urged people to engage with the nativity scene of Christmas to get a perspective on the true significance of the period.
"Reclaim your lost innocence in the eyes of a baby, so powerless and yet so engaging," he said.
"This baby will confound, comfort and challenge and be rejected as too good to be true as he reconciles that which still divides us - life and death, light and dark, heaven and earth, victim and perpetrator, the refugee and the citizen, partisan politicians and the common good, the sick and the healthy, the rich and the unemployed, the loved and the lonely, all of us."
Aussies warned about Phuket scamsters
BANGKOK: -- Australian tourists in Phuket should be wary of extortion gangs, some of which are in cahoots with local police.
Australian Ambassador James Wise and his British counterpart, Mark Kent, have joined a Thai Ministry of Tourism campaign to tackle tourist scams on Phuket.
Up to 25,000 Australians visit Phuket each month, with Christmas and New Year the peak of the tourism season.
The main scams involve taxi and jet-ski operators in Phuket and the seaside resort town of Pattaya.
Mr Wise said travellers needed to be on their guard when they hired jet-skis or motorcycles.
"Consider the implications if it is stolen or damaged. Foreigners are commonly detained by police until compensation, often thousands of dollars, is negotiated between the parties."
Mr Kent said travellers should be cautious in "crowded markets, tourist sites, bus or train stations and festivals".
"It is best to avoid isolated neighbourhoods, shortcuts, narrow alleys and poorly lit streets, especially late at night," he said.
Larry Cunningham, Australia's honorary consul in Phuket, said scams and criminality had increased to such an extent that expatriates wanted to leave the island.
Mr Cunningham said young travellers were specially targeted by gangs and on occasion by local police.
In one incident, a young Australian man was involved in a minor traffic accident when riding a rental bike. He was told by police an injured man's condition was serious and was forced to pay thousands of dollars in compensation. [more...]
Full story: http://www.smh.com.a...1223-2btzi.html
-- The Sydney Morning Herald 2012-12-24
Aussies warned about Phuket scamsters
BANGKOK: -- Australian tourists in Phuket should be wary of extortion gangs, some of which are in cahoots with local police.
Australian Ambassador James Wise and his British counterpart, Mark Kent, have joined a Thai Ministry of Tourism campaign to tackle tourist scams on Phuket.
Up to 25,000 Australians visit Phuket each month, with Christmas and New Year the peak of the tourism season.
The main scams involve taxi and jet-ski operators in Phuket and the seaside resort town of Pattaya.
Mr Wise said travellers needed to be on their guard when they hired jet-skis or motorcycles.
"Consider the implications if it is stolen or damaged. Foreigners are commonly detained by police until compensation, often thousands of dollars, is negotiated between the parties."
Mr Kent said travellers should be cautious in "crowded markets, tourist sites, bus or train stations and festivals".
"It is best to avoid isolated neighbourhoods, shortcuts, narrow alleys and poorly lit streets, especially late at night," he said.
Larry Cunningham, Australia's honorary consul in Phuket, said scams and criminality had increased to such an extent that expatriates wanted to leave the island.
Mr Cunningham said young travellers were specially targeted by gangs and on occasion by local police.
In one incident, a young Australian man was involved in a minor traffic accident when riding a rental bike. He was told by police an injured man's condition was serious and was forced to pay thousands of dollars in compensation. [more...]
Full story: http://www.smh.com.a...1223-2btzi.html
-- The Sydney Morning Herald 2012-12-24
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