Exciting.....some might say

Mr John staying dry!

Well, after threatening for some time now, on Wednesday it actually happened.  The water started lapping near the front door!  It all started when I got up early and settled down to write a post.  Mr John was having a lie-in having been told there was no school on Wednesday.  Anyway, about 09:45 I decided to pop over the road and pick up a Milo (it's an Australian chocolate milk drink).  I opened the front door and found a bit of a commotion - must have been really engrossed in my blog that morning. 

Kids having a ball!

The reason for all the commotion?  There was water all over the road and it was lapping at number 4 (we're number 7).  So having popped over the road I called to Mr John that he'd best get up!  We heard later that the water was coming in 1cm / hour but having decided it seemed quite stable, we took off to Vintage Coffee as there was little we could do and it's near enough to the house.

Truck delivers bottled water & rice

Some time later, it started getting closer and closer to the house so we got everything up off the floor - the fridge on top of a desk, the couch on top of the dining table!  Everyone had been commenting on homey our place was looking but I can tell you it ended up looking like some sort of weird warehouse!  Meanwhile, on the street, there was something of a festival atmosphere.  Various food carts appeared and the usual "eateries" were in full flow. 

Business as usual

There was a stall down the road with a woman sat on a plastic garden chair, with the water up to her knees, smiling pleasantly and serving whoever wanted her goods.  Around our corner shop were bikes and cars where people had moved them to get them away from the worst of the water. 

I took a walk down the street and the water was up to mid-calf level on me.  Mr John was getting a bit frustrated that cars kept coming down the road as every time they did there were waves of water getting closer and closer to the front door. 

I wonder if you can picture Mr John trying to find the Thai word for sandbag! 

So we headed off to a local hotel for the night and hoped for the best.  The GOOD NEWS is that the water did not make it into the house and by Friday there was no water left lying around and services have returned to normal - though Chanthaburi is still making the news!  Of course the weather forecast for the weekend is not good with drenching thunderstorms predicted for Saturday.  Mr John is happy though - no work until Monday!