A year ago in this very column Rooster spoke about the "Phony War" in relation to the pandemic. Twelve months later it feels like hostilities have well and truly begun.
The Phony War for people like me who were not around when WWII began in September 1939 was the following eight month period when it really was all quiet on the Western Front. People like my mother in the east end of London wondered when or even if it would kick off. They were soon cowering in the Underground tunnels before returning to what was left of their houses.
Last April many things didn't seem to add up. Why were places like Italy and Iran so desperate? Why had Thailand seemingly escaped the worst? Was tourism minister Pipat right that the wind would blow the virus away by Songkran…..
Even when sporadic outbreaks occurred later in the year, even when the market in Samut Sakhon threw up so many cases it seemed that Thailand had escaped the worst and the government might have actually done something good for a change.
We could all follow suit and be just a little bit smug. Not now.
Yesterday there were 2,839 cases and eight deaths. And they are only the ones we know about. The country is in lockdown and curfew in all but name.
I feel confident that the Thai public health service has - despite the irrelevance of head honcho Big Nut Anutin - made some good decisions and is coping well. But for how long?
The vaccine rollout is increasingly looking like the mother of Thai cock-ups. A rural medical chief slammed the government on Friday for mismanagement and poor decision making saying that Thailand was at the back of the vaccine queue worldwide.
Of particular concern to this columnist is the large number of people - particularly on Thaivisa's Facebook arm, far less so on the forum - who insist the pandemic is a hoax. I saw one who called Thaivisa scaremongers! Then there are those who spread malicious and idiotic nonsense about vaccines, people who believe they have a right to free speech.
It's time not just to rid social media of such people but for governments to look at making it a crime to say such things, a bit like some nations have laws to rein in Holocaust deniers.
Pandemic and vaccine deniers need at the very least to be called out at every opportunity and possibly banned and prosecuted.
For them the Phony War worldwide continues despite all the evidence to the contrary. Yet they are the phonies. As well as the people who click "like" on their drivel.
I remember well in the very first throes of the pandemic my own skepticism. It caused a torrent of abuse. But when it became obvious that I was wrong I was sensible enough to quickly change tack. Now I not only see the error of my ways, I have not only eaten humble pie but feel that serious action is needed against those who pooh-pooh the pandemic.
It was a hectic week on Thaivisa with many interesting stories filling our columns both pandemic and non-pandemic related.
Many expats in Thailand were up in arms about the decision to make tests for entering Phuket free for Thais but 500 baht for foreigners. Previously it was 300 baht for all so understandably the dual pricing argument reared its decidedly ugly head.
While it is reasonable that people who have not necessarily paid into the public health system should pay why should the price be bumped up to cover Thais? All in all it was yet another money grabbing embarrassment of a PR disaster.
Potential tourists would take one look at a debacle like that and think, I'll go somewhere else where I won't be ripped off. All for the sake of a few thousand baht. Pathetic.
Rooster would not go to Phuket under such circumstances. I've turned back from National Parks when the staff failed to comprehend that I was holding a residence certificate and work permit. I once suggested to Mrs R that I get in the boot and hide to get through the gate.
She agreed rather too readily for my liking filling me with fear that she might "forget" I was in the back!
The health ministry said that Sinovac was safe but its efficacy when compared to other vaccines needs to be transparently announced so that people can make clear choices.
Except of course that in Thailand there is very little choice. Wait or wait, to be precise. And that wait is June when locally made AstraZeneca may or may not be available and may or may not be fully effective against the variants that will surely emerge by then.
The PM, meanwhile, seemed delighted that such an upstanding member of the international community as V. Putin was going to help the Thais out with his Sputnik VAX. Maybe it's OK but I'd rather not have anything to do with that murdering tyrant (Putin, not Uncle Too, incidentally). And by all accounts it's not even cheap!
Earlier in the week political strategist Songkhram Kitlertphairot of the Puea Chat opposition party laid into the premier and his cronies blaming Prayut for the death of his compatriots.
Meanwhile the embattled leader - barking nonsense as is his forte - defended the vaccination plans, said it was not slow and was not favoring one vaccine over another.
As my eight year old said - the naughty misguided little girl - "Liar Liar Khaki Pants on Fire!"
Pictures in the Thai press showed a sad looking Pattaya. On what should have been the celebration of "Wan Lai" that always follows Songkran, the resort was deserted.
Up in Chaing Mai pictures of exhausted medical personnel at a field hospital brought home to netizens the reality of the pandemic for health workers.
Anutin went to Hua Hin where there were nearly 1000 virus cases, handed out supplies and claimed everything was under control, as many officials did this week.
Good news came for parents with word that the school term would not be delayed from May 17th. But there was a rather hefty caveat about having the pandemic under control. Expect a June 1st start at the earliest.
Pipat revised his foreign arrivals for 2021 figure by half. He's starting to get close to reality. Zero will be about the correct figure give or take a few thousand.
An online survey conducted on Chinese people suggested that 93% would look to the Thai vaccine rollout before making a holiday decision to come to Thailand. More than half those polled listed Thailand as their #1 destination though a third said they'd wait six months after the end of quarantine before holidaying in the Land of Smiles.
Foreigners living in Thailand came in for a bit of standard blame. Two teachers at what appeared to be a bilingual school in Samut Prakan caused an outbreak after they brought the virus back from a bar in Phuket. They had attended a "goodbye teachers" event at which there was a lot of hugging. Sounded rather American!
While in Koh Samui, Thai news site Manager pointed their finger at foreigners who were not wearing masks at Mae Nam market.
Twenty thousand baht fines were in place though the court only ordered the first person prosecuted to pay 4,000 baht (reduced to 2K on admission). The governor of Udon Thani then followed suit with a 20K order of his own.
Scandals this week were rather tame with a Facebook page claiming that first a policeman then secondly a forestry official had taken their wives on joyrides in state owned helicopters.
The second did not look like a wife and her claim that all the pictures were taken on the ground looked dubious when a mountain with clouds appeared outside the helicopter window.
A whopper on a chopper!
Rooster went to town on a story about a Thai teacher on an exchange at a school in New South Wales.
Somchai arrived in suit and tie on day one and was told he was a tad overdressed by a buddy teacher in shorts and open neck shirt. Further "revelation" followed when there was no one to respect at the flagpole at 8am and the kids enjoyed sport rather than endless lessons, as they would in Thai school.
Rooster faithfully translated the spirit of the Aussie words with a little journalistic licence added.
In my youth I spent a year and more in Oz and learned to speak Ocker at Tubemakers of Western Australia in Perth. There everyone complained about the management with one shop floor co-worker telling me they were so bad that they started with the letter A.
Abysmal? Nah, mate. Awful, no way blue. Okay, I give up, I said.
Abnoxious, that's what they are mate. Bladdy abnoxious.
Perhaps surprisingly, given all that is going on in the world, the big story of the week was about Giant the Ban Dog, a kind of pit bull, that was taken to Wat Bang Lamung by his new owner to apologize to the corpse of his previous master who he had savaged to death.
The wife of the deceased inquired as to his well-being before Giant made his excuses and left the "khor khama" ceremony muzzled and tail wagging.
Whoever said it's a dog's life in Thailand was not far wrong.
There was also great interest in CNN Travel's updated list of the 50 top "foods" in the world.
Massaman curry maintained it's #1 spot but both Fish and Chips from the UK and buttered toast and marmite beat out Som Tam.
How durian was not on the list I shall never know!
Finally, the Pak Kret police were obliged to take action after a YouTuber dressed as a Spartan armed with a spear spooked the locals while on a motorcycle at a red light in their jurisdiction.
His elaborate head armour invoked one of three fines though it seemed a little unfair.
Not wearing a helmet.
Rooster
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