Paging Bruno
One of my former high school teachers at both Ridgeland and the late great Rossville High School, has always been a world traveler and he’s been in Thailand since his retirement in the late 90′s. Word came that he might be in trouble there but we got this via e-mail (he was a science teacher, to take that in consideration):
Hi _______,
I’m safe and sound in Pattaya. You ask if I am all right. These five years in Thailand have been so good, the bliss would have killed a weaker man.
While eating breakfast at Henry J. Bean’s Restaurant on the beach, I heard an announcement that a tsunami had struck Phuket. (Sorry, it’s pronounced Poo-KET. The “H” is silent when Thai is transliterated to English) I never covered myself with glory in college, but all those years ago I did ace Geology 101. In about fifty seconds I was out the door and into a songteow.
Proceeding down Beach Road in the songteow, I had time to ponder the geography of the situation. After consulting my handy pocket GPS I realized that although Phuket is not that far from Pattaya, it is on the other side of the narrow isthmus which forms southern Thailand.
I stopped farther down the beach and finished breakfast with French toast, bacon and coffee. When I hear “tsunami”, I run first and work out the details later……………………
Burnett Roberts