Spend as if life depends on it
Play
The trendy-shirts mob is busy assuring the world, tweet by tweet, that Thailand's "flood of the century" doesn't actually mean the whole country is underwater and that it's still a great place for, say, shopping.
See #nofloodhere for clear and reliable updates about the opening of our first Ikea furniture store yesterday on Bangna-Trat Road.
Plans for the grand opening had been toned down due to the deluge and not a lot of people were expected, but within 20 minutes of the doors opening there were 500 people strolling around, and by midday there were 5,000. The parking lot was jammed, although maybe some of those cars were just there for the dryness.
Ikea also deployed little fanfare when it handed the first Bt20 million earned over to the Mae Fah Luang Foundation. Big thanks are due to the early birds who forgot the floods long enough to keep the spirit of shopping afloat.
Tuned in
For every new crisis in life, there are new songs for life.
Ad Carabao’s “Nam Jai Thai” (“The Kindness of Thai People”) plays on nam, the word for water.
Yellow-shirt government critic Folk Ner’s “Ou Yuu” (“Manageable”) mocks the repetitive boast of the over-cocky Flood Relief Operation Centre, with a jab about all those donated items forgotten in Don Mueang.
As the floodwaters continue to spread across Bangkok, more songwriters are bound to sprout.
Bare with us
TV hero Natthawut “Poh” Skidjai has displayed heroism in real life too by raising money for the flood victims and, as seen on many newscasts, delivering essential goods.
Poh is particularly proud of the foam float he’s been distributing and teaching people to use. “Don’t ever leave home without this,” he was heard cautioning an elderly citizen.
As @POH_Natthawut, he’s always tweeting out appeals for trucks, materials and cash, going so far as to use a photo of a naked bum as his avatar on Twitter just so he could say, “Now I’ve revealed my butt, so please donate more!”
