Stuffed

Speaking of taking football seriously, our British neighbors were frantic when I popped ‘round to watch England vs. Paraguay the other night. “Can you believe this?” he said, pointing at images of the king on nearly every television channel. She said, “We’ve been stuffed.”

We had no choice but to speedwalk to a nearby pub, The Black Swan, where a satellite dish was picking up the action. An international mix of fellow fans there agreed on one thing: England’s play was rubbish.

The good news is that every World Cup game since then has been broadcast live on regular TV, start to finish. The bad news, for Thailand, is that this month will not go down in history as the country’s most productive.

All the news media are dominated by coverage of the results. Gambling is apparently outrunning prostitution and illegal drugs as contributors to the gross domestic product. And bedtimes are not being respected—the last game of the day here begins at 2am Bangkok time.

I’m a good case in point. While blearily waiting for my second bus the other morning, I hopped on the wrong one, and proceeded to find myself on a highway going right back the way I had just come. I got to work an hour late.