Crazy in the world of Steve part two

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Back at the house, I realise there only appears to be one bedroom. Then I realise Ellie and I are sleeping on the single mattress in the living area, and Gam is on the floor next to us. Which is fine. Until the rooster starts crowing.

Had a horrible dream that night in which an unpleasant former employer is haranguing me about various things, saying that now I was in my 40s I was just like her now. And I needed to smarten myself up and get a new winter coat. She sounded a bit like my mother, only more corporate. I felt grateful to be woken by a chicken in tropical heat clinging to the edge of a child's mattress.

Steve says he'll drop us at the bus station. That means getting on the scooter with pack, which is anxiety inducing, though not as much as being on a scooter with an Indian friend, suitcase and day pack in the capital of Goa with demented Indian traffic and little sense of direction.

He's in good shape, but over a cigarette Steve tells me about his two heart attacks. 'I guess I like stressy jobs,' he exhales. 'I get a bollocking for this,' he adds, waving his fag about. The night before he told me about the 70 odd pins in his leg from when he was run over. 'I sued the bastard, and he wouldn't pay up,' Steve explained, limping to the ashtray. 'Cost me a fortune.'

Steve has interesting friends, like the English mafia guy with a pond full of piranhas behind his house. And the mate who hates insects, even ants, and was woken by a cockroach crawling out of his mouth.

Feel sad to go, but time to stop living the thai dream and be a tourist again.

There is much discussion at the bus station about how to get to Sukothai - basically it was many, many hours on three buses. The first one refuses to leave because it hasn't got enough passengers, until I go to the 7-Eleven for water, upon which it departs almost immediately and collects me by the side of the road.

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