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Dec-31-2013 12:10printcomments

A New Year's Eve Tale from Sunny Phuket

If we all really set our minds to it, we should be able to do something about changing things in 2014, shouldn’t we?

Phuket marketplace
phuket.com

(PHUKET, Thailand) - Yesterday, I exchanged a few words, in English, with what my keen ear detected to be a Russian woman who was waiting in a KFC queue with a pretty little girl of about five. A little later, the girl must have asked her mother to take her to the washroom, because they disappeared for a few minutes and returned just as I reached the front of the queue.

Being the gent that I am, of course I insisted that she went ahead of me, but she was equally adamant that I continued on with my order.  As I was about to leave, I attempted to say Goodbye and thank you, in Russian, but my memory only got me as far as Do svidanyia, so I had to say:  I’ve forgotten.  How do you say Thank you?

I wish I could tell you that she said Sank you, but, having sworn to tell the truth even about trivial things, I can’t do that.  In fact, with a totally straight face she said: Thank you, without any trace of an accent, which was almost as good.

Then she gave me a really lovely smile.

Moving on to another shop, with a big grin all over my face, I couldn't help asking the guy who was ahead of me in the check-out queue, and who had a slight accent, if he was Russian, but he said he was Slovakian. I told him the story anyway, and we both fell about. He then asked where I came from and when I told him that I was originally from Australia he said that twenty years ago he was very happy to become an Australian citizen but was now disillusioned about the way Australia seemed to be getting so much like America.

A very sad note to end the year on, I thought. But, Hey! If we all really set our minds to it, we should be able to do something about changing things in 2014, shouldn’t we?

So here’s hoping that we all do set our minds to it, and that we are able to bring about the changes that are so desperately needed to Our World.

Happy New Year!

Anthony Ashton (Lawson)

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Anthony Lawson is a retired international-prize-winning commercials director, cameraman, ad-agency creative director and voice over. He used to be known for shooting humorous commercials, but doesn't find much to laugh about, with the way the world is going, these days

After recovering from the shock of seeing the Twin Towers collapse, on subsequent showings, I developed a strong feeling that what I was seeing and what I was being told were quite different things. For two such buildings to collapse, in the manner they did, solely because they had been hit by large aircraft, did not make sense. The collapses were too uniform. If aircraft impacts were the cause, at least one of the buildings should have fallen over. I subsequently made a video called "WTC7 -- This is an Orange" to express my concern that the public was not being told the truth about 9/11.

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