DAY 7 WITHOUT RUNNING WATER

Our village is still without running water; it's now been one week since our faucets have gone dry.  The community well gave up the last of some really murky brownish water a couple of days ago and even the guys who sold 10-gallon jugs from their motorbike sidecars have run out.  The landlord (who is on the village council) has not been seen for a few days and nobody will tell us when they expect the water to be turned back on.  At least 7-Eleven still has small bottles of water...for now.

And yet, we just received our water bill.  It's about a third higher than usual (still under 200 baht — USD $6.00 — though).  It sort of reminds me of how flood victims in Ayutthaya received significantly-higher-than-usual electric bills a few months ago despite their homes being under water for two or three months previously.  The Electric Authority admitted they had "guessed" how much to charge because it's workers couldn't reach the homes in order to read the meters.

We'd all like to take a decent shower or use the toilet without any fears.  Tim wants me to find us a new place to live; despite her growing up in a very remote area of Thailand she never before has had to deal with so many water outages.  And this is one more thing that is creating problems with Alexander...

I hope that I can soon report that we have running water at home and are able to clean floors and clothes...