Remorse Code

These Figures Are Music To My Ears

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

There is no remorse like buyer remorse. Hmmmm, yep. But having pondered that profound statement, I think I can take it one step further. There is no remorse like buyer remorse when you are overseas and your suitcases are filled to capacity and you know that every item you buy is going to add an obscene amount to what you will shortly have to hand over to the airline in overweight charges.

With today's Photo Hunt theme being "Metal", this episode bears tellling. So there we were, the whole Authorblog family, in Bangkok at the tail end of a six-week holiday. First we had shopped well but not wisely in Hong Kong, then we had shopped well but not wisely in three cities in India, and now we had a week in Thailand before returning home.

The suitcases were splitting at the seams. The order was out, in triplicate. No shopping in Thailand. But we bought a few things on the first day. And we bought a few things on the second day. And we .... oh, you get the general idea, don't you?

On the second last day, I made superb use of my scientific background. I got all the Thai purchases and stashed them all together, the better to calculate the cubic capacity of the extra - yes, extra - suitcase we had no option but to buy. Let's just say it was a large suitcase.

Then the order went out again, this time in deadly earnest. No more shopping.

On our second-last day, we walked into this bric-a-brac shop. Big Mistake. BIG Mistake. So we bought a reclining Buddha, some big (but very light) masks, a beautiful carved wooden mirror and some other odds and sods. Finally we saw these three figures of traditional Thai musicians in full regalia. They weren't very big - not quite 15 centimetres. So we agreed to buy three. And then I realised how incredibly heavy the metal was. Each figure, despite being so compact, was about two pounds or almost a kilogram.

In for a penny, in for a pound - literally. Or maybe that should be "in for a baht, in for a pound". We bought the figures and took them back to our hotel. Next day, it was my solemn duty to wheel the trolley laden with more suitcases than a rock band towards the airline counter, whistling nonchalantly to create the impression that they were light as a feather.

Let's cut a long story short. The woman at the Cathay Pacific counter just gave us our boarding cards, didn't ask if we were part of a travelling circus - and didn't charge us overweight either. After the episode of the three Thai musicians, yes, that was music to my ears.