Richard Barrow

We’ve all been waiting for this to happen which is why I was I perplexed by the BBC’s correspondent when he was quoted saying the martial law came as a surprise here. Sweetie: you should be spending less time frequenting Patpong, and more time sober and talking to people. It was a surprise to you maybe, but not to the rest of us. The only surprise was that it was initially just martial law and not a coup –well not for long!

On that topic, how smart was it to just invoke martial law saying they were only interested in keeping things safe and help a peaceful resolution? The follow that by getting all the leaders in one room and, after a bit of dissent, detaining key players and taking control. Well played sir, well played.

Don’t you just love how I say this as if I’ve experienced a bunch of them? My brother was in Paraguay for the ’89 coup so I am claiming expertise by association.

Many friends have wondered how this is affecting me. Apparently some people are flying home. If this is true, they are using the coup as an excuse to get out of here. Thai coups are typically sedate as far as coups go and those in power make a big effort to keep things as seamless as possible for foreigners and tourists.

Here’s my list of why, so far, it has changed nothing:

1. Schools are closed for five days, two of which are the weekend. I homeschool so nothing different here.

2. All TV broadcasting is off incl. international news channels. I don’t have an antenna or cable connection for my TV Again no change.

3. Ten pm curfew. Bawhahahahaha. I homeschool two kids 6 and under. I am in bed drooling wine by this hour watching Game of Thrones and pretending to prepare tomorrow’s lessons. “Kids, this is how you brew mead!”

4. Um, I can’t think of anything else for the time being. But I’ll be sure to update you all.

So, it’s official. I am a coupbie! Yes that’s coup + newbie. Genius right? Sadly not my creation but credit given via twitter. Yes that’s a please follow me on twitter @multilingualmum! It’s also where I am RT some of the more salient stuff related to the current coup.

Readers please note, I am not trying to make light of what is going on here. Well, perhaps I am a bit but that’s my coping mechanism. I just hope that Thailand can find a way to resolve this peacefully and find democratic and lasting solution.

Update January 25, 12.55pm. Family has requested that all updates come from Samitivej Hospital. The hospital’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Samitivej.

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Thank you everyone for your incredible support both via Facebook and twitter. Here’s the most recent update I’ve received.

The good news so far is that 30 people showed up to donate much-needed blood and the Red Cross stopped taking donations for now.

I am told by a friend of the victim that this should last for the next 7 days. Lara will need further surgeries and more blood may be needed. It is difficult to know at this point.

An open Facebook group called Blood Drive for Lara has been created to take down contact information for people still willing to donate.

One other thing I learned is that in Thailand there is a maximum age for first time donors: 55. This applies even to those who have previously donated blood in other countries.

I don’t know Lara Rose personally but several of her friends and acquaintances contacted me to help and I’ve done my best to provide accurate information and will update when I hear anything new.

It’s also a wonderful time for all of us who can to consider giving blood regularly. I find this a difficult message to share since I am not allowed to donate, which is perhaps why I wanted to help the only way I could: harassing people! I am so grateful to all the people far and wide who have jumped on board to get this message out, and a very big thanks to @RichardBarrow for the initial RT to his 47000+ followers.