Reports also indicated that all prisoners released on parole will first take part in a training programme, known as “Khok Nong Na”, an agricultural model based on the New Theory of Agriculture and the Sufficiency Economy philosophy developed by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the father of the current King, who passed away in 2016.
Apparently criteria exist for who is not eligible to receive a royal pardon, including prisoners who are jailed for repeated crimes, those who have not behaved while serving their sentences, prisoners convicted in major drug cases and prisoners who faced a death sentence, but were granted a royal reprieve. However, we learnt that this royal decree also added new rules that allow elderly inmates who are ill, to become eligible to receive the royal pardon. Those now eligible are prisoners 60 years old and older who have been receiving treatment for at least a year for paralysis, dementia, brain disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, aplastic anaemia or chronic liver failure.
For us, yesterday, although some wind and rain had arrived early morning, it was a chance to head ashore before the worst of the bad weather arrived and forecast to continue for some time.
After enjoying a coffee and delicious pancakes, beautifully presented, at the Port of Call restaurant, Roy took a nice long walk, while Elaine enjoyed a stroll around the gardens. She was delighted to find all the flowers in full bloom, including a variety of stunning orchids. Most of the flowers were not much bigger than her finger nail, but bloomed in abundance, creating a kaleidoscope of colour around the marina. By the time we returned to Paw Paw, however, the bad weather had arrived with vengeance, particularly the wind which reached in excess of 36 Kts at one point. Fortunately it all calmed down by late evening to afford us a good night’s sleep.
The bad news for the day was that 13 people in a workers’ camp in Patong had tested positive for COVID-19, adding to the record 38 local infections in one day, not including 2 Sandbox arrivals who were also recorded as testing positive, bringing the total number of new local infections on the island in the past seven days to 146, creating a trend which was definitely moving in the wrong direction and has resulted in a cumulative total of 229 people being under medical care or supervision on the island. This is considerably higher than the 32 active cases that were on the island around 12 June, even with 69% of Phuket’s residents fully vaccinated. Then hearing from Richard, off Charon, that someone in Yacht Haven marina had tested positive, left us feeling better about our decision to stay where we were, away from the madding crowd, albeit somewhat lonely.
Today we woke to a very windy, squally day, with winds reaching up to 30 Kts at times, accompanied by torrential rain, but we were collecting rain water again, although Roy took the opportunity to run the watermaker anyway, since we had to run the generator for a while, due to the overcast conditions. He had a busy morning, though, catching up on all his yacht chores and a few smaller yacht projects, including topping up the battery water, removing and cleaning both stern stainless steel u-bolt eyes, replacing the one-way value on the generator’s fuel line, as it was still crocking from time to time and resealed the fuel tank breather vent on the port side, as well as enjoyed a brief chat to Craig off Il Sogno. The good news of the day was that the latest enhancements to the Anchor Plus application were approved and have been released to the Apple store. The application is now available in Spanish and Dutch. Many thanks to our able helpers, Ronnie and Babbie, off Campechano and Bas and Agnes, off TiSento; your input was invaluable and greatly appreciated.
Elaine, on the other hand, returned to her passage planning activities after her daily chores were completed, but this was interrupted by a much needed afternoon nap.
