My younger brother had left in the afternoon that day ─ as he usually does ─ to end up 'socializing' somewhere. However, he left without his van ─ this meant that he had some fairly serious drinking to become involved in.
It also meant that he was busing, and thus unlikely to make it back home until into the latter evening. And so it was.
I was into my bed shortly before 9:30 p.m. if I recall correctly, but sleep perversely resisted calling upon me.
An hour later, I became aware that my wife had entered the bedroom for something ─ probably her house coat. She was now home after her hours of working at her friend's Thai restaurant.
Then an hour after that, she entered the bedroom again, and still I was not asleep. However, my thoughts were by then irrational or involuntary ─ in other words, dreamlike. I was hovering between the conscious and the unconscious.
I must have soon fallen into true sleep, for I never checked the time again until it was a minute or two after 1:00 a.m., and by then I was unsure if I was alone in bed any longer.
I rose because I wanted to put some work into the new post that I have begun at one of my six hosted websites, and I fully anticipated that my brother was by that time abed for the night.
I was wrong. He was still downstairs. Defeated, I returned to my bed and covered myself as I now was ─ fully clothed, but for bare feet.
Fortunately, though, my brother was soon to call it a night, and by 1:18 a.m. had repaired to his bedroom. I was free to rise and come here to my computer to begin work.
My wife was downstairs in her sons' den area, but she anon came upstairs to get herself to bed, discovering me here at work ─ I keep my computer in a small room next to our bedroom.
Surprised and pleased, she enlisted me to try and locate the SWIFT number for The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited ─ her family deals with an Udon Thani branch. My wife wanted to transfer some money to there using a different Canadian bank than the one she has previously used ─ and which has all of the transfer details on file.
We never have to figure out the banking transfer details whenever we use the usual Canadian bank, but information such as the SWIFT code is no longer visible to us.
I think that we both recalled that the SWIFT code we needed was not for the Udon Thani branch where her family deals, but rather for the main institution in Bangkok.
However, when we went online and began setting up the preliminary work for a transfer at the new Canadian bank, when we introduced the destination recipient bank name, we were presented with two SWIFT codes for the bank in Bangkok.
I noticed that one of the two banks was somewhat specialized ─ I do not now recall exactly, but it was identified as being something like "Treasury Services Department" and had a SWIFT code SICOTHBKTSD. Its address was at Rutchadapisek Road in the Chatuchak District of Bangkok.
The other Bangkok bank's SWIFT code was SICOTHBKXXX, Building 2, Rutchadapisek Road, also in Chatuchak District.
But those three Xs completing the second bank's SWIFT code balked my wife. She was convinced that they were signifying that the Xs were simply there in lieu of three numerals that were not being supplied, and we needed to find the three that applied to the Udon Thani branch.
She looked dreadfully tired and needed to go to bed, so she said we could follow up later today.
I was able to find out that the three XXXs are quite correct ─ they are used whenever the specific bank 'branch' is actually the bank headquarters, and apply worldwide for banks. I found that explained at TheSwiftCodes.com here.
I have since expressed as much to my wife, but she was evasive and even disinterested in talking about it, and I have no idea where her planned transfer stands. I will say no more until she deigns to broach the topic with me again.
On a slightly related note, just today she discovered that $150 she last week put towards a larger debt with her cellphone carrier never got acknowledged, and they are still hounding her. She and her youngest son got in touch with the carrier, and it was eventually concluded that perhaps the money was inadvertently directed elsewhere ─ my wife had made the payment through a bank.
On a whim, she suggested I check my account online with the same carrier. I did so, and I discovered that my balance with them is -$150.
In other words, I seem to have a credit. Normally, my monthly bill is something like $50.40 and I pay it off ─ I don't forget or ignore the payments like my wife tends to do. If I had skipped paying my cellphone bill for three months to rack up a figure like that, I would have heard about it long before now!
And so again, I have no idea what is now afoot between my wife and the cellphone carrier or her bank. I have again been dismissed of any involvement.
Speaking of her youngest son, yesterday I noticed him exercising out in the backyard just after 6:15 p.m. and I took the following two-minute video clip ─ unbeknownst to him:
The lad is 22 years old.
His older 25-year-old brother is very brawny ─ a 'gym rat'. I expect that's where the younger lad's inspiration lies, for of late he has been exercising quite a lot here at home.
Of course, gyms have been shut down for weeks now due to COVID-19, so even the elder lad does what he can here at home to maintain his muscularity ─ all the more visual evidence to keep the younger lad motivated.
By the way, my older maternal half-sister Phyllis came by this morning around 10:30 a.m. to drop off a spare laser printer she possesses ─ I had recently mentioned to her that the printer in the Epson WorkForce All-in-One that we have owned for a decade or so is damaged and has not worked in possibly over two years.
Well, she determined that I could have her backup printer to use, and was practically insistent. She texted me last evening that she would be by this morning with it.
And so she was.
I was expecting that it would be quite small, but the darned thing is easily as large as our Epson WorkFroce All-in-One ─ actually, I think that it's larger.
I never realized that laser printers could pose health risks ─ check this section in Wikipedia's article on laser printing: Safety hazards, health risks, and precautions.
As a result of seeing that, I am not going to keep it here with me in this tiny room. I will in fact only bring it here and attach it to my computer whenever I might want to print something.
Phyllis never even came into the house ─ she was in a rush to visit a pharmacy, and said that she was expecting some company back where she lives. She lives quite a drive from us.
My wife had not seen Phyllis is quite a few years, so she came rushing outside when she realized who I was out there talking to. It was cute.
Hey, it's already after 7:00 p.m. ─ I must bring this post to a close and get it published before my brother is back home for an evening of T.V.-watching. I have to operate our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box.
My wife left in a rush on her drive to work around 3:20 p.m., by which time my brother had already taken off for the afternoon and is undoubtedly doing some drinking.
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