Owen Jones
Daddy's Hobby
about 7,000 Baht. Very reasonable, eh?”
It didn’t sound ‘very reasonable’ to Nick and Barry, but they had been out-manoeuvred. Their girls were smiling broadly at them pleading with their eyes and Mama San was also looking into their eyes waiting for an answer. They had never stood a chance, even their girls were on Mama San’s side. They had not switched allegiance yet. The boys had to say 'Yes'
and they did.
“OK, Beou, it’s a deal” said Nick for the two of them and he rang the bell again.
The time passed slowly for Lek, as it always did when she was just working ‘inside the bar’ – passing the time until a new man came by, who might get her out of her predicament, even though next month that predicament would not be the same one she was in this month. Next month she would have no reason to stay in Pattaya; she could either wait for a husband or go home.
She decided to go ‘outside the bar’ and camp it up in order to stave off another bout of depression, so she leapt over the bar with a ‘whoop’
and joined her friends who were calling anyone wearing trousers to come and join them. After a while, she noticed the three ‘sailors’ fifty metres up the road, engaged in a conversation with a few girls in a bar.
“Bloody typical,” she thought, “I knew it.”
So, she threw herself into promotion mode even more vehemently.
“Sod them.”
With that, the sailors turned around, waved at her and, although pride told her not to, she waved back, tapped Goong and Ayr on their backsides, indicating to them to wave as well.
Ten minutes later, they saw the sailors turn away from the bar and start walking towards them. The girls were pleased, even Lek, but she went behind the bar anyway and pretended to be busy.
“Hel o, ladies,” greeted Mike, “You remember Ed and Wal y, eh, sorry, I mean Dave, don’t you? And myself, Mike? Hello, Lek! Are you too busy to talk to us today? Three beers for us, please, and whatever you and your two pals are having. Three bottles of ice-cold beer Chang for us.
Have you al missed us?”
It appeared that they had for Ayr was holding Dave’s hand, Ed was gazing shyly into Goong’s eyes and Mott was doing her best to attract
anybody’s attention from her usual perch on the chromium dance pole.
“Oh, yes” she said, “miss you long time. Miss you vely, vely much. I not sleep good last night for thinking of you.”
They smiled at her but it seemed that only Mike was readily available and he was watching Lek bring over the drinks. Lek had noticed but was studiously ignoring him.
All in good time. She brought over three bottles of beer, three Lady Drinks and three glasses. After serving everyone, she sat down and said cheers. Everybody took a swig.
“So, ladies, do you fancy coming out with us tonight? We want to go drinking, dancing and eating. Do you fancy that?” asked Mike.
“We pay for everything” interposed Dave.
Mike shot him a glance.
“You’re such a Wal y, Dave; of course ‘we pay for everything’. They know that, they wouldn’t go otherwise, Jeez!”
“OK, OK, I was only making things clear for the ladies. I know their English isn’t as good as ours is and I’ve told you before, stop calling me a Wal y! I know I haven’t been about as much as you have but that’s no reason to keep taking the piss. I’m getting fed up with it…”
“All right, me hearties, calm down both of you” said Ed. “Mike didn’t mean anything, did you, Mike? It’s just an expression, isn’t it?”
“Sure, sure, of course it is. I didn’t mean anything, Dave. Jesus wept.
We’re on bloody holiday, mush. I’m not trying to upset you. What a Wally!
“Only joking, Dave, honestly, I don’t want to upset anyone, especial y my mates on holiday. OK, girls, do you fancy a night out or not?”
“Oh, I want, I want” enthused Ayr.
Goong was nodding too. Only Lek was holding back.
“How about you, Lek? Are you up for a night out?”
“Yes, I want, but we are working. We not have many ladies working tonight, but we have boss come in early. She sit over there. We talk with boss, OK?”
Mike knew the rules and nodded his approval.
“Beou, please come over here and speak with these guys about the rules,” Lek asked in Thai.
Beou stood up and Fa took her place behind the desk in one seamless movement. She went over to the bar, sat down next to Lek and let Lek introduce the sailors.
“Wel ,” she said, “how are you, boys? Lovely ladies, eh? They are very beautiful, aren’t they? Great fun and good company.”
A gin and tonic appeared before Beou.
“Oh, let me get that, Beou, and one for everyone else here,” said Ed
“Same again?”
Everyone nodded and Beou motioned for a round of fresh drinks.
Mott obeyed the unspoken command.
“What you do tonight, boys?” she asked.
“We were hoping that you would release these three lovely young ladies early tonight so that we could take them dancing and then for a meal” said Mike.
“Yeah, but Lek says you’re short-staffed today. Can you miss them for a few hours, Beou?” asked Dave.
Mike silently shook his head in disbelief.
“It is very difficult for me” explained Beou. “I pay them for working here monthly. I do not want to pay them for nothing. I only have small bar and cannot afford to pay for not working. If you give me compensation of wages, I can find new ladies to work here tonight and these three can have the night free. I mean ‘off’. Is that fair? Only 600
Baht…. Each. 1,800 Baht for three.”
“Yes, OK, Beou,” said Mike. He knew it was about the going rate for a ‘bar fine’.
“We’ll have another round here and then we’ll be off. Can we get you one too, Beou? Of course we can, what am I thinking?”
Mott was already on the case and Beou headed back to her desk. She waited while Fa finished writing the chits she had already started, one for the round of drinks and one for the girls’ bar find fees. Mott put them both in the men’s beaker without saying a word after she had delivered the drinks.
Lek looked at her friends in the bar. She could see the looks of envy in the faces of her colleagues. Not malicious envy, but envy al the same.
These three sailors were considered eligible, single and wealthy with glamorous jobs that could take a lucky girl on expeditions al around the world, after they were married, of course. She looked at Ayr and Goong, who were already holding hands and kissing their partners and then she looked at Mike who had been watching her the whole time. She looked into his eyes and smiled.
The smile did not mean anything.
She smiled only because it was more alluring than frowning and she liked to be alluring, attractive and sexy to all men, whether she intended sleeping with them or not. In one short month, she would not ‘be obliged’
to do this any more. She did not really have to do it now. She had savings, but she had stuck it this far and one more month gave her time to think. It is a fal acy that the girls are obliged to sleep with men once the bar fine has been paid. The ‘bar fine’ only releases the girl from work for the day.
The final decision is always the girl’s. She has to exercise her own judgement and discuss her own fees, if any. Girls charged 99.9% of the time, but not always and not always the same amount. Lek had liked one
or two men so much that she had not charged and on several occasions, she had reduced the rate for a long-staying boyfriend. Not that it had ever got her anywhere. It had not really been worth doing it in the long run.
But she was only human and all humans have emotions and emotions can lead one to making mistakes.
She was still looking at Mike and wondering about him. He was looking at her too, but she was satisfied that her features were under total control. It would take an expert to read the true meaning into any of Lek’s facial expressions. Most Asians are adept at keeping their faces inscrutable and Lek was as proficient as any – she had been in this profession a long time and had had too many disappointments to allow just anyone to see the pain. She knew she had to snap out of it. She was a professional.
“OK, Lek, show-time, girl!” she thought.
“Mike, where you have in mind we go tonight?” she said.
“Wherever you like, dol ,” he replied. “The world’s our oyster or at least Pattaya is tonight. Where do you ladies want to go? Dancing, eating, drinking, a show? What? Just say.”
“We can take you girlies anywhere you want to go” said Ed, “we’re lieutenants in the Royal Navy. Officers and Gentlemen. Modern day knights!”
“Where would you go on your nights off, if we weren’t with you”
asked Dave. “I want to go there, where a normal Thai girl would go to enjoy herself on her night off.”
Lek looked at Dave and wondered if he had any idea about Thailand at al . Thailand is not like Pattaya. The Thais in Pattaya don’t behave like typical Thais and yet are not tourists, she thought. Most of the working girls are there to achieve a goal. All their money goes on achieving that goal, whether it be paying off debts or buying decent clothes to attract a suitable man, whom they may have a chance of marrying. They do not have spare cash ‘to go out’. Most of the girls, given a night off and enough money to enjoy it, would stay at home, watch TV and get an early night.
She didn’t show this thought process, but gave a stock answer:
“You are the front legs of the elephant, we are the back legs. We go where you lead us.”
She looked back at Mike, who was smiling broadly at her, while shaking his head at Dave’s naïve question.
Lek was warming to Mike, but she still was not sure whether she trusted him or would sleep with him. That subject had not been mentioned and no money had changed hands so she was under no obligation to do anything other than escort them around town. To be their companion, guide and interpreter.
“You want one more drink here?” she asked Dave, reasoning that Mike would be more likely to say ‘no’.
“Yes, OK then. Let’s have another drink and think about where we’ll go next.”
Lek smiled to herself and motioned to Mott for another round.
When she looked up, Mike was smiling too.
“OK,” he said. “One more here, but it is eight o’clock and we ought to make a move in some direction. I don’t want to sit here al night.”
“Lovely as it is!” he added a bit louder, looking at Beou, but smiling at Lek.
She smiled back. She was definitely warming to him.
“OK. Do you want ‘check bin’, Mike?” He nodded.
“Check bin, kha!” she said to Mott, who came down off the pole and took the beaker of chits to Beou’s desk, adding them up on the way.
“Can’t you recommend anything, Lek? I’m sure you know some great places, don’t you?”
“OK, Mike, but if you not like, not shout me, uh? Which one you want first? Eating, drinking or show/club? I think eating first. Eating late not good and maybe good restaurant close or ful up.”
She had everyone’s attention now and Ed gave his opinion:
“OK, we’ll eat first. Al right with you guys? Where?”
“What you like to eat say where you must go. You want Thai food or farang food. Meat or fish? Which one you like? You want stay near here or you want to go long way?”
“Thai, fish and near by” said Dave.
“OK. No problem. OK for everybody? OK. There are three good restaurants same near here. One on Second Road and two on Beach Road.
Beach Road is by the sea. Have cool sea breeze now. Maybe not too busy before nine o’clock. ‘Savoy’ on Second Road busy now, I think.”
“Beach Road it is then” said Mike, looking at the bill. “Not too bad, just over a grand each. I’ll get it, we can settle up later. OK. Job done, let’s go.”
“Only one minute. I just want to tell the Boss we going now and get my bag.”
Lek went off to tel Beou that they were going to a seafood restaurant around the corner and that if they went on from there she would ring her.
Beou wagged a finger of admonition at her, but smiled.
The other two girls reached over the bar and grabbed their smal bags too and they were all on their way arm-in-arm – Ayr with Dave, Goong with Ed and Lek with Mike.
Within minutes, they were standing on Beach Road enjoying the cool sea air outside two large outdoor seafood restaurants.
“Which one you want?” asked Goong.
“Which one very good?” asked Dave
“Both same same. Both very good” replied Goong. “This one have
wishing for your food, this one not have wishing.”
“What she say, Lek? ‘Wishing’?” asked Mike.
“We don’t have to wish for our food, we can afford to pay, can’t we, lads?” he said aside to his friends.
There was a quick exchange of Thai and the three girls laughed out loud. “Goong says that you can fish for your own food in that restaurant and you eat what you catch. In the other one you choose fish from a slab.”
The men laughed too.
“Great! I love this country!” said Ed, “Especially the women. It’s a laugh a minute. What do you reckon, guys?”
Mike took charge again: ”I think we ought to eat in the other one where you don’t have to rely on good luck to get a meal. It’s getting late already and we’re al hungry now. Let’s go ‘wishing’ another day, when we have more time and aren’t so hungry.”
With that, he took Lek’s hand and walked into the ‘Pink Lady’. The others followed happily. A waiter showed them to a very pleasant table for six from where they could see the sea and they sat down: the men helping the ladies with their chairs.
“This is lovely. Thanks, Lek. What a great suggestion. What would everyone like to drink?”
With that, the waiter appeared with the menu and drinks list.
Ed suggested champagne and although the waiter nodded and went off to get a bottle, what they actually got was a sort of sweet Spanish cava, not that the girls knew the difference and at 1,000 Baht the boys didn’t care either. They ordered three seafood platters, each to be shared by two people and another bottle of ‘champagne’.
The seafood platters were the best any of the men had tasted before.
Each platter consisting of: two rock lobsters, four langoustines, a dozen tiger prawns, a pound each of mussels and clams, two each of two different types of crab, a portion of crab sticks and a portion of squid, a few small pieces each of beef and pork; al accompanied by chips and various sauces. Each platter would have cost over £100 in the UK, if you could find al the ingredients under one roof.
An hour later they had finished their meal and the two bottles of cava and cal ed the waiter over for coffee and brandy. While this was arriving they all got up to dance to the house band, which played a mixture of songs from around the world to suit the international audience. Another hour passed in complete enjoyment, but Mike cal ed the waiter over and asked for the bill, which came to 6,575 Baht. They paid it and went out onto Beach Road to decide what to do next.
They chose to walk along the pavement on the beach side of Beach Road in order to look at the stars and listen to the sea. It was a beautiful,
romantic night, as is it usual y is in Pattaya. They walked along as three couples in Indian file, spaced by a few metres. Ed and Dave were holding their girls’ hands; Mike was not. Mike sensed that Lek liked him, but he also knew that she was no ordinary bar girl. Lek, for her part, was expecting him to make a move on her at any moment. She even felt that she would be disappointed if he did not. Not that there was much chance of him not making a play for her, if she wanted him to.
She knew that she could cause a stir in a comatose donkey.
For the time being, she was grateful that she had had a lovely meal and a decent drink in pleasant company and that it was being allowed to
‘go down’ in beautiful surroundings. She was walking on the left-hand side of Mike, so it was easy to look at him while she was supposedly looking out to sea. And she looked at him often, when he was not looking. Mike for his part had to purposely turn to look at Lek, but he wasn’t doing it often.
He seemed preoccupied. Not with anything heavy. Just preoccupied.
Or maybe he was content. She hoped that he was content. It was lovely to be where she was now: practically debt-free, walking next to a good-natured, handsome man, who was not overly demanding, with a stomach pleasantly full of good food and drink, in beautiful surroundings and in the company of her best friends.
It was Heaven to her and she thought that a good marriage must be like this.
Wedded bliss, they cal ed it, didn’t they?
It certainly had not been like this the first time for her. But then, she and Tom had been only children in those times. She wondered what he was doing nowadays. The last she had heard was four years ago, that he was a hopeless drunk continually complaining about his lot in society –
always having enough money to drink, but never having enough time to work. He was probably sponging off a few lonely girlfriends he had hidden from each other around the countryside, enthralling them with stories of all the things he had never done.
She smiled to herself and put him out of her mind quickly, so as not to spoil the ambiance.
They continued walking for a few hundred metres and then they turned abruptly to cross the very busy Beech Road. Luckily, as part of the road was up at that point, the traffic soon jammed and they were able to dodge between the vehicles and cross the lanes of cars and taxis.
Motorcycles were still a hazard, as they always were – weaving in and out of the cars, changing lanes as it suited them.
There were accidents on Beech Road involving motorcycles every day. They made it to the other side laughing at the near misses and skipped up onto the high pavement, which was there to keep the sea out
of the shops on stormy days. Dave led the way to where their hotel – The Central - was situated in South Pattaya.
They went up to reception and asked for the keys to their rooms.
While the boys were doing this, a security guard was discretely taking details from the girls’ ID cards. This was standard practise in the better hotels. Some even held the cards until the girl left as insurance against a girl leaving with a wal et or passport while ‘her boyfriend’ was stil sleeping. In this scenario, if a girl left alone, security would phone the man in his room to make sure that he was satisfied that al was wel .
The six of them proceeded to Mike’s room on the third floor; Dave and Ed had their own rooms nearby on the same floor. Once inside, Mike motioned towards the furniture and said to take a seat. Lek took the couch and her girlfriends sat on the armchairs; the boys crowded around the mini-bar.
“What can we get you to drink, girls?” enquired Mike, “We’ve got most things – the cleaner restocked the bar this morning. How about some champagne? The Heidsecker is quite nice. And you guys? A bier?”
No one objected, so Mike carried on preparing the drinks and handing them to Ed to pass around. He took Lek’s drink and his own beer and sat down on the couch next to Lek. They all clinked glasses; said cheers and took a swig. The girls giggled and loved it. They had all had champagne before and better than this brand too, but it was still enjoyable
– it took them out of their predicament and made them feel special. Most men bought them a beer or two and then hurried them off to their hotel as quickly as they could. It was always refreshing to be treated like a human being with feelings. Drunken lustful men of any nationality were usual y pigs, but they were an occupational hazard.
Ed and Dave sat down on the arms of the chairs that their girls were sitting on and wasted no time putting their arms around them. The sexual tension was starting to escalate, everyone could feel it coming on like the giddiness of vertigo. Ed and Dave were soon whispering in Ayr’s and Goong’s ears, making them giggle al uringly. Mike and Lek looked on, exchanging the odd glance with each other like parents watching their slightly wayward children being a bit naughty at a party.
Lek put an encouraging hand on Mike’s, which was resting on his upper thigh He took the cue, squeezed her hand, leaned over and kissed her. She responded warmly and nestled up close to him. He disengaged his hand and put his arm around her – his right hand on her rib cage, just supporting the weight of her right breast without being too obvious. He then took her left hand in his left and kissed her again, making the presence of his right hand noticeable to her alone. She, in turn, started stroking his thigh.
Suddenly, Ed got up and asked if anyone wanted a top up. He
opened the mini-bar and took out three more Singha beers and another half bottle of Heidsecker, which he opened and poured into the girls’
empty glasses. On his way back for the beers, he surreptitiously dimmed the lights, hoping that the girls wouldn’t notice. Fat chance, but they didn’t mind anyway. Ed passed the beers around and they clinked another toast to each other’s good fortune:
“Chok Dee!” they said in unison before they got back to kissing and cuddling.
“How about some music? Or a film?” asked Dave.
“Yessss!” answered the girls without expressing a preference.
“A film!” suggested Ed and Mike together.
“OK, a film it is” replied Dave with feigned reluctance. “But, I think we’ve only got those two we bought the other day when we were drunk.
We haven’t even had a chance to look at them yet. I don’t even know what they’re about.”
He picked one at random, turned on the TV and put the DVD into Mike’s portable player, which had already been plugged into the hotel TV.
He quickly dashed back to his place on the arm of Goong’s chair and put his arm around her.
When the light of the TV flickered into life, everyone could see that the couples were already into some heavy petting. The girls were happy and so were the men. Nobody really noticed the title of the film, 'Teenage Orgies At St. Agnes’ Convent', but within a few minutes it was obvious what the film was about – blatant close-ups of group sex between the
‘convent girls’ and the middle-aged teachers, gardeners and medics et cetera.
The girls didn’t mind. They had seen it all before – some of their friends had even taken part in similar films. It was the way they had engineered the situation that Lek found interesting.
It was typical of the British to turn the lights down in a sly fashion and to pretend they didn’t know what the film was about. Americans might do the same, but a German, French man or Dutch man was more likely to be forthright and say ‘Let’s dim the lights and watch a porn movie to get us in the mood!’
Lek was open to either approach. She liked the honesty of the Germans, French and Dutch, but she also liked the way the British thought that they had to lure a woman into this situation, because they assumed that a lady would object. She smiled to herself. They didn’t know much about women really – putting them on pedestals, constraining their true nature, forcing them to lead a lie.
They carried on with what they were doing regardless.
Until Ed suggested, “How about us all taking all our clothes off and having an orgy?”
Lek was not shocked – she had been asked the same question many times, but she was disappointed.
Every cloud may have a silver lining, but al that glitters is not gold either.
She felt stupid for having thought Mike and the others were any different from the usual foreign sex tourists.
“I sorry, Mike” she whispered in his ear. “I not do this, I not like. I not know for friends, but I go home now.”
Mike didn’t even argue. He just said:
“Look, I’m here for some fun. I’m not looking for a wife. I’ve got one of those at home. I like you, but I won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to. No hard feelings, eh? Though, I don’t mind admitting that I am disappointed.”
Lek was already getting up, she was disappointed too.
“Hey, sisters! I’m off now. Are you staying for an orgy? I’m not into that sort of thing any more. One hole at a time is enough for me these days. Nothing against you two, of course,” she quipped in Thai. “If you’re staying, I’ll phone into Beou for you. Well? Quickly, I just want to get out of here.”
Ayr and Goong looked at each other; turned the edges of their mouths down in expressions of tacit approval and said:
“Oh, we’ll stay for a while longer. See you later or maybe tomorrow.
Phone Beou for us on your way home, if you would, please, Big Sister.
That’ll save us worrying about doing it” said Ayr.
Lek was waving to everyone as she walked to the door. Mike was with her. “You won’t change your mind? Maybe I’ll come by and see you tomorrow. OK?”
She nodded her head.
“Maybe I see you in bar tomorrow if you want drink.”
Mike pushed his fingers into her bra.
“No hard feelings. Well, bar one and he’ll be all right later. Joking aside, I’ve had a great evening with you. Pity it’s not going to go on, but I want you to get a new pair of shoes on me – as a memento. All the best Lek. Goodnight, love. Take care.”
He gave her a peck on the cheek and closed the door, leaving her feeling very lonely, standing in the corridor.
Lek retrieved the note from her bra – 1,000 Baht – and put it in her purse. She then took the lift down to the ground floor and crossed to the security guard, who nodded and smiled as she approached. She watched him cross her name off the list of visitors. They said 'Good-bye' and she walked out into the heat of the night. It was 2 a.m. and the streets were still very busy, although Lek was not really interested.
She turned right out of the hotel and continued until she got to
Second Road. She was not feeling upset or even disappointed, just subdued. She was happy enough, but did not want company, although she felt completely alone in a crowd of thousands. She waited fifteen minutes for a large enough break in the traffic to cross safely in one go – she was in no hurry to get back to their empty room anyway.
Then she walked north along Second Road until she got to Soi Diana, which she followed to Soi Buakhao. She could not help thinking that she was stil on her own particular ‘yel ow brick road’. She knew she was near the end of that road, but she still didn’t know where it would come to an end or how much further she had to go. She turned right into Soi Buakhao and walked home in a trance.
As she opened the door to her flat she was still praying to Buddha to reveal to her her fate. It felt as if He was her only friend and confident at that moment, although she had not spoken to Him very often since she had lived in Pattaya. It was not that she felt that He had abandoned her since she had come to Sin City, more that she felt that she was now less worthy of His attention and she was also wondering whether her new-found financial freedom was al she had hoped it would be too.
She had a feeling that sleep would come slowly again that night.
Back to the Top
5 REINFORCEMENTS
A few days later, while Lek was sitting alone in their flat, feeling a little better about her life, her mobile phone rang:
“Hel o, Beou,” she greeted her friend, “How are you today?”
“Oh, I'm fine. You too? Look, I'd like you to do me a little favour, if you've not got any plans. Are you seeing anyone right now? Good, good.
Well, good for me, that is. Not good for you. I thought the bloke you have been with the last couple of days was promising. He seemed to like you a lot. No good?”
“Oh, John, yes, he was all right, I suppose. Gave me gold earrings worth three thousand and a few thousand for the three days we were together. We flew to Koh Samui for the day and a night. It was very nice, but no future in it. I want more than that these days, Beou.”
“Of course you do, love. Of course you do, I know. Anyway, listen a minute. I've got some more troops coming in on the six o'clock bus from
Phitsanulok this evening and I want you to meet them. OK? One of them is a cousin of yours, Noi and two of her friends, Nok and Nid. The three
'N's'. Will you do that for me, love? It was very short notice, but I've found them digs above Charli's pub on Third Road. Maybe we can get something better for them over the next few days.”
“Beou, you can't put them in that smelly dump with that lecherous old git! They'd need to barricade the door and even that probably wouldn't stop him if he were drunk and knew there were three pretty girls inside.
Young and innocent-ish. New faces in town. He'd want to be first. You can't do that to them. I'll ring you later and if you can't find anywhere decent for them, I'll ask Ayr and Goong if they can stay here with us for a few days, even though we're pretty cramped as we are.”
“I knew I could rely on you,” said Beou, chuckling to herself as her plan unfolded like a parachute. “Don't bother coming in at four, I'l be there then anyway. Pick up the girls, take them back to drop off their cases and have a shower. Then I'll see you all in the bar at seven, seven-thirty.
'Bye for now.”
Lek sat back on the bed. She knew she'd just been had, but she didn't mind either. She set the alarm for five o'clock and fell asleep to dream of Koh Samui and the Big Buddha.
She got off the motorcycle taxi at the bus station on Third Road at five fifty and paid the driver the forty Baht fare. The bus pulled in only ten minutes late and Lek saw two anxious faces in the window relax into smiles when they spotted her. Lek knew her cousin and Nok, but was not sure about the other one. They were soon off the bus and crowding around Lek, waaing and saying 'Hel o', while the conductor unloaded their small travel ing bags from the compartment under the coach. Lek suddenly realised with horror that they were the same age as she had been when she had arrived – the same age as her darling daughter, Soomsomai, would be in about ten years time.
