Ashley the Welshman

This was a another never do well, who could not make a go of it back in his own country, or anywhere else of the truth be know. However, that's just my opinion. He was probably is his early thirties, and he came from a family of coal miners in Cardiff. I don’t remember how long he lived in Thailand but we were not his first place of employment here.

To school he wore the prescribed uniform for teachers, creased trousers, a shirt with a collar and a tie. He always wore long sleeved shirts which at first I though strange in view of the oppressive heat, until the first time I saw him away from the school. There was no more room on his arms for any tattoos and he wore heavy Doc Martin boots, with black jeans. He had the real look of what I associated with a gang member or what we use to call a hood.

Ashley was not with us but a short time, maybe less that two months. He only averaged about a three-day workweek, sometime only one or two. He just loved to call in sick when he could manage to do that much. But, that’s what happens when you go out and get drunk each and every day. He was a full-fledged alcoholic. Again this is just my opinion.

One night he went drinking at a local Thai only adult entertainment facility near where he lived. At the end of the evening when it was time to settle his tab, it wasn’t to his drunken calculations. An argument followed and to make a long story short, about four Thai men ended up jumping him and beating him severely. At least that was his story, which we had no way of confirming. However, when he finally made it back to school several days later he was still covered in cuts, scrapes, bumps and bruises so something serious happened to him.

Not long after that, Ashley was fired after numerous counseling sessions by our esteem head teacher failed to produce any change. This head teacher then for some reason kept in contact with him via e-mail and reported to us that Ashley finally died several years later of Aids in Vietnam. This cannot be confirmed, but that the legendary tale of Ashley.