Morning sounds

Each morning just before dawn, sounds of our neighborhood stirring to greet the morning begin to seep into my subconsciousness, gradually lifting me out of slumber: The opening of metal gates, dogs barking, doves cooing, muffled voices from neighboring houses, and then it comes, even in the dark. Swish, swish, swish,  the rhythmic broom on pavement begins. Thai brooms are not made with straw bristles. They are thin, straight twigs bound around a bamboo stick, much as they always have been. The quiet atmosphere of our moobaan would be incomplete without the lulling cadence of the brooms. At this writing, I can hear two brooms at work, slightly different in their speed and even in the sound made by the varying size of the brooms' twigs.

25 baht (75 cents) each at the local hardware store.

Two types of people sweep their driveways and street beyond: Maids take on the chore during the day, but in early morning it is the retired Thai men who generally do the sweeping. I'm not sure why they find it necessary to sweep every morning; maybe it is just habit. Even if I was retired, which won't be far away now, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't join the broom parade. I don't even know what it is they're finding necessary to sweep up. A few leaves flutter to the ground every day, but hardly enough to warrant a thorough cleanup on a daily basis.

Retired neighbor making his daily sweep.

I am reminded of the fall ritual as autumn leaves pile up in the lawns all over the northern U.S. and rakes are brought out from the garages and put to use. Of course, much of that tradition has changed as the annoying leaf blowers have become part of the average family's arsenal of gas-powered lawn maintenance, and the zen-like rhythm of rakes gives way to ear shattering machinery. Fortunately, leaf blowers have not yet broken the calm of Thai neighborhoods.