SSDC and the French Rebellion
A recent 'revolt' as it was termed resulted in about 2 instructors and a few divemasters being fired from SSDC. This happened months previous to my 'tour' on Koh Tao but was often spoken about and good for a laugh.
Will had gone wild partying at the Full Moon party on Koh Pha Ngan, gone on full 'barbarian-unleashed' mode with various illicit substances and passed out at daybreak. He missed the boat back and ended up hitching a ride on a speedboat. By the time he'd got back to the dive shop the senior instructor, a sniveling frenchman, had nearly convinced the rest of the dive squad to elect him as dive manager, using Wildren's wild ways and his absence as good grounds for him to take charge. Will, still hungover and suffering from dehydration arrived back to the dive shop to a hostile standoff in the office with a majority of divers siding against Wildren. After a heated argument Wildren had barracked and blazed the 'coup' to a stalemate. Some of the divemasters and instructors now started to question among themselves if the would-be-usurper would be up to the job, after-all Will had proved himself more than capable of bringing work their way AND sticking the course. Wildren was the immovable force but then the frenchman pulled out his trump card, 'Balm'. He reckoned that applying 'French-style' creative reason and Wildrens flaws he could convince 'Balm' to fire Wildren out of hand. So off he went down the slope to where 'Balm', ever the grinning monkey as long as he had his Spy wine to sup, sat at his table. All looked on as, for thirty minutes, he exasperated himself fruitlessly to 'Balm'. At the end of the thirty minutes the look on his face as he meekly approached the diveshop said it all, he'd blown it. Wildren didn't hesitate, he grabbed the Frenchmans divebag and hurled it full force at the guy bidding him a sardonic farewell (I forget the exact words). The remaining divers now abandoned any notion of forcing a leadership challenge and either swore allegiance to Wildren once again or played down their part. Will was tempted to fire the lot of them but could only get rid of the ring-leaders. Now getting a new diving team rapidly was a chancy business. Over the next few days the Frenchman and his cronies gloated from his bungalow nearby, expecting SSDC to fall due to the lack of manpower, thankfully, along came ('big bad') Bob to fill the gap along with several other divermasters.
So ended the 'French' Rebellion. SSDC lived to see another day.
The Norseman Cometh!
The wild ride got wilder when a crazy Norwegian drug dealer 'Strom'(not his real name) showed up with a hulking bodyguard in tow. He was blown through his Open-Water course and before long I had to take him fun-diving! I helped him underwater and, with Wildrens Nordic roots and hell-raising antics in the local bars soon established firm bonds with Strom and he soon took to our underdog diveshop as its official patron. The days of us sitting in the diveshop now became days sitting on the beach with Strom buying bottle after bottle of the finest french white wine for his favourite dive team! Life suddenly became very opulent indeed.
It didn't stop there either. Strom was intent on leaving behind his more nefarious past and going more straight and narrow. He announced he was making arrangments for massive investment into SSDC and we all thought the mythical ship of gold had landed. A Go-go bar, an overhaul of the dive shop and radical improvements to the dive fleet. It was the equivalent of kings ransom but money was no object in Stroms eyes and he was on a roll.
The only hitch was, we needed Balms consent as the land was his. Compounding matters was a thai family that also had their beady eye on SSDCs Restaurant and spare land too. Strom was determined that if he couldn't have the spare land for development then the deal was off.
We held our breath and crossed our fingers. At first we thought we'd cracked it, the thai family couldn't clinch the deal, the price wasn't right for Balm.
Right after they left it was Stroms turn. He turned on the charm and via Wildrens mistress interpreting rapid fire norse-accented english into thai things where moving.
The chips were down and 'Strom's' cash from his 'contacts' was waiting for the go-ahead in a Norwegian bank. Then came the crunch, 'Balm' didn't want to relinquish hold on his restaurant without retaining control of the menu, 'Strom' was adamant that change was needed, radical change. The menu had to change, it was too boring and needed variety. The deal ended in a stalemate. Balm was interested but not enough to agree to full sell-out. 'Strom' wasn't into half-measures either. So the deal was put on hold. We returned to the bar and mused on what could of been but for Balms fickle ways.
Weeks later 'Strom', probably bored by now anyway. Severed all chance of a deal when his wine bill kept getting rigged by one of 'Balms' dodgy underlings 'Nong'. It was a greedy and foolish thing even by thai standards. They saw Strom as a money haemoraghing whale. But he was a clever whale and if they had been patient he may yet of comprimised and committed. But Thailand is Thailand so the Strom adventure ended. Although I didn't always see eye to eye with Strom (a long story) I admired his dogged determination. He threw a lot of money into SSDC, spending fortunes on courses and diving he was generous to all of us. Wildren didn't have a bike, 'Strom' would reach into his pocket and get him one. Drinks for the boys, no problem. Visa run next week Johnny? No problem here's the tickets. He was that sort of guy.
End of Part 5
Source: On The Road Thailand
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