Back when I was working at Channel 3, one of Thailand’s two major free-to-air commercial TV stations, there was a unique department consisting of three very refined, elegant ladies.
They were older women who dressed immaculately, often in colourful Thai silk dresses. Their hair was perfectly coiffed; softly-spoken and friendly, they always greeted me with a smile and kind words. Once they gave me a book on how to transliterate Thai words, which was very generous of them.
They reminded me of the elderly aunts of my youth. We would go to visit one of them on a Sunday afternoon, and they would invariably give my siblings and me a dollar to run down to the local corner store to buy mixed lollies, while they shared a sherry with my parents. All families should have such elderly maiden aunts, and not just for the sugar highs and alcohol. They reinforced my good manners and civility.
When Channel 3 was at the Emporium, these women had an office directly across the hall from mine, which was probably why I got to see so much of them. Our relationship was a casual and courteous one; we would chat about the weather and our health as we passed one another in the hall, me off to my raucous crowded office, them returning to a dark room where they sat in front of TV monitors.