Coincidence (4 comments)
I've mentioned that someone somewhere gave out one of my Gmail addresses as his own and I've gotten a bunch of his email because of it. Not caring about the guy's church's goings-on or their mission work in Thailand, I politely replied to the sender of each misaddressed message explaining that I wasn't their intended recipient and eventually, I stopped getting the email.
Last week, I got another message out of the blue. This one was announcing a clothing drive at Lanna International School in Thailand. I sent my usual reply requesting removal from the mailing list. But I got an answer to this one, and it was not at all what I'd expected.
Dear Mr Kuehn,
Your e-mail addresses, seekay and seekay2000, were supplied to the school by either Christopher or Melanie. The intention is that we keep parents up to date with what is happening in the school, but of course we do not wish to send mail to parents who do not wish to receive it. If you do not wish to receive any further e-mail communications from the school please respond to this mail stating that this is the case and I will happily remove your addresses from the database.
That one confused me, but Google came to my rescue.
It turns out that there's a Dutchman by the name of Carool Kersten who's working in Thailand on a British university's behalf. He likes to review music and the website where his reviews can be found contains a short biography that explains everything.
His eclectic research interests include Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian history, Islamic philosophy, comparative religion and travel writing. In the remaining time he likes to indulge in his addiction to reading, sometimes to the despair of his Thai wife Nida and children, Melanie and Christopher.
Carool welcomes reader reactions to his reviews at seekay2000@hotmail.com.
How about that?