by Dr. Iain
Corness
Dai Coe is a Welshman who loves music (a national
characteristic) and one who even borrowed the lines from pop singer Lynard
Skynard to describe himself as, “I’m a travellin’ man.”
Born in Milford Haven in S.W. Wales he was the eldest
of three sons to an oil company maintenance man and his wife. He grew up
in a typical British way, going to the Secondary Modern school, with no
real expectations of a different lifestyle from a wife, a job and two
kids.
In
the traditional way, he was indentured as a welder and began his
apprenticeship at the Technical College. However, after two years of this,
his life changed. The company employing him went bankrupt, his indentures
were cancelled and he was now totally without any future.
After 12 months of factory work, the young Dai realised
he needed skills if he were to get on in this world and so he joined the
British Army, being posted to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical
Engineers where he was trained as a welder/fabricator.
He spent 10 years in the army, where, as well as
skills, he was given the opportunity of travel, visiting such places as
Belize in Central America, the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, the
Falklands (just after the troubles), and Cyprus and Germany (long after
their “troubles”).
His decision to leave a good career in the army was
based on the fact that when de-mobbed, if he stayed the entire 22 years,
he would be 45 years old, a difficult age to start a new career, and there
was also the call of the oil and gas industry, where he knew that good
money could be found. After all, his father and two uncles were all
involved in that industry.
To heighten his chances in that field he returned to
college to complete a course in Quality Control and Non-Destructive
Testing. After that he was ready and took his first appointment with
British Gas as a pipeline inspector, but after a few months the travel bug
was there, taking him to Nigeria, where he stayed for 3 years with ELF,
the French national petroleum firm.
After Nigeria and some “interesting” times there in
the scam capital of the world Dai moved to Abu Dhabi to continue working
in the oil and gas industry. He was actually offered work in Thailand at
that time, but turned it down. However, a mate took the post and settled
down in Pattaya, telling Dai about life here.
By this stage it was 1995 and more of his mates had
experienced Thailand too, and so, after their encouragement, Dai decided
to come over here and got a posting with the refinery in Maptaput.
Like so many before him, in his words, “I fell in
love with the country, I fell in love with the people and I fell in love
with a lady.” He stayed here for his contracted 12 months, but in the
last week before he was due to finish his girlfriend was killed in a hit
and run accident. Again this was an incident to change his life’s
direction. “I decided I didn’t want to leave Thailand. I didn’t want
to work. I wanted to take some time off and collect my thoughts.”
During this time of collection and recollection, and
through a shared love of music, Dai and Kim Fletcher (now Shenanigans
landlord) became friends. Kim arranged for Dai to become involved in the
management of the well known TQ2 bar and the original 3 month job ended up
as 14 months. Dai said this was not, as I had suggested, a form of
escapism from the traumatic event in his life. “Death is part of life.
If you don’t accept this you cannot live a full life,” he said
philosophically.
However, he was by then ready for the mainstream and
again accepted a position with British Gas, a corporation that had rung
him annually for many years to check on his availability.
It did not take long, however, before Dai, the
travellin’ man, was back to the Middle East to build pipelines and work
as a general construction and maintenance contract foreman. With the work
roster of 6 weeks on and 3 weeks off, this would give him more time to be
in Thailand. For Dai, that represents 18 weeks holiday a year - 18 weeks
that he spends here. For him, it is worth the privations of living in a
porta-cabin in an environment that encompasses such diverse conditions as
5 degrees Celsius on winter nights and 50 degrees Celsius night and day in
summer. “To work in desolate conditions you have to enjoy your own
company. I watch TV and read a book and I am in bed by 8.30 to be up at
4.30 the next morning to start the whole process again.” The hardships
do not faze Dai, but there is one form of employment that he is not ready
for, “The thing that scares me more than anything else is a nine to five
job in the UK!”
For someone like Dai Coe, success is “Achieving what
you want to do.” For him, this has been achieved. “I’m very happy at
the moment. I have found a very nice lady and a stepdaughter I adore. As
long as I’m enjoying work and coming home to see my family, I’ll do
this until I’m 60, and then I might call it a day.”
From this very different background, Dai’s advice for
others is merely “Be true to yourself. You only have one life so do what
you’re comfortable with.”
For Dai, that comfort includes his hobbies as reading,
with the preferred subject material being history and philosophy, music
and the Hash House Harriers. “I consider myself to be a very lucky man.
I have family and friends and I just enjoy being at home for the 3
weeks.” The simple life of the successful “travellin’ man!”
