Erik Winther – Budda to his many friends – was in top form when The Stable Lodge on Saturday the 2 July held a farewell reception for him as Restaurant Manager and co-owner of the famous Danish restaurant in Bangkok.
The wheelchair belied Erik Winther’s actual physical condition, which – apart from the amputated left foot – was better than it has been for years. Erik had done the impossible and lost 50 kilos of his weight, and was keen on shedding the next 25 kilos too to get down on the 80 kilos, which the doctors have recommend him.
Hearing him tell about the amazing achievement, friends joked that he couldn’t include the first three kilos as his own credit – that was the foot and should be credited to the doctors!
The problem which eventually led to the amputation started shortly after New Year, when his foot suddenly collapsed at the ankle and the doctors’ first attempt to operate failed. Erik Winther has been a partner in The Stable Lodge since the founding of the famous Danish hotel and restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 8 in Bangkok and main culprit behind the collapse of the ankle was his fondness of his own good food and a glass of beer with the many customers.
As Erik’s weight has gone down, it was clear last Saturday that his spirit had gone equally up.
“I’ll have a titanium leg fitted next week and I expect to be able to walk with it in about one week,” he said.
The reception marked the termination both of his job as the Restaurant Manager and his co-ownership of the Stable Lodge.
“I am a happy man! They bought my shares for my asking price,” he said.
Next, Erik will go traveling to the States and Canada before returning to Bangkok where he will await his ordinary Danish pensioning age of 67 in two years time.
“I could go back to Denmark and apply for a pre-pension allowance from the Danish welfare system, but I don’t have to – my wife is running a successful pet food shop in one of the houses, we own – and I dislike the common trend in Denmark to suck all you can out of the public support system,” Erik says.
