MartinL

Never mind a Thai visitor from the other end of the country, how about a Thai national who lives permanently overseas and only visits for a few weeks every couple of years? Reduced rate for Thai? No problem.

Yes, a reminder of my lovely 239 Desmo from years ago. Sadly missed.

A Belgian Mustafa is the same as an English Mustafa is the same as ...........

I said I don't know any, in response to your 'don't know'. That's not the same as 'don't know of .. '. No rock involved, just many years living out in the open in UK with biking friends who might be expected to be tattooed but weren't, before Thailand. EDIT - thinking again, I do know one bloke with many tats - although maybe not full body - here in Thailand and he's a very nice, calm, caring fella but among UK friends and acquaintances, none at all.

Russian(?) is the language spoken by the bloke recording the video, who is just another unconnected customer in the shop, not the nutter.

Strange. As a Briton, I don't know ANY Britons with tattoos as you describe.

Mustafa ... muslim name. Only trashing alcoholic products. At 0.52 in the video, does he shout " ... allah ... "? I'll draw my own conclusions from all that.

Whip scorpion or vinegaroon. Harmless. Called 'vinegaroon' because it sprays a vinegar-like fluid as protection. Just let them go on their way if you see them in the future.

Well, there's a first!! After sending my Life Cert. and seeing it was delivered on 10th. April, I got an SMS from DWP today saying "We have processed your Life Certificate. You do not need to contact us". No need for the usual check phonecall now. Good! Has anybody else received such a message? Is there a miniscule amount of modernisation afoot in DWP? Has their customer service upped its game a little?

Do you have to have the last word even when there's nothing sensible to say? Reply to this and you CAN have the last word in our little conversation.

As I've already said, my wife and those around me clearly say 'man' and I'll trust them over your video bird. Maybe a local variation but my money's on the pronunciation of those I know.

I later edited to better show the sound of 'แ...' - 'mair' would be a better transcription, hence the comparison with 'แม', mother. No misunderstanding on my part, thank you.

Not by my wife and others I know. What you've written would be MAIRn farang (as in แม่, mum, mother). Why write มัน... with a letter/vowel symbol for 'a' when there a a number of letters with a 'u' sound?

That looks to read MAN farang to me.

As above, I don't need AI. I've got a better, real version (such as it is) installed upstairs. Does 365 Classic include Excel, Word and Outlook for e-mail and is it a trouble-free transition? If so, that's all I'd need. The MS blurb says it does but I thought I'd check with some real users.

I might well be wrong but I've always understood that it was the act of HMRC ASSESSING all ones income that was important, whether or not they then actually demanded any payment. All my UK income, including that below £12,570, has been assessed for income tax and the relevant tax paid. It'll all become clear one day ........ or not. In the meantime, I won't lose any sleep over it.

A wall that pops up on red light at crossings might do the trick.

Good choice of last word there! Freudian slip? I'm sure we know what you meant, though.

In my complaint to HMRC (see earlier in this thread and its subsequent reply), I specifically mentioned that I didn't believe it was a DWP error because there was no move on DWP's part to increase my (frozen) pension every year. They didn't contradict that statement in their reply. I just don't believe they'd freeze a pension on the one hand and tell HMRC it's had a CoL increase on the other - it defies logic. Thinking about it, I must be daft to expect logic from civil servants.

I'm resurrecting this thread, rather than make a new one, because my query is a follow-on from 3 years ago. I think I might have a skin cancer and am looking for treatment centres in Khon Kaen - I live 80 km from the city. Is the information given in this thread still current or have new centres cropped-up, new recommended doctors come to town? My wife's civil service health scheme is tied to Srinagarind Hospital and I'm registered there, but never used it in 15 years, so that'd be the obvious place to go but other suggestions most welcome. Thanks.

I rescued a budgie during a very heavy rainstorm some years ago. It obviously was on its last legs and would have died in those conditions but recovered and stayed with us a further 6 years. I might well be very wrong but I doubt they can survive here, especially alone as they're birds that live as a flock. Of course, our bird needed a companion so I bought another budgie. The first budgie died after 6 years so I bought a young companion for the survivor ......... looks like it'll be a continuing saga 🙂 🙂. But I like having them around - they're a reminder of my grandad who was a keen budgie keeper.

The pension rate for deferral is 1%/9 weeks, NOT 4%. https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/what-you-get I did this calc. for my brother who works in China and he was considering deferral until 70 which would result in a 23% increase in his SP. In his case, taking his pension ASAP would have been financially more advantageous than deferring. Screenshot of calc. attached although yours would be different, of course, but deferral would result in a lower cumulative pension over the years. Although not shown in the screenshot, the crossover point, at which cumulative deferred pension becomes greater than cumulative pension taken at 66, would be 87 y.o. He's decided to take at 66, later this year. Whether he'll then live in a 'frozen' country he's not yet decided but he won't stay in China.

Of course, all this is moot if the vehicles don't show their indicators until they actually start to make their turn or have actually started to turn, which is all too common here.

The interest on the 800,000 ฿ in a savings account will be taxable but if it's in a Thai savings account, the 15% withholding tax will already have been debited and your bank book will prove that. In fact, you'll likely be due a refund on at least some of that WHT since your 299,000 ฿ won't bring you into the 15% tax band even in the worst case. Looks like another clueless local official.

Twenty or so years ago, my friend built a huge house in a tiny village in KK province. Pool, a small house for his wife's mother, large grounds, the works. It now lies apparently abandoned after he, his wife and son moved to UK for the lad's education. They are very unlikely to come back to Thailand as a complete family. It seems he's too sick for that now, too skint (even before he left, he had trouble meeting financials for an extension of stay) and the family seem very happy in the new home. In that location, it seems totally unsaleable except very cheaply as a demolition project and a return to the rice paddy that surrounds it. The house was always FAR too big for the 3 of them - I think it was a vanity project in the days when he had plenty of money, built without serious thought to what they really needed. I agree with hotsun's comment - I'd feel really uncomfortable in that situation