doctormann

Exactly. That's what I figured out, eventually, with a little help.

OK, I guess that we're talking about a certain Middle Eastern strait, whose name bears a resemblance to what a certain lady might have been. Very naughty - but also very funny!

Help! I can't solve this. Is that Melania? Is that a moose or an elk or some other creature?

Nothing would surprise me about the wiring in this house - bit of a dog's breakfast. Having said that though, it has worked OK for the last 20 years. The RCD problem only started a few weeks ago and, as I said, has been completely sporadic. I have read that UPS devices can cause RCD trips. We have two of these. One protects my modem and router and the other protects the rest of my computer equipment. The one on the modem and router did get replaced a few weeks ago - I can't remember the exact dates - so I wonder if this could be the culprit?

Set to 30mA I have a clamp meter and have tested everything that I have access to for leakage currents. Nothing untoward shows up. No wildlife - ants or whatever - found in switches or sockets. The real mystery is why this happens only infrequently.

I'm having a problem with my RCD 'Safe-T-Cut' spuriously tripping. This happens at random times, seemingly uncorrelated with any activity - morning, afternoon, evening, night, completely unpredictable. This happens every few days - the RCD trips and can be immediately reset. OK for several days before tripping again. The fault - if indeed there is a fault - is obviously transient in nature. The usual advice is to isolate various circuits and turn off appliances to try to isolate the cause but this is obviously impractical when the trip only happens infrequently. I can hardly just disconnect the fridge/freezer for a week to see what happens - and this would not prove anything anyway! i am wondering if the RCD unit itself is developing a fault or is just oversensitive to mains spikes or general voltage instability? It's only a minor inconvenience - unless in the middle of the night - but I would like to get it sorted out. Anyone out there experienced any similar behaviour? Any suggestions? The house has no ground circuit, if this is relevant.

Has this place given up? No sign of life on the last twice we've tried to eat there. Last time was just last night. It's a shame if it's gone as it was rather good.

Yes, I have an international account, Barclays IoM. When I moved to Thailand in 2004, Barclays told me that I would need one in order to transfer funds to Thailand. This turned out not to be true and while I had my on-shore account I could happily make international transactions from there. I did, however, keep the international account active and it's a good job that I did because my on-shore accounts got closed, a few years ago. The international account works well but, because I don't have GBP 100k to park there, there is a monthly fee of GBP 40. I can live with this, albeit reluctantly, as I don't get charged for SWIFT transfers and the payments always show as 'international', which keeps Thai Immigration happy.

I was not aware of the interest free option. I'll take a look as this would probably work. Possibly another option is to split a prompt pay transaction into two payments - if Lenovo would accept this. I'm trying to get advice from them at the moment but they haven't got back to me yet. Not holding my breath on that score! I don't have a Revolut account - I think that I would need a UK address to get one and I haven't lived there for more than 20 years. Barclaycard withdrew my UK credit cards for lack of a UK address so that is not an option either. They even kicked me out of my on-shore Barclays account, after 60 years of banking with them. Shabby treatment indeed! I still have my international account, for now.

RIP Marianne.

Has anyone tried to buy a laptop PC from Lenovo since the new BoT transaction rules came into force? I am trying to get a ThinkPad T16 Gen 4 (customized to my requirements) but the cost exceeds the transaction limits set by the BoT for seniors (I am obviously considered to be not competent to manage my own finances). It seems that I cannot make the purchase using my TTB VISA debit card or by using Prompt Pay / QR code. I spoke with someone on the TTB helpline to see if I could get the limit adjusted but got absolutely nowhere. It may be possible to pay using a direct bank transfer but this would be a right PITA so I'd like to avoid it. I also have an international account with Barclays - denominated in GBP, of course - so I might be able to use my international VISA debit card. It is not clear if Lenovo will accept this (trying to find out) and in any case it would incur a currency conversion fees of about 3%, which is why i would prefer to buy online, direct from Lenovo Thailand. Any experiences with this sort of hassle - or advice?

If you do your 90-day reports online, which seems to work very well, the receipt will be emailed to you and you can print it off yourself and do with it what you will - assuming that you have a printer and an email account, of course.

There's an easy solution to that problem. Get a passport holder. Not only keeps the passport pristine but has space for 90-day slip, TM30, emergency contact data and anything else that you consider relevant. Mine even has my last TM6 from 2011. I haven't been out of Thailand since then.

If you are of a certain age, you may remember a children's nursery rhyme about the Grand Old Duke of York, marching his men up and down a hill. Well, here is ChatGPT's modern version. The Not-So-Grand Duke of York Oh the not-so-grand Duke of York, He had a curious knack, Of marching round the Palace halls Then quietly marching back. He summoned smiling ladies there For tea and photo calls, Then found himself retreating fast From gilded Palace walls. When he was up, he was up — All medals, pomp, and show, And when he was down, he was down — With nowhere much to go. And when he was halfway up the steps With reputation torn, He was neither hailed nor fully jailed — Just “former” and forlorn.

The airport alone is worth a visit. Everything that Suvarnabhumi could have been if half the development budget hadn't gone missing! Singapore is very clean and orderly. I took my wife there for a few days and she suffered from culture shock. Couldn't believe that traffic stopped for pedestrians! It is very expensive though but food in the hawker centres is very affordable and hygiene standards are very high. Hotel accommodation is probably 4X Thai prices - but can be much higher, depending on where you stay. The Long Bar at Raffles is an experience not to be missed - and yes, you do throw the peanut shells on the floor, as per tradition. Genuine Singapore Sling cocktails there, of course. Freshly mixed - not out of a can. Sentosa Island is also worth a visit. There was a cable car linking it to the main island, when we were there, and a little train that ran right round the island. I'm not sure if either of these still exist now. I think that retiring there would need significant money. Great for a few days though.

I've been getting a lot of gateway timeouts over the last few days. Error 504 - seems to be a problem at your end.

The 'Special Relationship' has always seemed to be a bit of a one-way street, to me, at least. More a case of 'Jump', to which the reply has always been 'How High?

Yes, maybe, but there's noisy and there's ear-damaging noisy!

I'm really not sure. If I remember correctly, last renewal I did submit new photos. Easy enough to do if you have decent printer. My current passport is still valid for another couple of years but I want to renew it well in advance to avoid any problems with my permission to stay. As you are probably aware, an extension will only be granted up until the expiry date of the passport. I'll probably do the renewal at the end of this year. I'm hoping to avoid two trips to Bangkok as I am a bit disabled and travelling any distance is not too easy. HMPO say that applications must be done in person but the visa agents in Pattaya say that they can handle the whole process - for a fee, naturally. I shall have to investigate further.

It takes about 8 minutes for the electromagnetic radiation to arrive. Particulates probably take a little longer as they do not travel at light speed.

I can think of a two word phrase - the second word being 'OFF!'

The captcha puzzles have become a complete PITA. Quite often now I find that I have to do several rounds and when I do eventually get in I get presented with 'We have detected unusual traffic from your network. Please try again later.' It seems easier to get in using Firefox rather than Brave but even then I have to respond to an SMS that they send to my phone.

Another sneaky trick is to display prices both in Arabic numerals and Thai numerals. The Thai prices are always considerably lower but, as the average foreign tourist is unfamiliar with Thai numerals, they have no idea that they are being overcharged.

The supply in Khaotalo was interrupted yesterday - started to trickle back by about 15:00 and was more or less OK by evening. Seems OK today.

And now it's failed completely!!