Gsxrnz

Nuh, Room 101.

I used to live in Thailand. Now I live in somebody else's idea of a dystopian bubble of cognitive dissonance where feelings and emotive rhetoric trump empirical science, facts, and observable reality.

The journalist needs clarification of the word "bumped".

I'm in Jomtien. Mail delivery seems largely to be operating as normal. Made an online purchase from BKK on Friday afternoon, delivered to me by the PO on Monday afternoon. I haven't specifically monitored other deliveries day by day, but I can think of a dozen mail items arriving fairly recently that were not noticeably delayed. Overseas deliveries is another issue - mail took 5 months to arrive from NZ early 2021. But that's more likely the NZ :Post Office fault - the NZ Socialist Party shut down the border tighter than spandex on a 200KG Russian woman weightlifter.

The press releases from the health ministry are works of art. A million chimpanzees banging away at a million keyboards for a million years could never deliver such profound verbage. Or could they.........?

I've used online reporting since 2015 and my checklist for ensuring success (assuming their intranet is actually working) is: 1. Use IE. Chrome and everything else are problematic - the problems vary depending on hardware used, software version, and everything else including which way the wind is blowing on the day. 2. Before you start, check popups are enabled, clear the browsing history, disable or bypass any VPN. 3. MOST IMPORTANT - clear the IE browsing history AGAIN before submitting a page or proceeding to the next page. 4. Use ALL the dropdowns. If a dropdown freezes or is unresponsive (usually the nationality), CLEAR THE BROWSING HISTORY yet again and the dropdown will usually function. 5. For the first time yesterday, the nationality dropdown froze on me while checking my report status - I simply cleared the internet history/cache and it worked fine. 5. If it all goes tits up, have a coffee, go back and start again, do not pass GO, and do not collect $200.

You're spot on. Comrade Jacinda knows how to control the NZ media like a true soviet commissar. Reading a Kiwi newspaper (and I use the word grudgingly) is like reading Pravda. And now Youtube have banned Sky News Australia, and they were one of the few media outlets that dared to critique Ardern, as well as their own corrupt and power mad politicians. The premier and health minister of NSW are behaving like satanic camp-mothers at a girl-guide jamboree, and totally screwing over the population with their matriarchal lunacy. Even Oedipus would run a mile.

The correct protocol is to smile and push back in to your rightful place in the queue making them think that you know that they know they pushed in, but by not making it obvious that they pushed in, the very fact they pushed in didn't actually happen, and it was all a dreadful misunderstanding. Unless they are Chinese tourists, and then you stand on their toes while pushing back in, and don't smile.

Issues with caka cake serving protocol definitely comes under the category of a first world problem. Personally I revel in the total randomness of odd situations that present themselves in Thailand, and they can be easily remedied without getting ones' knickers in a twist. Example: Recently my contractor was "banned" by the condo manager from using the elevator because he allegedly damaged it while bringing up boxes of flooring tiles. I went down to supervise and was told by the condo manager he wasn't allowed to use the elevator. My smiling response was that "he" isn't using the elevator - "I" was using the elevator and "he" was helping me. Oh OK, that's no problem says she. She even seconded the security guy to help and speed the process up. I find that the vast majority of Thais go out of their way in their attempt to please me - but perhaps (as in any country) it is the attitude and demeanor that you present to them that determines how they respond to you. Another example - I ordered marmalade (as opposed to jam) with my English breakfast. Jam arrives with the breakfast (who cares anyway), and then randomly, an omelette is presented to me. Marmalade/omelette apparently sounded the same to the waitress. I laughingly explained the situation, waitress laughs, brings me marmalade, the omelette is free, and can I please teach her to say marmalade and omelette more clearly. I think if you try and see small issues such as these as something to laugh about, you will be a much happier and contented individual.

I just registered and it was super smooth with no problems. The only thing that bothers me is that the website and confirmation emails contained virtually 100% perfect English and everything was logical. You'd almost think (gulp) they consulted a native English speaker. Never happened before in the history of Thailand - it's almost too good to be true.