cooked

You are determined, aren't you? I already stated that I can't afford that kind of insurance, even if I did trust them. You keep mentioning these mythical insurance companies. Show us a few. People heading for dialysis, for example, are looking at costing about ฿30 000.- a month for about 6 years, with a kidney transplant as the only solution after that. HOW would they expect me. at my age, 78, to pay for that through insurance premiums? As I said, not to be trusted.

Start again. Of course you can get insurance, stop being so judgmental. Pre-existing conditions excluded? By the age of 75, the thing that's going to kill you will probably have manifested itself. Second: can I afford double the premium? No, I can't. And when they augment the premium by another 50% or 100% at age 90, no, f*** off. So now we get to the bit where you call me a cheap Charlie or tell me to go back home. F*** off, I want to die here,

Great suggestion. Which one will take me on, with pre-conditions, at age 78? I'm hardly going to make it worth their while paying, say even ฿150 000 a year if I need a million Baht operation or treatment, am I?

It seems to very much depend on where you live. Some people detest Virayah insurance, I'm a big fan, never had a problem.

My Thai insurance went up by 50% when I got to age 70. I could just about afford it. I found out it was going to increase again at ages 75 and 80 (at which point they might decide not to renew), so I said to hell with it. All I worry about now, at age 78, is whether I can get palliative care if I get seriously ill, and not running up a huge debt for my family to pick up. Public hospitals have, up to now, served me well and remained affordable.

You could radically change most people's lives (including mine) with, say, the sum of ฿500 000.-. Even then, most people would just blow it away in a month or two. Sorry to be so old fashioned, but getting that much money for nothing is sinful. A survey was conducted in the UK years ago about people experiencing huge wins; most of them ended up financially and health-wise wrecked. Divorces and deaths behind the wheels of luxury cars....

I never received a proof of life request from UK pensions, meaning I have to call to sort it out. Same thing, I should receive stuff from Switzerland, it never arrives. I put this down to the local postman being unable to read European script. It would help a great deal if we could get a warning email, like "we have sent you a letter. please answer" kind of message. If they can't do that then they won't be able to manage ID cards very well either.

One million six hundred thousand ICE arrests. many of them involving dangerous criminals, and "only" two killed. How many were killed when Obama arrested and deported SIX million?

So let's do nothing, is that what you are saying? Sugar isn't an easy target as many farmers cultivate sugar.

"Bread" as in an emulsified lump of proteins and fats, "Cheese" as in milk powder +rtificial colouring agents. I dunno, take a magnifying glass and read the labels.. Or make your own, still the best but not cheaper.

We gave up doing stuff like that long ago. Just physically go there, same as we sometimes do when Immigration has changed rules.

Sure, that'll work going shopping 20 Km away + daily school runs.

If they have to get a warrant for every one of the millions of illegals that they arrest, they'll never get finished. Some might claim that this IS an emergency situation requiring emergency powers. The Dems unlawful importation of illegals for political purposes can be classed as an invasion by foreign terrorists and criminals. What do you want? More executive orders?

That depends on the traffic office, but things are getting a little more difficult these days. I was (unintentionally) on overstay when I got my first license, the DLT noticed but got me a license anyway. I doubt that you can do stuff like that these days. Why not ask the DLT?

The EU. at least in its present form, is dying. Look at it: von der Lyen, Macron, Merz, Starmer. Who would want to join an organisation run by these corrupted perverts? We should join up with the likes of Maloni, Orban and Weidel and revert the EU into what we were told it was going to be: a free trade association, not a bureaucratic, undemocratic mess of leftist rule makers.

I bet we're all really looking forward to Chinese built atomic power stations.

On dear. Farangs tend to use certain hospitals. Those are farang hospitals. The local hospitals can quite validly be called Thai hospitals, etc, etc. It's not rocket science, as Elon Musk might say.

What's a stupid question?

How true. But it wasn't murder, was it?

Last time I was in a NHS hospital was with my dad. Appointment was 08.30am, 6 hours later we were still waiting. Even the longest wait I ever had in Thailand was 1 1/2 hours and that was during Covid.

My naive solution: get hold of, and install, Warp-Terminal. I no longer use Linux forums for my little problems. It may tell you that your laptop is incompatible with what you want to do, or take you through a few steps tp get there. Free version you get to use it 75 times a month, otherwise you pay.

Like many of you, I guess, I was very doubtful about local hospitals. At one point I was driving for 2 Hours to get to a “Farang hospital” in Korat every three months. Taking relatives to the local hospital (Lamplaimat), over the years, I noticed that the “foreign visitors” booth was empty, and in fact I have never seen a Farang there. but there was a notice indicating (Google translate) that I could have a complete blood, heart and urine test for ฿ 1760.-. So I did. Once I was registered, the service was very efficient, and I received the results, hundreds of them, within an hour or two. So last week I fainted, food poisoning as it turns out, and lost consciousness for 10 minutes or so, wife frantically trying to wake me up. I cracked my scalp on a chair, lots of blood, requiring 4 stitches. The SiL got me to said local hospital, the guys in emergency saw me arriving in the car and were already there with the gurney, 5 minutes later the lady doctor was calming me down, cleaning me up and stitching away. CAT scan, X-ray, then on to observation ward overnight. Went home next day with meds, total cost ฿ 6000. AND of course, the Thai smile was worth gold. My sexy lady doctor spoke good English, but without my wife I would have been lost. Alas, I’m 60 years too old for her. Follow up: the village clinic inspects and cleans the wound for ฿70. So what wasn’t good? I made the wrong decision, didn’t take a private room, a lady started screaming at about 2am in our ward of 10 beds, nobody got much sleep. Also, on probably the coldest day of the year, we didn’t think to take a quilt, or something for my wife to sleep on. I was happy that she was there to help as I was pretty helpless initially. That really is a plus concerning Thai hospitals, nobody is going to look after you better than a family member. All local hospitals won’t be the same, of course, but this was an eye opener for me and I'm ashamed that I had such a bad opinion. I am Swiss and we are supposed to be the best health service in the world. For run of the mill stuff like this, I disagree. I won't even try to compare it with the UK health service. I liked the Christmas tree.

At the risk of being sniggered at, I started the Keto diet a few years ago, at age 71. The aim was to reduce blood pressure and sugar, it worked. But in addition, my arthritis went away and, acid reflux disappeared. No meds for many years until very recently. Long term use of Omeprazole is harmful, to be avoided.

Don't worry about it if it isn't in the way. Otherwise, you can easily buy a new copper rod at Thaiwatsadu.

I didn't. However, I did take care to lay the first layer of bricks into the wet concrete slab. Maybe you need to think about a damp proof course? Nobody was bothering with this 14 years ago when I laid my last brick so I didn't either. Regret it now. I would buy some robust plastic/rubber sheeting or a bag or two of asphalt.