NoshowJones

4 hours ago, The Alien said:

Put simply, he cannot resist his greed for money and power.

Just keep the soldiers out, get rid of the Senators, Generals or whatever they are called, there is over 200 of them. Were they not responsible for getting rid of Pita, who was the peoples choice for PM?

On 7/5/2025 at 5:13 PM, Photoguy21 said:

Agreed it would still have been wrong but had he slapped a man there would be a very good chance of being smacked back

A lone Thai smacking back????

On 7/5/2025 at 1:33 PM, hotchilli said:

You can get shot for doing less than that, never ever touch another's vehicle

I have often moved motorbikes that have blocked my motorbike in and left them out on the road.

4 minutes ago, transam said:

Yes, you will need the correct address for it..

The correct address is on the form Trans. Why do they say "use the reply envelope"? What reply envelope?

On my proof of life certificate which was emailed to me it states "and use the reply envelope sent with this form"  This was emailed to me so what envelope are they on about?

Can I not just post it in the normal way with a normal envelope?

On 7/4/2025 at 7:58 AM, simon43 said:

Were I to move back to live in the UK, and were I to find it totally unsuitable, a move back to south-east Asia would be relatively easy, since I know the ins and outs of living here.  If I were unable to afford a Thai visa, then there is always Cambodia or Laos.  Realistically, no destination is perfect and I must accept compromise.

 

The UK rental market is relatively unregulated and there is always a risk that rental prices in the UK might rise so much that I'm forced out....

Are there not laws to prevent OAP's being evicted from their homes?

On 6/29/2025 at 9:03 PM, simon43 said:

There is also the issue of the UK state pension.  This is frozen in Thailand, but that can be resolved by relocating to the Philippines.  But what if some future UK government tries to reduce expenditure by stopping state pensions for all expats.  (Don't think it won't happen - it's one big pozi scheme...).

 

I still have other income sources, but I don't expect to be teaching science online when I'm 80 years old....  If my state pension were stopped, then I would be forced to return to the UK, whether I wanted to or not.

 

So many unknowns and 'what ifs'....

Your state pension cannot be reduced or stopped, it says so in the DWP website although it can be suspended, ie if you don't have an up to date Proof of life certificate.

On 6/30/2025 at 9:25 PM, simon43 said:

A plus point about being a pensioner in the UK is the number of discounts that are provided.  I did a quick check of what discounts are available if I were to live in the Somerset locality:

 

- Rent paid up to 600 pounds/month

- Council tax fully paid

- Free optician checks, discounted glasses

- Free NHS dental

- Free prescription medicines

- Free off-peak bus travel in Somerset
- Discounted train travel
- Wessex water and Bristol water pensioner discount
- Broadband discount

- Possible electricity discount and winter payment (maybe!)

 

I think the biggest possible utility bill would be for electric heating.

 

Private medical insurance (UK cover) is cheaper than what I pay now....

 

Something I checked was the price of food in Tesco's.  Similar to what I experienced when I stayed in Blackpool a few years ago, the prices for healthy food are comparable to Thailand.  Healthy food means vegetables, fruit, salads, grain bread etc.  The price of processed krap was more expensive than Thailand.

 

I only eat healthy food!

 

Now what other expenses would there be?

As a state OAP, if I was living in the UK right now there is no way I would be choosing to eat or heat, I would not starve and I would not freeze, I will find some way round it as I have done all my adult life.

On 6/30/2025 at 3:54 PM, simon43 said:

I'm a country lad - lived in Dunster (Somerset) previously.  One point to consider is that while UK rent is high, I would receive (no ifs and buts - it's a means-tested benefit) about 600 quid a month in housing benefit, because I'm a pensioner and I have bugger-all savings.  Therefore, I could reasonably afford to rent a flat for say 800 quid a month, which gets a nice 1-bedroom rural property in Somerset near the sea.

 

This is the benefit of having no savings.....

But you can have savings if you want, it is how you handle them that counts. If I had to go back to the UK to stay I would have about 2000GBP in my UK bank. 1000Baht in one of my Thai banks, I guess you know the rest.

Not that long ago I had nearly all my life savings in my UK bank, but I am getting older now and have to prepare to go back to the UK to stay if my health fails me.

On 6/27/2025 at 7:03 PM, swissie said:

Of importance: Airlines do not fly out persons in a "critical healt condition".

 

What would you describe as a critical health condition? If a person is able to walk properly and speak clearly, who is going to know what condition your health is in? Certainly not any of the airline staff.

On 6/27/2025 at 4:11 PM, Stocky said:

I have a Wrinkly Pass for West Midlands transport, gives me free travel after 9:30am weekdays and all day weekends and bank holidays, on all buses, trains and trams within the West Midlands.

Buses and trams yes, but trains?? Also these passes are only if you have a permanent UK address. If one is living here legally then will the DWP not cancel your bus pass.

On 6/27/2025 at 3:46 PM, BE88 said:

Difficult decision because there are many components that can arrive and that have not been taken into account, but I think that if you want to return to your country of origin and not to be excluded for anyone but remaining open to a possible return to Thailand if the expectations that you meet in your country of origin after a certain time are not as you thought because many things have changed very quickly in recent years in many cases for the worse> Personally I have decided to stay in Thailand but no one can predict the future.

 Just suppose a pensioner arrived at a UK airport from Thailand and was almost broke and had nowhere to stay? Would he get an automatic hotel room etc? Don't get me started about the boat people.

On 6/27/2025 at 3:36 PM, youreavinalaff said:

I agree. I could quite easily have pointed out our home in Thailand is a 1.5km walk to the nearest public transport, despite only being 10kms from town. Nothing after 5pm.

 

In UK, buses go past our home, £2 per journey. Buses run until midnight.

 

 

Bus pass for over 60's?

On 6/27/2025 at 2:45 PM, BritManToo said:

UK 15 miles to my nearest town, no bus service, 40 quid in a taxi.

Thailand, 12Km to Chiang Mai moat, 20bht on a Songtaw.

 

I'm not sure why you're all bigging up the UK, it was never that great.

Just work and quiet desperation.

Couldn't even go cycling, cos it rained nearly every day and I was only 3Km from the Camel trail.

As far as I'm concerned, the only bigging up in the UK is health problems turning up in your old age, you will get looked after, what will happen in Thailand if you have no medical insurance?Even if you have there is no guarantee of a pay out when you think of all the exclusions.

On 6/27/2025 at 2:31 PM, proton said:

 

Yes i'd like to know, but they do in Thailand water people sorted out our leaks. The bin men here are 10x better than any in the UK. They take anything, including garden waste and even a front door once, try that back home! No collection every 2 weeks and being fined for the wrong thing in the wrong bin. Some areas of the UK are still nice, but for how long, they are even building a mosque in the Lake district.

What other country in the world would allow mosques to be built all over the place for a race that is full of terrorism especially after they killed around 50 people in London about 20 years ago. If something happened similar to the twin towers in America, I bet the UK would still allow these mosques to be built.

4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

You're probably linked through settings. You can do this by accident.

That's probably what's happened. Thanks

My main browser is Gmail, My second one is Yahoo. So why are all my emails, inbox, Sent, Trash etc turning up in my Yahoo account as well as my Gmail account?

18 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

MP's in all governments inthe world should be paid on attendance.  If they are not at work whenthey are supposed to be then dock them a days pay just like a normal business would.

What about British MP's working as Lawyers and Company Directors and drawing their full MP's salary? I wonder if the Thai MP's have cottoned on to that yet.

18 hours ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

Prime reasons why long-haul travelers and locals are choosing not to come:

1. The Indianification of Pattaya - some areas are unrecognizable and they swarm the place. Sure they might bring money in sheer numbers, but meanwhile they drive everyone else away.

2. Overpricing - some establishments raised prices and minimums multiple times last year due to demand, however now that there is less demand they should adjust prices back down - which will never happen.

3. Repeat incidents of extreme violence from locals - it doesn't matter if it was provoked or not, things like kicking men when they're already down give the place a very bad image. I don't remember this happening in this frequency in past years.

4. Deteriorating dynamics - pre-Covid you could roll up to a club and plenty of girls would be eager to talk to you, these days half of them will ignore you. Same thing at gogo's: "I have a boyfriend" "I only dance here" after you're several lady drinks in. Bars seem to have shifted to prioritizing lady drinks over bar fines, which might seem incredibly smart when you've got an endless supply of tourists, but it is biting them in the ass in low season because guess what - if you screw over your patrons they won't return. Part of the problem is simp "boyfriends" who send them money from overseas, but I think another part is bar owners encouraging this which is shooting themselves in the leg - guys don't come to Pattaya to buy lady drinks.

 

P.S. I haven't been to Pattaya in months even though I used to go every month before. The above plus more personal reasons are why. I'll still go in the future, but Bangkok is a lot more pleasant these days.

"but Bangkok is a lot more pleasant these days".  Very true but also a lot more expensive and not to forget the cheating taxi drivers. Also, where are the hotels around the 800 Bt mark? There were quite a few, and these closed during the Chinese Virus and never reopened. I can get a hotel or guesthouse for much less in Pattaya and then there's the cheap baht buses.

On 4/5/2024 at 10:10 PM, connda said:

Way cool.  Thanks! 

That site cannot be reached any more.

On 4/17/2024 at 12:21 PM, Henk Langeweg said:

Just ordered Puritans pride 240 Tablet, 3mg, 580 Baht at Lazada ...

Be warned about Lazada fakes, they seem to be getting more common recently.

3 hours ago, portisaacozzy said:

did she get those medals for cooking,the guy on the left is oviously a better cook as he has 3 rows !!

The UK's Old King Charlie out medals everyone, especially with these loads of medals which were never earned.

I was told by someone who knows of someone else who sent his proof of life certificate to the wrong address and wondering why there was no answer back, got in touch with them and was told that his state pension was now being stopped.

I read on the DWP website that they cannot reduce or stop your state pension. So what is it really, what can the DWP really do or not do regarding  your state pension?