nausea

No moral high ground for you, my man, from which to make proclamations on democratic progress; not since you guys started discussing banning the main opposition party in Germany, the AfD.

I have my doubts about the wisdom of this move. Much like Sumo in Japan, oo you really want to internationalise what is essentially a Thai national treasure, with all its attendant rituals and stuff,.

I thought Kratom was legal now, my mistake.

Whenever unrequited love is mentioned I'm reminded of Keats, led to great poetry in his case.

That's my SO. Me, I'm into alcohol à la Bukowski, but I seem to have swallowed a Hellgramite worm.

He/she should plead entrapment. I mean, wasn't the guy asking to be robbed.

Reminds me of the gang problem we had in Bestwood Estate, which was close to where I used to live in the UK. You may have heard of tje infamous Gunn brothers. Police would only patrol in pairs. So not a problem unique to Thailand.

Teach in a Thai public school for a year and you'll soon understand why there's a problem.

Does Reform stand a chance? Don't know much about them. As for Labour and the Tories, I tend to go with the "two cheeks of the same a*se" view.

Nice gesture. Big bike accident, for those (like me) who weren't aware.

Like it. Another one is that you don't pay the girl for sex, you pay her to go away the next day. Yeah, Soi 6 managers. A strong liver and a gregarious personality seem to be the prerequisites. Not quite sure how it all works, but I understand they're part of a business model that encourages high spenders. Not my cup of tea, but horses for courses, obviously a market for it.

✔️

St. Patrick's Day, my birthday, a Cha-Am bikini beach run - the stars are aligning.

Quelle suprise.

This is news?

Not so sure, myself, if this is really about combatting and deterring; experiences, related to me by both Farang and Thai acquaintances, point towards revenue generation as a major motivation in some, at least, of these drug sweeps.

Well, it is a bit like having a neon sign over your head saying "Rob Me". Having said that, I can understand why some asian guys might think it apprpriate. Farangs (in Asia) get a free pass in the status stakes, asians (in Asia) not so much.

Let's throw in Vicky Nuland, just to bring some gender equality to this thread.

Keep your pet dogs inside folks, fireworks and dogs don't mix; lost one of mine New Year's Eve; eventually found, but only after a lot of hassle and trouble, and luck.

I'll leave the traditional afterlife to others, since it's faith, and not logic, based, and hedonistic descriptions fall on the rock of " too much of a good thing", even the most exquisite experiences become boring after a while. I was, however, recently reading about the positive and negative effects of intense meditation, eerily similar to the the effects of psychedelics by the way, which I reckon is probably the closest we get to any kind of documented heaven here on earth, enlightenment and all that, and it quickly became obvious that one man's heaven is another man's hell. Personally, I think it's all very subjective, and a bit Yin and Yang'ish; you have a bad toothache and it's hell, it goes away, and you're in heaven for a moment; similarly, for a lot of Western guys, you're sex starved and in a sort of hell, you come to Thailand and think you've arrived in heaven, but once you become adapted to the ready availability, you revert to your normal state, whatever that might be.

As with most things, "dosis sola facit venenum" (Paracelsus 1538) - the dose makes the poison. I believe some natural sunlight is essential for good health, so c. 15 mins a day for me here in Thailand . Always wear a hat (shaved head). My back doesn't like the sun, I put that down to it getting sunburnt a lot when I was a kid in the UK. My Dad had this ridiculous maxim (knowing what we know now) that you have to get red before you get brown. Definitely ages the skin, I only have to look at the back of my hands to verify that.

Yeah, there's kind of a push to blame current woes on Brexit. This poll sorta fits in with that. Convenient scapegoat, I suppose. Whatever, we're circling the drain. As is Europe. So I don't see that Brexit matters one way or the other.

Yeah, cornflakes are pretty much considered a junk food nowadays. Was always a shredded wheat or weetabix man myself. Don't know if they're much better.

It doesn't really matter what you guys think, the rest of the world looks and says "Banana Republic". Moral high ground lost.

Don't get colds here, too much sunshine, I guess.