simon43

Lol, I don't think you need to push anyone there to have the same graphic outcome 🙂

Every unneccessary death is not good, especially if it's a child. Yes, there are 1,000 ways to die, and if we can reduce those ways by vaccinations and other medicines etc, surely that has to be a good thing? (Unless, you worry that the Earth is overpopulated and therefore it's good that more people die...)

@billd776, I assume that English is not your first language?

I just received some funds into Bangkok Bank, sent on 29th September, received on 2nd October...

I stayed in a hotel in Blackpool and gave that address when I registered with the GP. The surgery office was quite happy with those details and issued me with a new NHS number, (I had one before about 50 years previously..)

Not my experience at all. With suspected prostate cancer, (following an MRI/diagnosis at Bumrungrad), I returned to the UK with the intention of making it permanent. I registered with a GP on my arrival and saw that GP 2 days later. I explained that I had just returned from Thailand with a suspected prostate cancer diagnosis (I had all the medical files), and I got my first hospital appointment within 3 days, thereafter speedy appointments to investigate everything. The GP and the NHS hospital knew my overseas background and never mentioned any requirement to pay, since my intention was to stay in the UK permanently. The hospital tests and biopsy some weeks later surprisingly found no evidence of cancer, but did find 2 benign calcium stones in my prostate which had led to the misdiagnosis. I was discharged as a happy man and, being that I had no cancer, I returned back to Asia. Note that even though I returned back to live in Asia, this did not make me liable to pay for the NHS fees because it was my intention at the time to remain in the UK, and therefore I had no mislead the doctors etc (all this confirmed by those doctors and my GP!).

This same old lie again..... As long as you state that you have returned permanently to live in the UK, you can receive immediate and free NHS treatment. In any case, he would be considered as an emergency case also.

Lol, so funny! Stop being a complete snowflake! If it offends you or others, then TOUGH! Put on your man pants and stop being a baby...

Perhaps we could have a thread about the largest or most unusual item that we've stolen from a hotel......

Bugga! Just heard from my potential new employer that they have been unable to get an entry visa into Myanmar for me... I don't know if this is just at a local level (ie - to do with working in Shan State), or if it's a national decision. No idea for the reason, (although I can hazard a guess...). Anyway, obstacles are to be overcome.....

I must also ask Piddle Bump if he ever had a scary experience with a doctor as a child.....

It affects increases based on the 'Ordinarily Resident' rule, and whether or not the overseas country where you are deemed to be Ordinarily Resident has a social Security agreement with the UK. If they have, such as with The Philippines, then any state pension increase that is paid in the UK is also paid to those UK pensioners living in The Philippines. Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (to name but a few), have no such SS agreement with the UK, and therefore the amount of your pension monthly payments is frozen at the date when you started to claim that pension.

You not understand! Thai anatomy not same as farang.....

You ask what's going on etc. Nothing. There are scant few brain cells insidee her head. Logical reasoning is not possible for her. Not her fault of course. It's like trying to have an intelligent conversation with a jellyfish... Luck of the DNA draw. Some people have 'good' brain cells, others not so good and others have few brain cells at all.....

Off-topic, but I recall taking my 'big bike' motorbike test back in the UK about 1977 during the winter. The roads were icy and a terrible risk for a motorbike to slip over. "Now Mr Luttrell, I am the test examiner. Please drive round these roads and at some point I will jump out from behind a tree in front of you and you must do an emergency stop..." That didn't end well 🤣

I buy them because they are popular, meaning that the meat and other ingredients are fresh 🙂

Kebab? I used to buy mine almost at the corner of Pattaya 2nd road and south Pattaya road (ie the kebab place next door to the one on the corner). Very tasty kebabs, but in all honestly I frequencted that place so I could practice my Burmese language with the Myanmar girls staffing the place 🙂

GG, why don't you come and live with me when I return to Myanmar? It's very cheap in Myanmar 'cos there's bugga all to spend your money on ..... I save up $$$ with my teaching job. It's relatively safe in the cities, but beware opportunist muggings from starving citizens Do you like eating pigs' genitalia? Most cooked food seems to include this..... Everyone is very friendly, even the government spies who speak very good English and are keen to know which locals you've been chatting with? The nightlife in Yangon does include 'ladies of the night' who unfortunately only speak Burmese and Chinese.... Outside the towns you can rent a motorbike, but don't wear a crash helmet in case the military think you're a local and start doing target practice with live bullets. Oh. if you need to take a pee when riding your motorbike, always pee in the middle of the road, never in the nearby grass, in case there are land-mines. You'll love it here..... (Sadly, all this is true.....)

Is the driving test centre taking advice from UK immigration lawyers? Arrive in the UK by boat, get ordered to leave, appeal that decision, get told again to leave, appeal that decision etc etc Yes, my comment is totally off-topic, but I couldn't resist the similarities!

The location of your bank account is not relevant to whether you get state pension increases or not (my pension is paid into a UK account). It all depends on what country the UK state pension department know/assume you're living in.

Use your mobile data connection! I've lived 'in the sticks' for year, in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar and still managed to teach online for several hours each day without a stable internet or electricity supply 🙂 Mobile internet bandwidth is quite enough for Zoom video connections...

How on Earth do cars get round that 90 degree corner in the background?

My Thai ex-wfe #2 used to carry a printed note in English in her handbag. She readily volunteered to show it to anyone who was stupid enough to chat with her. The note read: "I am not mad" You can draw your own conclusions!

Phew, lucky escape.... for that lizard. Could have ended up on the menu!

I had a digital ID card when I lived in Turkey during Covid. It worked very well, giving me fast access to doctors, utilities etc. But it won't work in the UK. Why? Because unlike countries like Estonia (with their digital ID card), most Brits (IMHO) think the present and past governments and their representatives are total SCUM, liars, corrupt, lining their own pockets etc. No way do I trust ANY UK poitician. Just me 2 cents... 🙂 Update: Has anyone thought through what might happen if these illegals are unable to work because they have no digital ID? (Assuming companies actually stick to the rules and don't employ them) No digital ID = no income No income = desperate for money for food/living Result: Huge increase in shoplifting, pickpockets, muggings etc Thanks Starmer.