allanos

10 minutes ago, Bruno123 said:

Hmmmm....

 

 

OP's was a troll post and BS. Not sure what he is trying to achieve.  Psycho, perhaps?

Oh the joys, the joys, of being a landlord! The OP has just reminded me of the reasons I am no longer one.  From past experience, the OP is a chancer, hoping that the landlord will acquiesce to receiving the deposit in lieu of the last month's contractual rent due.  How can the OP possibly know that the landlord won't refund the deposit, has he got a crystal ball? I think he is trying to justify a pretty tenuous case to be honest.  The landlord should not have cut the electricity but he is also trying to protect his own interests, just as the OP is doing.

Even for the RTP, it is evident that they can rule out robbery or suicide. That narrows the field considerably, for them.

Cherchez l'homme! 

Don't remember a specific first kiss, but remember playing postman's knock at a couple of parties early on, where lots of kissing took place.  My first bonk was Maureen, when I was fourteen, in the doorway of the Methodist manse, one night.  I remember the bonk well enough. It was a knee-trembler.  It has been said many times that there is no such thing as a bad bonk! I guess I would agree with that sentiment.

whereas years back was more acceptable as there were few other choices.

What are the "other" choices now, which were not available a few years ago?  A go-go bar, massage, soapy massage, etc are pretty unique propositions.

1 hour ago, TacoKhun said:

plenty minibuses from victory monument

You take your life in your hands if you do this.  I did it once, never again. But the route is probably a lot quieter now than when I did it but doesn't mean it is safer. 

Happiest times of my life?  Hard to pin down, because I've had so many. Probably the best was my youthful abandon, living in Zambia for 3 years aged 22-25.  My own company apartment, a sports car, pretty girlfriends, a wonderful job and great, positive income stream.  Let me not forget the fantastic weather all year round, and the scenic beauty of the Zambezi River, and the Victoria Falls, just 5 kilometres from where I stayed in Livingstone.  To add to my joy, frequent visits to Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana, a short drive away, herds of elephant like you've never seen, or a drive across the Falls to the "Rhodesian" (now Zimbabwe) town of Victoria Falls, the Hotel and the casino.  My life was idyllic, a Paradise, never to be forgotten.

The fact that at over 79 years of age he could still get it up, leaves me not only envious, but full of admiration.  Way to go, Ron!

My daughter went through in vitro for her first child, at around age 40. The IVF was a success, in a sense, as she carried twins to term, but one child developed outside the uterus and was not viable.  Heart-breaking for us all.  Her second child came along 3 years later, was carried normally through to birth, and was, and is, a beautiful little girl.

Spike Milligan was humorous, even post-mortem.  The epitaph on his headstone (at St Thomas', Winchelsea), reads, “I told you I was ill”!

if it were not for my kids living there, I would be quite happy never to set foot in the country again.  

Edited yesterday at 08:53 AM by Pilotman

I feel the same way.  However many times I return to the UK, I feel out of place.  It is mos def not the country I was born and brought up in and I have difficulty adapting to the "new normal".  Nancy State gone mad, far too much PC, lefty-biased BBC.  Terrible!

35 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not much use if it's TEOTWAWKI.

I'd rather have a basket of 'shelf stable' food, a hidden shelter in the mountains and plenty of guns and ammo.

Clearly, you're an REM fan! ????

Fact is, it isn't the end of the world, nor will it be.  Your future dystopia is unlikely to play out, so you should also be securing an income-stream.  Much good will your hide-out and provisions do you if that's all you have to fall back on in coming years.

Many people are out of touch with reality and don't see the bigger picture. The US stock market is falling, which has an effect on stock exchanges around the world and despite the Fed printing money in just about the biggest QE ever. It is also now buying corporate bonds and etf's, to no avail, and will soon run out of options.  401k holders are going to see their value eroded shortly.

For those who know nothing about gold, or BTC, perhaps a little bit of education in those two assets might itself be a good investment.  The only direction for gold over the next few years is UP.  BTC is highly volatile, but it has proved its value as a performing asset over the years.  The value of Fiat is falling daily.  See what one hundred dollars could buy 20 years ago, compared with today.  And the past surely is a great indication of what the future holds.

As always, a basket of assets - stocks, property, gold, BTC, and Fiat - makes the most sense, to even-out risk, over time.

Look on the bright side.  At least he was close to some medical attention! ????

The novel corona virus will not change the world, but the effects of the virus, that is, the decisions taken by panicked governments, will certainly change how the world will be in future.  People will become significantly poorer than they are today.

I believe that the economic fall-out  will be one of the most serious after-effects.  Governments printing money like there is no tomorrow, which conforms to the Modern Monetary Theory.  Governments are able to print as much money as they like as they cannot become insolvent. But we must remember Newton's Third Law of motion, which basically states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The knock-on effect of so much money washing around is that the purchasing power of that money drops over time.  This is called inflation, with too much money chasing too few goods.  Look back to any point in time in the past and see what one could buy with, say, $100, compared to now.  The same will be true in the future.  

For sure the crisis will be put behind us one way or another, certainly within 18 months I feel.  But my concern is more economic than anything. The world is actually awash with money at the moment.  The finance ministers and the treasuries of the G20 are acting in sync, printing money as fast as their presses can rotate.  One commentator has suggested that US debt will more or less double, to $40 trillion in the near term. The US Treasury already has $6 trillion of debt on its books.  But it is also stepping in to areas where it has never trod before; that's scary! There is talk that the debt on its books is heading to $11 trillion.  Get ready for a "new normal".  After the Lord Mayor's parade comes the sh*t cart. So, after Covid-19 has abated, watch out for hyperinflation.  Let's see what a US dollar (or other currency) will buy you in the next 3-5 years.  About half of what it does today.  Is anybody's income likely to increase by 50% in the same time period, just to keep pace? Highly unlikely.  The net effect is that we will all be a damn sight poorer in the not-too-distant future!

Some great stories here.  I was also a baby boomer, so rationing was still around for a few years after and I am old enough to remember it. Petrol in particular. Rationing was difficult but I believe the British people were in much better health than they are today.   Interestingly, bread was not rationed during the war but the Labour Party introduced it in 1946. I loved the concentrated orange juice, I recall.  I pity the folk living in London during the war.  Lots of kids were evacuated.  Just before I was born our home was bombed with a Luftwaffe incendiary bomb and my parents' bedroom was burnt out.  Fortunately, nobody was home at the time. 

When I'm in need of nostalgia, You Tube is my channel of choice.  They have a feast of stuff - music and movies and the reproduction quality is generally pretty good.  I watched Bridge of the River Kwai (colour), and Twelve O'Clock High in B & W the other night.  1949 movie starring Gregory Peck.  Hadn't seen it before.  Both excellent copies.

10 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Your comments are flawed.

Supply and demand?

The compelling reason is: Are you aware there are over 20,000 properties for sale in the Pattaya area alone?

If this was any other place with a transparent market, prices would be half of what the are now and places would still be sitting.

As is yours!

20 000 properties unsold (please give your source).

If this was any other place with a transparent market, prices would be half of what the are now and places would still be sitting.

You would need to justify this vague statement.

First, assess your risk appetite.  There is risk in every investment.  Probably not prudent to dump all your cash into the stock market in one go, as any uptick we are seeing now is very likely a dead cat bounce. We simply don't know what's around the corner.  Banks may still take a mammoth hit as fall-out from the lockdown continues. Someone mentioned market timing.  It is next to impossible to time the market; time IN the market is the more sensible option, as is dollar/pound cost averaging.  The future is likely to be more online-based than ever.  Take a look at the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) which is reasonably well-regulated, in the UK, and pick a few penny stocks (after doing some research) which have the potential to be the next FB, Google, Twitter, etc. Whatever investment you choose, currently, is bound to be frought.  Be prepared!

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

I guess one reason is that the others are well established with a fairly constant number of deaths each year....they are a known. Covid-19 is the new kid on the block, a huge unknown. Remember the figures for Covid-19 are only for 3/4 months, there is a long way to go and the figures are with massive lockdowns. What might the figures be with no action???

All of the figures are for the period 01 January - 01 April according to the chart.  It is possible that there will be a big variance in the following 3 months.  Seasonal flu numbers may have dropped, for example, but, then again, so might those of Covid-19, particularly with the focus that is upon it at the moment from governments around the world.  I would still ask the question as to why they are so obsessed with this "pandemic", as called by the WHO.  A couple of years ago, the WHO declared that Ebola could possibly sweep the world.  It just didn't happen.