soalbundy

Yes, I can see your problem already.

You don't go to bars for an intelligent conversation but for a laugh, bar girls are brilliant entertainers, I go with the missus to one in a nearby town sometimes when the kids allow us out.

I agree, whatever country you are in you should learn the language. It took me 3 years to be fluent in German where I spent most of my working life and before retiring to Thailand I spent 2 years learning to read and write Thai (a prerequisite for speaking the tones correctly) I then read all the Harry Potter books in Thai that I could get my hands on. I am now in a village in Isaan where the local dialect is Khmern but no matter they can all speak Thai. Apart from my missus my two step daughters and my son I wouldn't say that I have close Thai friends but I do have good relationships with the villagers, some I would regard as bordering on friendship. That is enough for me as I am comfortable with my own company and the relationships that I have here. I am genetically blessed with good health, at 73 I have false teeth and glasses but that is about all, I climb on the roof of my house to clean the rain gutters and help with the rice harvest. Whether you are old or not is a matter of your own attitude to life, if you think you are old then you are old, can I run a marathon, no, but I wouldn't try to, I know my limits but that doesn't make me old. I keep mentally active with the internet, reading and dealing with my sometimes petulant teenage son and the babblings of my two step granddaughters. I understand that some may need the company of falang from their own country but that would make me old after having met many with closed minds, ill health and a desire to dress comfortably, ie shorts and vest with elastic stockings for their varicose veins, you become the company you keep.

I did my retirement extension yesterday, all very easy. I arrived just before opening time, handed in my documents and had to wait outside the office (covid). All the necessary forms were filled out by the staff and brought out for me to sign, after 1 hour it was done and dusted.

If you've got paddy that's all you have, paddy. Rice is a staple diet in Asia, the price shouldn't be this low.

Yes.

Well some people still regard a Rolls Royce car as being the 'best of British'

Apparently it is being talked about in the UK (talk being the operative word)

You mean they put on a good show for the money

That was "News speak" what she meant was 'The weather in London is cold'

Funny you should ask that said the hotelier rubbing his hands

He needs the money for his court case......after which he is going bankrupt, TIT, Trust In Thailand.

and expensive quarantine hotels for foreigners

I doubt that, long haul holidays require some planning in advance not a few weeks before the Christmas season, if they haven't got their <deleted> together now then the main holiday season is dead already. Add to that that the financial situation of many westerners (especially the Brits with higher taxation and higher mortgages and rents in the offing) will deter many from taking a winter holiday at all.

The panels will get nicked like the batteries on the floating tsunami warning stations.

The state has been saved.

never liked the word tosser

A Thai Karen

Don't use it then

Despite everything I still feel that Thailand hasn't lost it's Teflon coating.

Actually it probably is, a lot of things get misinterpreted these days. In Tesco my, not yet, 2 year old step granddaughter Jackie kissed me on the lips through my mask, she then thought about it for a few seconds then pulled my mask down and kissed me full on the lips, nobody batted an eye lid. As for the nipple thing, young kids who have been breast fed a long time seem fascinated by them, early in the morning Jackie bangs on our bedroom door and wants to play with me in bed (I'm her favorite person apparently) occasionally she has put her lips on my nipple only to burst out laughing afterwards, she does the same thing with my wife's mother. I play with both my step granddaughters (the oldest is 5) when they are naked and it's hot outside and spray them with water from the hose pipe, it's all very innocent but I suppose somebody with a dirty mind could make something of it if they wanted to.

I bet you're not from Flint

Still is

Laws, laws, as Stalin once said, it isn't necessary to control the voters, just the people counting the votes. You can have laws but if they aren't acted upon (see Thailand) they are of no use.

I wasn't guilty your honour,..... the brakes failed.