Tapster

I wouldn't put anything past them!

They work as a super-organism. I'm surprised not to see the furniture being taken out, or maybe our cats, with bemused expressions on their faces!

The Chaindrite powder is just a different way to deliver the insecticide (permethrin, or similar -thrin chemicals).

Some have said that the ants take it back to the nest and it helps to reduce/kill the colony. I'm not so sure as the ants near the powder die within a couple of minutes. I suspect that the others beat a hasty retreat and healthy ones get back to the colony, the affected ones never making it.

I'm having some success by following the ant trails as far as I can, out of the house and then leaving the powder along that trail. I'm sure there are satellite nests in my walls, though. I'm close the paying up and getting Chiang Mai Pest, here in Phuket, to deal with it. I just can't reach the motherlode!!

@Destiny1990

The German guy, Franz, has been to my house several times in the last couple of weeks. He has always answered emails within 24 hours or so.

Are you using this email address:   [email protected] 

Or you can call him on 089 645 4848

His team's work is good, just be sure to phone him when you can't communicate well with his guys........unless of course you can speak Thai.

As I said, we're all different.

I know how Windows 10 works and I have adapted to use the parts i get on with.

Other than that, my workflow is more efficient the way I currently have my PC configured.

@OneMoreFarang

I wanted to retain Quick Launch.

I don't want libraries, store or anything pinned to my taskbar.

I prefer a Start Menu with programs on the left and useful links to things like network, printers, control panel, on the right.

I don't want live tiles.

I guess I don't like the bells and whistles which come with windows 10. They are often innovation for its own sake.

I like a simpler and more workmanlike approach.

Each to his own, I guess.

@canuckamuck

I hung onto XP until a year after support ended.

Then it was win 8.1, which I made look and work almost exactly like XP, using Classic Shell    http://www.classicshell.net/

Then Windows 10, as they were pushing it and there's really no good reason not to keep up.

I now have windows 10, with the minimum of info going to Microsoft, but also allowing automatic updates. Hell, MS aren't that evil!

Now loving Win 10, with Classic shell. Same feel as of old with all the new shit as well!

You'll probably like it after a short time.

I went into the router issue in great detail as soon as I decided to get fibre.

The router supplied with the 3BB installation is a wireless modem-router. The fibre plugs into the router and there are ethernet sockets on the back to distribute the internet via hardwiring. Also there's a wireless option for internet access. The wireless on this router is the slower 2.4G band, as is your current modem, making it less than optimal.

I think that to use fibre to the max you need a dual-band router (2.4G and 5G) allowing greater internet speeds to your devices.

You use a network cable to take internet access from the modem-router to your new wireless router and then the new router can provide the fastest speed available, bypassing the slower wireless network of the modem-router.

The article below explains the speeds.

https://www.howtogeek.com/222249/whats-the-difference-between-2.4-ghz-and-5-ghz-wi-fi-and-which-should-you-use/

In a nutshell, the best router for cost/performance at the time I changed, six months ago, was the TP-LINK "Archer C9" Dual-Band router.

It is an "AC1900" class router (very fast) and is pretty much the cheapest in its class while being very reliable. Twelve thousand reviews on Amazon give it a overall total of 4 stars.

I got mine from Invade IT in Hua Hin. http://www.invadeit.co.th/ 

These guys are very clued up with everything tech, and I have had consistently great customer service from them.

Getting such a router will give you a larger area of effective wireless service in your home, it'll be faster than the 3BB modem so long as your devices support 5G (anything from the last 2 or three years will) and you will have three wireless networks to choose from, in case that becomes an issue: your 3BB modem is one network and the 2.4G and 2G bands from the new router are separate networks (though obviously both of these will be affected if there's a problem with the dual-band router).

Fibre is the waaaay!!!

I changed from 3BB VDSL to 100/30 fibre last year and it's amazing! I still grin at the speed.

Last week I was downloading at 10MBps.....................that's megabytes per second!!!

It's very well worth doing. The fastest I've seen (bear in mind I'm on 100/30) is 180/100.

The service is very stable and it's really a no-brainer.

If you can easily afford to go higher than 100/30, it will probably be even more amazing.

I was in Edinburgh for Christmas and the internet speed was a total downer at 60mbps!!!

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I have had some success using the Chaindrite powder (sold at Home Pro in an orange plastic/foil packet with a screw-on plastic top).

We have cats and so I've been careful where I put it, and careful to clear it away once the ants have gone.

It's not perfect yet, but the powder seems to be bringing the little bastards under control!

Boo-hoo! 

Cloud, rain, thunder and lightning in southern Phuket. 

@eezergood

Sloan's, an English butcher in Bangkok sells suet. They have an online shop. 

If anyone is trying the keto diet, I have some ketone indicator sticks for showing the levels of ketones in your urine.

I bought two packs when I should have bought only one. It turns out that you don't need them very often but that they are a useful tool to check that you're in ketosis.

OK, so one sealed box of 50 "Uristix" for 440 THB.

I'm based in Phuket.

@Thai Ron

You're correct in saying that early spectacular losses are mostly water weight, but.....

• Losses after that aren't mostly water weight, and how many people are going to try the keto diet, then stop after the first stage, when water is lost? That doesn't make much sense. If you're going to start a diet and are informed, then anyone would know that it's mostly water at the beginning.
  Why would you eat carbs again immediately. That's just silly. Diets are supposed to last more than a week.
  By coincidence, I started a keto diet just over a week ago. I have been very strict and lost 4.4kg in the first week. Not bad, but I certainly don't expect to continue at that rate, because that's not how it works.
   

• On 7/29/2017 at 12:03 PM, Thai Ron said:

  I went through the highs and lows of elation and frustration trying to shed fat this way and eventually  gave up.

  I'm afraid you weren't following a keto diet.
   

• After you're in ketosis and your body is adapted to using your own stored fat to produce energy, then you are losing weight constantly, especially if you are eating less than normal, and maybe fasting a little as well.
  Meals can be much further apart as hunger is reduced, because if your body needs more energy when you aren't eating, it is adapted to use your onboard reserves. That's quite a bonus with this diet.
  Calorie intake is significant here because obviously if you eat too many calories your body will use those and not your stored fat. You might even gain weight. Calories are important if you're using a keto diet to lose weight.

It sounds like this one is south of the circle, at the new Fisherman's, a little bit south of the old one. 

Kippers yay! 

I suppose a U-turn system would be impossible in Chalong.

There are too many roads off the circle and not enough space for U-turns??

Cool!

I'll have a look next time I'm crawling past!

Cheers!    

@RedCardinal

I can see how it's easier to pour the roof of the tunnel onto the ground, before excavating. However it seems that excavating once the roof is on must be way more difficult than just digging down to make a big trench.

Is putting the roof on afterwards so much more difficult than doing it before excavating? I know nothing about civil engineering!

Buuuut.....in the area of the circle it will help a lot to have the roof on first - minimum disruption to traffic.

@catman20

Good point, of course, and my Thai is non-existent. No excuses.

However the average level of spoken English in Phuket is unusually bad compared with any country I've visited, apart from non-touristy ones.

Either English is particularly difficult to learn for Thais, or their education system doesn't encourage language skills.

We came back to Rawai in early January, having had a month away.

We were passing the circle at approx 5:30pm, going south. We couldn't believe how much worse it had become!

Chao Fa East wasn't too bad but we couldn't believe the queue on Viset Road going towards the circle..................it was tailing back to the lights at Soi Sai Yuan!

I've only driven past the circle once since then, at about `11:30am on Friday. There was no queue at all until the actual road works. However, it was very slow from there, moving towards the circle.

I sympathise very much with those who have to commute in the rush hour.

Over the last five years in our house I have been using borax to control the tiny, 1mm ants that get everywhere and love any food scraps or crumbs.

But now!.............the ants aren't coming from outside, they're coming out of the walls, from small gaps in tiling inside the house.

I've used silicone sealer to close up some larger gaps in the tiling but the little buggers find another way out before long.

I don't think that grouting/sealing is going to be a solution because it will still leave the ants inside the walls and they'll find a way out sooner or later.

Is having ants in the walls a common problem? Will a pest control company be able so sort it out?

Opinions/suggestions/advice, please!

APK Pool Shop, opposite Fisherman's way on Viset road.

I've used them a couple of times. They did a good job and had reasonable English skills.

Thanks all, for your responses. 

I'm sorry that nobody knows of a decent operator but I understand it's probably the mafia closed shop that's responsible for it. 

Never mind!