Gandtee

If "fairness" is the issue here, based on the fact that people have paid full N.I. contributions over a lifetime (or less) of work in the UK, why is it that, although I still have to pay full UK tax on my total income at the age of 73, I am denied the annual increases to my State Pension, which I would get were I to live in any one of the EEC countries, simply because I now choose to live in retirement in Thailand.

How am i expected to manage on a fixed State Pension, if I live for (say) another 15 years? That would be 23 years with no increase!

A letter to my former constituency MP in the UK and one direct to the Prime Minister's office produced almost identical replies. In answer to my question as to whether the system was FAIR, they both replied that the question had been raised on two occasions with the European Court and on both occasions the Court had ruled that the UK Government "WAS NOT BREAKING THE LAW". So that's all right then? It had never occurred to me that they might be breaking a law which they themselves had made, but I had asked if it was FAIR and not if it was LEGAL.

Is there any chance that this too will be reviewed during my lifetime? I hope they hurry up because I am not feeling too good.

I wrote to Nick Clegg before he became Pinocchio and raised the question of Expat pensions. In fairness to him he replied, and said that he "Had raised it with the members and it was not on the top of their agenda". At that time Tony Blair, the other puppet on a string was planning to waste money on an unwarranted attack on Iraq, which resulted in unstabilising the Arab world. What a legacy he has left

.I wrote to Clegg again when I thought he might have gained a bit of power after the election and of course never received an answer.Well,now he didn't need any kudos did he.

Perhaps giving expats the same pension rights as British and immigrant pensioners will be the next step?? I must stop taking that stuff. I'm hallucinating !

What's an 'immigrant pensioner'? Do you mean someone with a brown skin? Anyone getting a full state pension in the UK must have made at least 30 year's qualifying contributions. Most have probably made more. Anyone who's lived and paid in for 30 years is entitled to a pension wherever they came from.

Perhaps I was out of order citing immigrants getting a state pension. If they have worked for it then certainly they are entitled to it. Skin colour has nothing to do with it. Perhaps I should have been referring to immigrants, or anyone whose family have contributed nothing, and are receiving benefits which I as a onetime tax payer, and people like me paid tax for.

Perhaps giving expats the same pension rights as British and immigrant pensioners will be the next step?? I must stop taking that stuff. I'm hallucinating !

Obviously not an ex Boy Scout. Use your loaf!!

Rock, sling-shot, bb gun, pellet-gun, 22 (if you can get one), arrow. Up to you.

Must be an American

Is there nothing that our fellow man will complain about? Be thankful that the geckos ( I presume you mean Tokays') are still around in your area. They fetch a high price now from the Chinese who consider anything that looks disagreeable must be good medicine. I think Tokays' are quit beautiful and very courageous. Try catching one, but don't get bitten. They can give you a nasty suck.

I sometimes use the ladies toilet and say, "sorry, I can't read Thai"

Yeah. I've heard about you

You are born with your family, thank goodness you can choose your friends.

The noise is a minor problem compared to the amount of dust it would cause.did anyone think of that?

Did anyone notice that the hovercraft must be very small if that's it's hangar, there's a post right in the middle of that space rendering it useless for hovercraft storage.

They do come in different sizes

The preparation is the key and some patience prior to laying the grass will pay you dividends later. Make sure the ground is as flat as you want it, make sure you don't go overboard with fertilizer in the sand mix, as previously stated you can burn the roots. If you can get your hands on a roller and roll the grass after laying you will see a noticeable difference, if you can keep it onsite for a few days or a week and roll it several times it's well worth it.

Make sure you have excess soil, as the grass "beds down" you will see small dips and hollows, fill these later with soil and the grass will grow into them.

Lastly don't be stingy with the water, it has to be kept damp so a good watering in the morning and evening (for two to three weeks) should do the trick.

I think the roller is a bit dodgy. When I laid my lawn I loosened the surface soil and pulled a straight edge over it while removing stones Take some time on this as it will save problems of unevenness later.. Laid the turf and them tamped it down with a wooden tamper I made. Doing it this way I found it took out the minor bumps without going down into he hollows as a roller tends to do. Each to his own I suppose. The locals thought I was mad. 'Why is he growing grass and then has to cut it'?

My bus crashed once in Thailand(not a double decker)after driving over a big dog, the wheel was lose and we later crashed even though they had changed the wheel(Long story) but the driver looked so tired he drank easily over 8 red bulls and 3 more after changing bus(everybody were chocked that the same driver drove the new bus haha he looked so zombie tired)2 tourist got minor inguries from the broken windows. anyway when it happens. you feel helpless It dosnt matter if youre the biggest strongest guy and lift maximum weights in the gym. you will fly out of your seat and even harder without seatbelt. BTW without those trees many in the bus would not live today, these trees are incredibly strong, first they bent and then they lifted the bus up again, otherwise we would smash into traffic on the opposite side of the road. I ALWAYS use seatbelt after that feeling. people can say what they I couldnt care less

My Bangkok in-laws gave me the honour of coming to Sattahip to bless me for Songkran. They then took me for a meal, a good hour and a quarters drive away. The vehicle is a state of the art 'People Carrier'? fitted with seat belts. All the passenger belts still nicely wrapped in plastic.Except for me, nobody attempted to use their belt, but I insisted that my wife use hers as is our habit. When I finally got the thing unwrapped we were ten minutes into the journey and the driver stayed in the outside lane (maybe it was to avoid the water throwers and weaving motorcycles) except when he decided to come up the inside at traffic lights. Or to keep on the right, even though he could see traffic turning right, and then squeezing in. Here is an educated man with a high flying job who I would expect to abide by the law. But the simple answer is the usual T.I.T. I suppose. I had started to urge the family to fasten their belts, but as usual told not to make waves. "We don't want to break the relationship do we"

In future every passenger must be checked about his mental stability before he is allowed to boarding a plane...

Maybe you should be the first to be checked! I would suggest that most passengers would fail a test by the time they take their seats, Going through the hassle of flying now is enough to make anyone a raving lunatic!

I understand khunbenq in that would b ur response as u r a local thai citizen and therefore are truly unable to c the big picture as it truly is. If u were to go to a country far away and watch and read the news from there u too would have a different view. Ur o ly angry coz this persons viewpoint doesnt agree with urs. Westerners will have a different view naturally. Our culture and upbringing and thinking is not the same as thais. If u go to a western country u too will find there are locals there that will response just as u do fornur home. But u as an outsoder will see things differently because ubr on the outside looking in and u as a thai have a different persective on certain things. But if u r unable to accept other peoples opnions no matter how right or wrong they may b then u urself will always remain in a constant state of blindness to the truth/reality of all the good/bad thjngs happening around. If u want peoole to respect ur opninions then u must do that for them also. It is called being mature

Jeez, any chance of that in English?

Seconded. Obviously been on the sauce...

Is this what they call text talk? I'm afraid my old brain cannot encompass it. I was looking for the 'Would you like to translate this'?

Why the elephant dont flew the scene??

They didn't have their trunks

Self praise.... is no praise at all.

As my old dad used to say.

I think maybe the saying was"Self praise is no recommendation". But I agree with the sentiments.

How are they serving them? Boiled, baked or barbecued?

I intended to go to YouTube to watch Morcombe and Wise for a good laugh.But I've decided to to stay with TV. Its reports of Thai officials and their japes provide me with more laughs than I can cope with.

People are dying to enjoy themselves

After twentysix years of marriage I'll let you know when I find them

The best one is the one that don't work

Girl, your plan is a full dangerous plan.

An 19 yrs old girl is alone in TH ... I hope my daughter never comes with this plan to me.

We have here many experiences by lot of years (mostly) but Thais can make me surprised any-times.

Your knowledge is zero.

My advise: don't do alone, take some-one with you.

If you want any further information fell free to send a private message.

Regards.

I would definitely not consider travelling alone. If you were my daughter I would be very worried. Do you not have a friend who would join you and share you experiences? It's nice to gaze at a sunset, share, and say "Wow, look at that"! Please, travel with a companion.

When I came to Sattahip twentyseven years ago I was like Robinson Crusoe washed up on an island.The main Sukhumvit road was a measly single lane each way. At Sattahip junction, one traffic light stuffed at an angle in a forty gallon drum, and it could take you over six hours to drive to Bangkok. I vowed to my wife that when a new set of traffic lights appeared at that junction I would depart Thailand. I am still here with a new set of lights and dual carriageway.Now we have Tesco's, a bit crap but better than nothing and of course more farangs. Mainly Scandinavian, German and Swiss I think.The markets haven't changed much thank goodness except for the inevitable price increases. You could buy a roast chicken for Bt.50 in those days. The locals used to ogle me, some kids cried with fright and some would even pull the hairs on my arms. More farangs? Yes, but outside of town none to speak of. People, including the postman still seek me out at Bahn Farang.

I had a dog that killed everything that moved. The garden is a cats graveyard, all the neighbours chickens he killed were champion fighting cocks according to their owners (it ups the compensation) rats in abundance as well as snakes. I hung the chickens around his neck which he carried like trophies. I gave him a severe talking to regarding the chickens, but he seemed to ignore me. At least I was not woken up at the crack of dawn by rampant cocks! He liked farangs in an instant but anyone wearing local attire he regarded as potential thieves and murderers.I don't know why? Early last year he just disappeared. He was getting on in years and had lost a lot of his teeth but could still inflict a nasty suck and still barked at the motorcyclists who whanged past our gate. Did someone bump him off? was he kidnapped to a dog eating area? or did he just say "I'm off. I've had enough"! and flee the scene? Like similar human disappearances, the ones left behind are the ones with unanswered questions. All you can say is "It was good while it lasted"

What I don't think has been mentioned is the envelopes given by the guests to the parents. My wife just attended my Thai nephews ordination ceremony in Bangkok and my next door relative gave her Bt1000 in an envelope to give to his parents. My contribution? I never ask. I leave Thai things to her. All of this is about face and what goes around comes around, be it ordinations, weddings and funerals. One of the mysteries of the orient? I do consider it an honour to be invited, whatever the reason.