Gandtee

I think I am doing the Grandfather bit. I started the boy off on sailing a year ago .He stopped. It was 'too strenuous' . He could still join my son sailing. As regards rafting and go-carting, I think being almost eighty I would do better challenging him to a walking frame race.

My twelve year old nephew from Bangkok has stayed with us for the last couple of weeks to meet up with my son. My son sails every day so he cannot be with the nephew until the evenings. During his stay he has refused to go to see his old pals at the sailing club or venture out of the house. He is content to sit from morning till the time my son comes home, watch cartoons on the TV, play computer games and stuff his face with food. This is making me exceedingly grumpy. If he was my son I would kick his arse, but as my wife, the appeaser, says 'it's only for a short time and he is not your kid so leave him alone to do as he pleases'.Is this not the attitude that has made Thailand and many other countries including my own, what they have become? No wonder we old farts get grumpy. The world is going to the dogs. I'm off for a beer!

This is a golden opportunity to bring the good Grandfather out in you. You have no parental responsibility for your 12 year old nephew, but you can offer him a world of experiences. Take him out for an ice cream, biggest one you can find, let him go-cart race, river rafting, swimming or what else is available in your area. Soon he will learn that the sky is the limit with Grandfather and you will be his hero, at least for that summer.

Twenty something years ago while in Aranyaprathet I bought a small powder puff style bowl which had a swastika image on the lid. My daughter had it valued by Christies in London who said it was from the Chinese Qin dynasty. A few hundred years before the infamous corporal abused it and made it a symbol of hate.

Her shirt says it all

The Swastika stands for peace, most people do not know, the Germans took the sign from the Indians and today it has bad connotations, nothing bad about it.

i think you will find the greeks had it first

The Chinese I think you will find. That is according to my wife. That should be confirmation enough.

I don't think Pussies smoking is cause for too much concern. In my early days here I saw pussy smoking demonstrations and even ping pong and razor blades being regurgitated.

I attended a merit making ceremony many years ago at the house of a future High Court judge. His sister was serving food wearing a T Shirt bearing 'Never mind the <deleted>'. I pointed this out to my wife who said 'Don't tell her, she will be embarrassed'. I suppose the sister might thought that it was a Beatles number

My twelve year old nephew from Bangkok has stayed with us for the last couple of weeks to meet up with my son. My son sails every day so he cannot be with the nephew until the evenings. During his stay he has refused to go to see his old pals at the sailing club or venture out of the house. He is content to sit from morning till the time my son comes home, watch cartoons on the TV, play computer games and stuff his face with food. This is making me exceedingly grumpy. If he was my son I would kick his arse, but as my wife, the appeaser, says 'it's only for a short time and he is not your kid so leave him alone to do as he pleases'.Is this not the attitude that has made Thailand and many other countries including my own, what they have become? No wonder we old farts get grumpy. The world is going to the dogs. I'm off for a beer!

Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

A male knows he has reached 'middle age' when he is driving and his tits bounce when going over a speed bump!

I think this applies more to youngsters now.

I will be eighty before Christmas and still manage to get out into the garden/jungle and try to keep the foliage at bay, followed by a beer. Drive up and down the country when forced to. Have a foster son of twelve who has been with us from birth and who I believe has kept me on my toes. It's only my wife who calls me Mr. Grumpy! But that is because she thinks I am still a Spring Chicken, and also when she cannot get her own way. I am fortunate to be still living at this age despite the medical profession's best efforts Am I not entitled to be a bit grumpy now and then? Regarding not listening to the youngsters ideas, I don't think this an old age thing, it's more like a personal trait carried through to old age.

Analogy of parents and children is a bit weak to me. The point with children is they eventually grow up.

That is the point. Some children grow out of their childish ways to become your normal Joe Soap. Some don't and take them with them, to deny blame, responsibility and discipline. Isn't this what most of the bashing is about?

I grew up during WW2 in London and played on the bombed sites. The best adventure playground in the world, with no one to say don't do this or don't do that. My father was away in the Royal Navy and my mother worked in a factory so parental control was minimal except that the neighbours kept an eye on the kids and reported to your parents. Come Christmas, we would collect the empty beer and lemonade bottles from the relatives and get the deposit money for them. Go to Woolworth s with five bob and come home with ten bobs worth of presents. If you were caught by a copper he would whack you and warn you about what would happen the next time. No politically correct ideas then. Why should I bash the Thais after living here for many years? A British trait I suppose. But I wouldn't live anywhere else and the people who do the bashing feel the same I think.