GarryP

June 9

Just now, Harrisfan said:

How does a farang get that job at 19yo?

I got that job when I was 30.

June 9

3 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

What kind of work did you do?

I worked (sheet metal fabricating) out in the province for 20 years and moved to Bangkok when I retired. ..

3 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

What work did you do?

I worked for a law firm in Bangkok for 31 1/2 years. Eventually making a department manager position (I am not a lawyer).

June 9

Arrived here when I was 19 and I'm 62 now. Been some ups and downs in my life here, but very happy where I am now. Moved upcountry from Bangkok just over 2 years ago and at the end of this month I will have been retired for 1 year. Speak the lingo so am not dependent on anyone, and also understand the local dialect to a good degree so can have a good natter. The visa stuff is behind me now, which is great. Perhaps the only downside is trying to find a couple more things to do, besides cycling and fishing, to keep me occupied now I'm retired.

After all the time I have spent here, I don't think I could live in the UK again. I've only been back 5 times in the past forty odd years so am really out of touch with life there. Thailand is my home, and I will pop my clogs here (hopefully not too soon).

June 3

On 5/28/2025 at 12:34 PM, couchpotato said:

You are correct. Can be sold, but the mortgage holder must also go to the land office with your wife when the land is transferred. What arrangements your wife and the mortgage holder make for the property to be transferred is between them.

Also your wife is correct. If the mortgage is paid off before selling (ie: the Chanoot is unemcumbered) of course its easier, BUT not necessary as explained above.

Also more importantly you don't have to worry about your money being returned.

I bought a house which was under a mortgage. As I was paying all up front, it was quite simple. The owner of the house had to get the bank which issued the mortgage involved and I paid for two bank drafts. One was for the outstanding amount on the mortgage which went directly into the hands of a bank official who joined us at the Land Department, and the other draft was for the remaining amount which went to the seller. We split the taxes/transfer charges between us. May be a bit more complicated if the new property is also being bought on a mortgage.

June 3

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

I know. A trip with lots of breaks isn't a non-stop driving trip.

So how do you do it. Tie barrels of gasoline to the roof that feed directly to the gas tank?

June 3

5 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Obviously we stopped to fill up, and eat & pee at the same time.

I notice you did not comment on the guys who said they made love all night.

Bet the pump attendant wasn't happy about that.

June 1

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

Have you experienced the green line phenomena that's been mentioned on the upper end (OLED) Samsung phones?

No. The Samsung One UI 7.0 update took a bit of getting used to but all good now. There have been complaints about the new update causing battery issues, but no problem for me.

June 1

On 2/5/2025 at 12:16 PM, Ralf001 said:

Ive got a S25 Ultra with 1tb storage on pre-order... I hope it arrives soon, shoulld be a decent improvement over my S24.

Just the corners are a great improvement over the S24. But I'm still using my Samsung S21 Ultra and will wait a few more years before replacing it.

May 28

No idea if there is a ceiling on savings for UK citizens, but all my savings are in Thailand, so not sure they could check up on me anyway.

May 26

Sondhi is a former Thaksin psycophant. He invested a lot through his Manager media group in promoting and supporting Thaksin. His press was full of obsequious platitudes, bullcrapery, and fluff pieces. Sondhi was seen all the time with Thaksin too. They were seen together so often it was a bit cringey, sort of like bosom buddies to the extreme. But then Sonteen (sp) would have rimmed Thacky to get the return he thought he was going to get. Unfortunately, when Thaksin got into power, Sondhi did not get the returns he expected (perhaps even promised?), and Thaksin turned his back on him. That's when things got nasty and the hate campaign started and has continued ever since.

As to Jatuporn, he has been blowing his own trumpet since the red shirt movement. He is in it for himself and wants to feel important/relevant, but is about as trustworthy as as a scorpion on a frog's back, and as reliable as a punctured condom.

These two were probably made for each other.

May 26

My parents never taught me religion. The only time we went to church was for funerals, weddings and christenings. I went to a Church of England primary school, and while we did have Friday morning assemblies, we were not taught religion. At high school we had religious education classes, but in that class we learned about many religions, not just christianity. In other words, it was left to me to decide what I believed in but I didn't really give it much thought. That is, I was not force-fed any belief system and I did the same with my son. I left it up to him to decide. His mother was Buddhist but didn't push her beliefs on him either. Years later, in his twenties, he became very religious of his own volition, following catholicism, then a few other groups in Bangkok such as baptist, evangelical, etc. But ultimately he came to the conclusion that it was all a lie. How did he reach that conclusion? The priests, vicars, and whatever else they were, couldn't or wouldn't answer his questions on their faith and some even told him not to ask questions, but just to believe or leave. He also read the bible from cover to cover, and other reading materials, but finally said they did not make sense on a lot of issues (hence his questions which went unanswered).

So now, like me, he is an atheist and believes this is the only life we have.

May 26

12 minutes ago, Robert Smith 2 said:

There is life after death...

There is life ~~after~~ before death.

May 25

23 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

As would faith and hope. Hoping there is something after has many living food lives. No hope would have many doing things they wouldn't do otherwise, killing people they didn't like, raping women because they can, and hurting others in countless ways. Raising children to believe isn't poisoning them but giving them hope. They can always decide what they want to do when they reach adulthood.

Now that's a load of <deleted>. You do not need to believe in any religion to be a moral and good person. When I die, I will be dead. I know that, but that gives me no impulse to do harm to others, steal things, be a tw@t, etc.

Look at the extremist muslims who certainly do believe in an afterlife and that killing others is a good thing and will get them a better afterlife than those who don't. Or is their god a lie, while yours is the truth? You can't have it both ways. The only way to do that would be to prove that your god exists, which you can't do.

Indoctrination in religious beliefs does more harm than good.

May 25

34 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

IMO the only life we have after death is what we create in our lifetime, be it children, songs, sculptures, endowments etc.

The vast majority of us are forgotten in 2-3 generations.

I'll be forgotten in a few months.

May 25

1 hour ago, ballpoint said:

A drummer I know recently fathered triplets.

He gave them all the same name...

Anna one, Anna two, Anna three.

Was he Italian too?

May 21

Defamation laws here are crazy. They fall under the criminal code and are used to silence others.

May 20

He taught me to work hard and save money. Stopped my pocket money for one year when I was 12 to pay for damage when I threw a stone at my brother but missed, and scratched my dad's new car instead (Austin Allegro). Told me to go and get a job, so I did - a paper round. After one year I asked for my pocket money back, but he told me I didn't need it as I was already earning money for myself. Had part-time and summer jobs until I left the UK at 19 and came here in 1982. Been here ever since.

May 16

I stayed on Samui back in 1982 and remember a number of restaurants serving magic mushroom (het kee kwai) milkshakes and omelettes on Chawaeng beach, so it appears things haven't changed that much. Thai sticks were cheap too, back when they were illegal.

May 12

I think you'll find that big pharma is making profits from drug sales regardless of where those drugs are being sold. The problem is that they are able to charge so much more in the US and get away with it. I doubt the reasoning for the higher prices in the US is to compensate for lower profits from overseas. Much more likely that they can get away with it in the US, so why not. Price gouging and perhaps more importantly abuse of the patent system resulting in the blocking of generics for much longer is rife and the number one reason for expensive prescription med prices in the US. Big Pharma is evil.

May 10

Thaksin will just say that he believed that the doctors were honest and also their diagnosis of his health. Not having studied medicine himself, he had to rely on those who had. 😉

May 6

On 5/3/2025 at 12:28 AM, CG1 Blue said:

The only way Reform will be beaten is if Labour manage to stop the hundreds of fighting age men from landing on UK beaches every day, and send back the thousands who already arrived.

All Labour have done so far is encourage more to come. As soon as they ripped up the Rawanda plan the migrants started coming in even higher numbers, breaking all records.

Labour (and Tories) have been too soft on the economic migrants, allowing the ECHR to block deportations, even for convicted criminals including rapists.

There is no deterrent, and on the contrary the fake asylum seekers get treated like holidaymakers. It's a massive incentive for economic migrants.

If this continues then I truly believe Reform will win the next election.

But Farage has been clear that he will not kick out all the illegal immigrants that are already in the UK. He'll just try to stop more coming in. He won't be taking action on the grooming gangs either. He's just a gobby <deleted> who can't be trusted on anything. Having said that, Labour and Conservative are a disgrace, so what alternative is there? Another party forming? I don't see that working, just taking away votes from Reform which could result in another Conservative government.

May 6

On 5/3/2025 at 7:13 AM, MicroB said:

I believe the shipment was symbolic, in the week that Europe delivered 6 million shells, and the UK developed a new artillery shell propellant, whch replaces nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine; significant because both these materials are in short supply globally, and Europe was largely dependant US supplies. The deal assures Ukraine's financial future, and, in principle, allows it to finance its own defence, rather than being dependent on the fickle largesse of Western powers. Economically, Russia is kaput. Its kleptocratic government has financed the war through debt that it can't pay back. If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

The recent US announcement on talks is also an attempt to exert pressure on Russia. Ukraine is free to buy arms on a lend lease basis now. And the difference is rather than before getting whatever they can, now they can buy what they need.

In the Vietnam War, there were apothrical tails of disillusioned troops "fragging" their officers. In Russia, the officers frag their own men.

https://militarnyi.com/en/news/russian-officer-kills-three-own-soldiers-with-grenade-in-donbas/

The Russian Army has changed from a military with a substantive professional core, to a largely reluctant citizen army interspersed with convicts

.........interspersed with convicts and North Koreans.

May 4

6 hours ago, moochai87 said:

Hey all. I haven't posted here in a while but I just want to provide you all with an update.

I had my MOI interview in Nonthaburi in August last year (2024). I was expecting a similar experience to my other interviews but it was actually pretty rough. The SB officer handling my case told me I wouldn't need to sing the national or royal anthem (as I'm married to a Thai with kids) so stupidly I didn't practice for that - because I was asked to sing. Luckily I know the national anthem anyway but I wasn't able to complete the royal anthem. The official in charge was pretty strict and criticized me for not standing up straight enough when singing and how I should have worn yellow... etc. There was something about me he didn't like. I left that day feeling pretty disappointed.

Anyway, I left it a few weeks then I asked the SB officer if there was any update. He informed me that the application was sent to Bangkok MOI for signing, much to my suprise. It's been there for at least 6 months.

Just so the rest of the process goes as smoothly as possible, can you let me know what to expect if I get to the oath ceremony. What should I learn for this?

Congratulations to all those who have obtained citizenship already!

That is scary if you applied based on marriage, rather than PR. I think most people applying based on marriage understand that they are not required to sing the anthems. Had that happened back during my interview, I would be screwed as I can't sing either and even if I knew the words, my singing would have been a pain to the ears of all who had to listen. On the other hand, it is my understanding that if you are applying based on PR, then whether or not you are married to a Thai, you will be required to sing the anthems.

May 1

Had that been proposed by any other person in the government, I would have thought it a good idea. However, I would not trust Anutin as far as I could throw him and on top of that, there have been a number of instances where he has come across as xenophobic (to put it sort of politely). Not really the person you would want in control of establishing a new PR and citizenship policy.

May 1

3 hours ago, henryford1958 said:

The UK is totally bankrupt so i think it's more likely that ALL state pensions will be means tested soon and any one with other income will get NOTHING.

If you are going to be means tested and as a result don't qualify for a pension, then your contributions should be reimbursed. Otherwise, that would amount to theft by the state. I know they would claim that your payments also covered healthcare, but that is a bit disingenuous.

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