Bredbury Blue

Well worth knowing about the silent signatory, thanks for the advice. Something to check out.

The wife fills in our individual tax returns every year; she always seems to leave it to the very last day which does my head in. She said when doing my tax return this year, there was a box to tick or a pop up which she clicked to claim the allowance for me being over 65. I got a very nice cheque this morning from the tax department, which far exceeded any tax rebate I've ever received here before.

Never seen in my garden before the last 3 days, and we've lived in this house for +20 years, is a pair of, I assume pied starlings (?). Had the grass cut short and they go around the lawn digging. Very nervy birds so these are the best pictures I could get, hiding in the kitchen.

On your route in Non Bua ... Wat Tham Erawan is a must. Steps up to massive cave. Walk through cave (easy), up steps at back of cave to amazing view. On leaving Udon... Red Lotus Lake Kumphawapi ทะเลบัวแดง กุมภวาปี Get up early to be there by 9am latest. Then continue travel on to Sakon Nakhon. Slight detour off Udon to Sakon Nakhon road, but Wat Phu Tok in Bueng Kan province is well worth it. Don't believe the numpties saying there's nothing in Isaan, simply not true, and as place to visit or live as a farlang, it's definitely improved. +30 years ago visiting the wife's village near Sakon Nakhon was a bit of a chore, but the past 10 years has seen big supermarkets open, coffe shops, more decent places to stay, so now I love going. Enjoy your trip, looks a great route.

Not sure what an FTD account is, but if I understand correctly you have 2 accounts and your wife is co signature to both. How does that work? Always thought that the farlang had to have the B400k or B800k in one's own private account. Can you have a private account with a co signature? Would certainly help, if possible, on one's demise to permit the spouse access to the funds.

Any fruit we don't want we put out for the birds. Papaya, bananas, watermelon, etc. This bird found the source of the unpicked Papaya...the initial hole in the papaya made by one of our garden's resident squirrels. 20250607_094103.mp4 20250607_095526.mp4

The wife says: อะโวคาโด ไม่เอาเละ เอาเเข็งๆ Literal translation = avocados, not want soft, want hard เละ - means soft, used for fruit vegetables Google translates the wife's translation as Avocado, no, not hard ones.

My two are in their early 20s and I still provide their birth certificates IDs and they're in my photos. If one or both was unavailable for any reason and couldn't be in my photos I guess I might have to explain to the IO.

Problem visiting Neil's is parking is rubbish.

Very definitely a matter of personal prefence. I used to have mountain bike and now considering whether a road bike might be better for a bit of touring.

What kind of bike have you got? What's the spec? I ask as I'm thinking of taking up cycling again.

My choice for when I fancy steak, on the outskirts of Bkk, is Chopkeeper Bangna (close to Megabangna) or Chopkeeper Butcher & Tap Pattanakarn Excellent food, not expensive like some of those mentioned, always get a table, just nice restaurants.

People often go on about the Koel being annoying, the noisiest bird, but personally i love their sound - the sound of Southeast Asia for me. I get Koels in my garden, but the noisiest (not in decibels but persistence) for me is the common tailorbird, they never shut up morning till night.

No feedback on the health package, but the wife and I between us have had 3 surgeries in recent years at Bangkok Christian and it's a very decent hospital with excellent doctors.

I very much doubt that text about approving/signing by Employer would be seen by the Labour court as a reason not to accept your resignation so long as you gave your notice to them as stated in the contract; it's more of their administrative reason than a legal requirement. Not a nice situation to be in when your employer is difficult or threatening. If they continue to be difficult, and as you are leaving anyway, the best thing to do is advise them if they continue to be obstructive, you will go to the labour department and file a complaint against them. My experience of the labour department when I filed a complaint is that they are very pro-employee. In my case I went to file my complaint at an office which was on Rama 4 near Hualampong (don't know if its still there). My wife explained in thai my complaint (I possibly showed them my contract). I had to file a statement on a form (the official dictated to my wife in thai what to write and my wife wrote for me). I got my day in court a few months later (success).