Bredbury Blue

Cute pics. In the darker/later video, can anyone tell me what's making the noise? LINE_MOVIE_1637147490720.mp4 LINE_MOVIE_1637147434758.mp4

Can you advise which one?

Thanks, i'll send you a PM

My 2-year licence expired middle of this year but as i understand it, due to Covid-19, there is a Grace period until 31.12.2021 for renewing the driving licence. Using SLT Smart Queue, i just tried booking an appointment first at Bangkok's DLT Phrakhanong Sukumvit 62 and then at DLT Samut Prakarn. The earliest appointment booking spot that is free at either place is in March 2022!!! Anybody had any luck either just turning up and applying on the day or just turning up and getting an appointment for a short while later?

Wise words. We bought the house from someone with the tree planted too close to the house and right next to cables / wires requiring the trimming. We have also planted trees on an additional house plot we bought to extend our garden, and as trees grow they need trimming. If we had loads of land and no complaining neighbours we could probably let the trees grow untrimmed.

No don't be sorry to hear that. It's worked pretty well for 18 years. It's either trim the trees or cut them down as they are close to the house, near wires, allow access on to low roof for rats to gain entry to downstairs ceiling, etc. - we choose trimming over cutting down.

Perhaps, or it's because another tree common to cemeteries in her childhood (strong smell helps mask burning smells / deceased)

Have 'beep' or Indian cork trees is our garden. Like them a lot. We chop them back when they get big but they grow back so quickly.

Thanks a lot, that's the one. So many names for it: Blackboard Tree, Devil Tree, Indian Devil Tree, Milkwood Pine, White Cheesewood. And 'tin pet' (Duck feet tree) in thai. Loads in bloom right now in my mooban, but the closest is say 200m from my house and we can still smell it. Such a strong smell. I don't mind it, my wife hates it.

Asked my wife to pronounce the two versions above - pronounced the same. Made me wonder about when we first arrive and our name is first translated in to Thai. I guess for most of us it must be when we first get our first WP. I may have asked someone to read out the translation to me (I may not have). As English people pronounce my name differently (my surname is a well-known place in England but people pronounce it differently), I'm not too concerned about the Thai version I was given - it's roughly correct so it's ok with me. Based on the 2 versions given being pronounced the same, I'd probably stick with the version you were given if I was you.

Just asked the wife has she ever ate it and she looked at me like I was crazy. She says the flower is poisonous. Also it used to be grown only in wats / cemetery as it can 'absorb the smell of bodies but in recent times has become popular for gardens. Wiki says "The Frangipani is, in fact, poisonous, but only if you eat an entire flower will you begin to feel sick. Frangipani possesses a milky sap which is mildly poisonous." Also read it's poisonous to dogs.

This tree flowers (correct term?) this month and the smell is intense every where in my mooban currently. But what type of tree is it (English and Thai names)?

Excited this morning as we've a white-throated kingfisher sitting for a long time in a tree just over our garden wall (garden wall, small khlong, strip of land with trees then a Pla Salid waterfield) - it's been coming and going from the low branch for several hours. In nearly 20 years here in this house, it's the first I've ever seen. Quite some years back I saw another type of kingfisher perched on a stick on the same khlong bank. The only place I've been where I frequently saw kingfishers was from a floating room and i could view them over the river on the steep river bank opposite Kwae Tara Riverside villas, Sai Yok.

Thanks for your replies...wish I knew of this a few years back.

Are TWO-year Work Permits possible? Every year we renew my ONE-year WP for my own very small Thai company. Thai friend of my wife told my wife that her chinese husband gets a TWO-year WP. 1. Are TWO-year WPs available (or is my wife being misinformed?)? 2. What's the different criteria for a ONE-year WP and a TWO-year WP?

Can't answer your question but yes it seems strange. Could it go back to the fact that surnames / family names are relatively recently introduced in to Thailand so previously everyone presumably would have been known by their first name. To be honest I find it no stranger than the American way of addressing correspondence as Hi Brown and not Hi John or Hi Mr Brown if my name was John Brown. To me Hi Brown is incredibly rude, but not to Americans but why are they taught to do that?

I started using Anki just over a month ago. I find it slow and/or a bit of a chore to add cards, there's 168 cards now. Anki has proved to me that I do forget words, and that certain words just do not stick (I fail to remember them every time they come up). At the weekend I thought I'd have a go at downloading and using someone else's deck, a deck of 3000. I've found I'm knowing about 50% of those cards and it's amusing to just use the deck to test myself. Which helps more in the long run, do your own as you come across words or use someone's deck, I don't know. Whichever way, it proves I still have a lot to learn. I watch vids, listen to podcasts, read books, do Anki, speak with the family. Sometimes I feel like I'm just not getting there then other days I'll listen to something in Thai and be chuffed I follow it and know most the words. Learning thai is a marathon.

I would agree with that. Using online dictionaries / translators has meant i have had to learn my way around a Thai keyboard (so bloody small on my phone). My go-to is thai-language.com and google/translate, but if i'm not happy or convinced with what they shows i go to thai-notes.com/dictionaries/predictionary or www.thai2english.com.

True if using a book dictionary, but I guess most of us these days use online dictionaries so there is need to learn in the order of kor Kai, etc.

Need to renew my recently expired 2 year temporary licence. Beginning of the month the wife called DLT who told us that that renewal in BKK wasn't possible but it was ok to drive on the expired licence until 30 September 2021; the notice below of 27.07.2021 confirms the 30 September 2021. Later this month the DLT closed again; see the notice below of 20.07.2021 If anybody spots any updates on the DLT being open again for Renewal of Driving License, please post on this thread to let people know. Thanks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: https://thepattayanews.com/2021/07/20/department-of-land-transport-suspends-most-in-person-services-in-chonburi-other-maximum-control-provinces/ Department of Land Transport suspends most in-person services in Chonburi, other maximum control provinces The Department of Land Transport, or DLT, has announced they have suspended most in-person services in the thirteen maximum control provinces, including Chonburi, home of Pattaya, to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. This also includes the Bangkok area and most surrounding provinces. Specific services suspended, amongst others, are driver’s license renewals, issuing, registration, in-person tests, and more. Training for renewing driver’s licenses will be online only, according to the DLT. Tax payments for vehicles will be online or drive-through online, the DLT added. The notice is effective immediately, July 20th, 2021, until further notice. Non-maximum control zones will operate according to provincial governor orders, the DLT concluded. (20/07/2021) From: https://thailand.prd.go.th/main.php?filename=index The Department of Land Transport (DLT) has coordinated with the Royal Thai Police to give a respite to the rules, regulations, and ordinances for drivers whose driving licenses have expired. The expired driving license can be shown to authorities until 30 September 2021. For driving licenses that have expired for more than a year from 10 April to 30 September 2021, drivers will be exempted from taking the exam, while those who have expired driving license for more than three years will be exempted from the driving tests. For more information, please contact hotline 1584 or visit the DLT website at www.dlt.go.th. (27/07/2021)