superal

I escorted an English man back to the UK because of dementia .I had been helping him because he could not get money from the A.T.M. I spent an afternoon on the phone to his UK bank asking them to confirm his PIN number because he could not get any money . The bank were loathe to give any info but finally after much pleading by me , they said that the PIN was correct but there was no money in his account . He was being ripped off by his Thai lady . She was an aggressive woman who was against his return to the UK but when I told her he was going back to sell his house and then return to Thailand , she agreed . A further complication was he had not renewed his retirement visa and was 1 year overdue . At Suvarnibhum I had to explain his dementia and paid the 20,000 baht fine . I was in contact with his son who was unable to fly to Thailand because of business commitments . The son paid for the flights . After arriving in the UK I kept in touch with his son who told me that the doctors believed he had been drugged over some time and was now in a better health . Care homes waiting times in the UK can be as much as 5 months and longer under social care .

What have you got against man-bags ? I like my man-bag for carrying my 2 telephones , my wallet ,passport , bank book ,cigarettes , tissues , condoms , spectacles in protective case , etc etc . I am a 100% heterosexual man , maybe you are fighting against your feminine traits ?

The beach side walkway is ok but not on the shops side

In a nut shell , Thai walkways are acceptable to Thai folks . They know no better . Walkway tiling around shopping malls may look nice but come the rain it turns into a slippery surface because non slip tiles were not used . Below are extracts from the Tourism authority of Thailand . The vast majority of physically challenged Thai people live in rural areas. Generally, it is the responsibility of families to care for and provide for their disabled relatives, and there is very little government help available. This includes a lack of services for physically challenged travelers, such as wheelchair ramps and elevators, and consequently, those who attempt to travel with disabilities in Thailand can have a challenging time Travel & Getting Around Thailand is not an easy place to visit for people with reduced mobility or other physical challenges. The larger resorts and tourist attractions provide facilities for disabled people, but in rural areas public transport is limited and often inaccessible to wheelchair users. Moving around the city can be extremely difficult for disabled people. The streets and pavements are uneven and few buildings provide ramps and handrails to aid disabled access. Guide dogs are rare and there are few audio signals for the blind at traffic crossings. Nonetheless, a project has been announced by the Bangkok governor along with the Disabled People International Asia-Pacific Region to ensure that Bangkok pavements are easily navigable for those with reduced mobility. A commitment has also been made to make public transport more accessible. So by their own admission they are aware of the hazards for pedestrians but as yet I have not heard of any plans to make improvements . Maybe the TAT should conduct a survey of tourists opinions of Thailand to include questions on health & safety .

Cos many crimes have been declassified . Police no longer attend shoplifting incidents as an example . Knife crime is rife , phone thefts have doubled in the last 5 years , 80,000 + per year . You need to get out more or buy a TV to keep up to speed with the latest news .

This forum has spoken about the dangers of using Pattaya's footpaths many times . Certainly should carry a health warning . Not suitable for infants push chairs , invalids wheelchairs or elderly folks who have a mobility problem . Not to mention after having a few beers etc . Vendors taking up walkway areas . Drop down kerbs of 1 foot . Compared with other popular holiday destinations Pattaya's walkways are a disgrace but not the only venue in Thailand with such low standards . During Covid when there were very few visitors , there were opportunities to make decent , safe walking for pedestrians . Example , Beach road could have been made into a much wider walkway or promenade and still room for traffic . Pattaya needs re-modelling and made visitor friendly . Shame on the city bosses .

No need to be pedantic . OK , for your benefit I will call it causation and you know its true that the UK crime rates have soared over the last few years because of the uncontrolled immigration that brings with it many criminals . Or do you have evidence to prove me wrong ? Why does the English coastguard pick up these invaders , once they reach the English section of the English channel ? No wonder there are so many rubber boat trips . It's welcoming / encouraging illegal invaders . The British navy should make a blockade and tow the rubber boats back to France .

and many for " cash in hand " , many worked within the agency of " Check a trade . com " , plus the crime rate soared and continues to do so to this day because of unvetted , criminal immigrants . Is there a correlation between the huge spike in UK immigration and the escalating crime rate ? Not rocket science is it ?

I believe that the views of Eloquent Pilgrim are held by the majority of the indigenous UK public . Starmer is running scared to the extent of messing with local councils , thus delaying many by elections in May , knowing full well Labour would lose many at the expense of the Reform party . Changing the local councils way of running is to gain control of planning which will result in massive uproar and opposition from the UK population . Rayner is promising 1.5 million new homes within the 5 year tenure of this unpopular government . These homes will be built in not only in towns but also rural villages . These homes will be a mix of houses and flats that will also be used to house many immigrants .

Many were employed by agencies or working for foreign companies that only employed their own countrymen . Much of this foreign labour claimed to be skilled tradesmen but in reality they were cowboys . They came to the UK and worked for smaller money than the local labour . I know of one UK employment agency that set up an office in Poland . The Polish labour were undercutting local UK wages and there were cases where some local UK labour were out of work because of the mass of foreign workers . One of the reasons that Brexit won . Local labour had mortgages to pay etc , the Polish lived in cheap accommodation but were happy because they were earning 3 or 4 times the salary they were paid in Poland .

I doubt that . Lib , Lab and Tory have had their day . There is growing unrest in the Western world with the catalyst being uncontrolled immigration . The UK needs radical repairs with no more slimy governments . Not only Tory voters defecting to Reform but last year nearly 80,000 UK nationals emigrated , seeking a better quality of life , to be replaced by approx ; 1 million ,mostly non skilled people . UK emigrants would be made up from either skilled tradesmen , medics and professional business people . In other words a brain drain . It is happening right now and will continue whilst the Labour government is in power . The UK is all but finished as a decent place to live and bring up a family .

NHS nurses and others about to revolt on a 2.8% pay rise and a shorter working week , currently 110,000 vacancies . Police Federation are seeking to form a police union which will enable them to strike because of low pay . Police recruitment is aiming at 20,000 but many of the current police force are getting out / retiring asap thus trying to increase the police numbers is in a catch-up mode . Local government / council workers and teachers within the Unison union are dissatisfied with their pay . There is a lot of unrest from government employees .

Badenoch was not a good choice as the new Tory leader , as current polls and defections show . What surprises me is that Labour are so high in the polls but as we know polls are often wrong . The reality is , there are those that will always stay with their traditional political parties and defend them stubbornly . The Tories only way to remain buoyant is to take a back seat with the Reform party . Like it or not the Western world countries are mostly against uncontrolled immigration at the expense of their own nationals whose standards of living have fallen . Hence the popularity of Trump and other so-called right wing politicians . Now whether Farage is the man to save the UK I am not sure . Richard Tice could be the one . Further more , under this Labour lot , you must be careful of what you say or if against Labours thinking you may end up in jail . Tommy Robinson is no saint but he speaks mostly about the reality of the demise of the UK and his imprisonment of 18 months in solitary confinement was over the top .

Spraying nor neutering will stop the dogs attacking humans or causing traffic accidents by running out on the road . Soi dogs often form a pack and will defend their own domain especially if a stranger comes close to them . Where I live I had to stop my early morning walks because of snarling dogs . Indeed there are some no go areas where packs of dogs live . Any dog that attacks a human should be put down . Stray soi dogs should be rounded up and if not claimed by a responsible person who can show that the dog will be kept within their property , be humanly put down . Maybe the introduction of a dog licence should be considered . Owned dogs should be chipped or collared . Thus reducing the threat of rabies and excrement on the streets .

Ultimately it is the fault of the Thai government that have failed to make any enforceable laws regarding dog attacks and soi dog packs . Owners of dogs that cause injury to people should be penalized ( jailed and fined ) . Dog owners should keep their dogs within their property and not allowed to roam the streets . Thailand needs a dog cull and that includes any dog on the streets , be it owned or not . Cambodia , another Buddhist country does not suffer from uncontrolled dogs .

I was in a bar at swampy airport about 2 years ago, after security . I heard someone ask if there was somewhere to smoke , because all smoking rooms had been closed . The barman said walk about 40 meters to another bar and pay 400 baht and they will let you smoke 2 cigarettes in their back room .

One UK newspaper today speculates that Starmer is considering replacing Reeves with E. Cooper . Out of the frying pan into the fire ? Starmers muppet show cabinet are out of their depth .

Trying to speak to Wizz c/s is not easy . They often tell me to turn off my VPN which is already off . When I do get to their home page the chat facility is sometimes not available . Wizz did send out emails stating the use of their service and the restrictions of sharing . I know they read this forum so it would be good if they could repeat the email so as to clarify their rules .

The 18,600 is for a married couple . A single mans state pension would be about 11,000 . So no chance of sponsoring a partner . Also am I correct that " The Old Git " said that the state pension is classed as a benefit and was not admissible as income ?

At Suvarnabhumi near gate 30 ish there was once a smoke room on the floor below . When I used it there were mostly airport workers and flight crews in them . Having a couple of beers and a smoke were relaxing before the long haul flights to the UK Heathrow where there are no smoke rooms . I know of someone who vapes on the long haul flights . He vapes under his blanket . Also some guys smoke in the aircraft toilet by exhaling the smoke down the toilet when flushing it . Many smokers choose to check in at the airports as late as possible because of no smoking facilities inside airports . I can understand banning smoking on board but why ban smoking rooms in airports ? I reckon it is because too many airport staff are using them too much . Some middle eastern smoke rooms are bad , hardly ventilated , I have a couple of puffs then leave .

Thanks for correcting me , good info . I misunderstood their brief .

Wizz say that your subscription has to be used at your address and not taken to other places . If caught they will block you

I don't have Netflix but if I have my Surfshark VPN on , my speed test drops from 380 Mbps download to 40 Mbps . I am in contact with S/S at the moment and they are trying to rectify it . My contract ends in 1 month and I may change the VPN to Nord . Do you regularly clear your cache and turn off your router for 30 minutes ? Does your router get hot ? My speed tests are always low at the week ends and evenings , popular times for surfing . You may be paying for 1 Gbps but your ISP will state that in busier times you will not get that . You may get up to 1 Gbps ( best case scenario ) . The mysteries of the internet . I get buffering often on Wizz TV but others not far away do not and same ISP . It seems that Thai internet techs have limited skills up here in Issan . YouTube never a problem because they have many quality servers globally .

Further more , most private cars in Bangkok carry the driver only but to be generous lets say 2 passengers . A Bangkok bus can take 60 to 120 passengers . So 90 on an average . Given 2 passengers to a car that would take 45 cars off the road . Bangkok runs 3000 buses . Of course there would have to be " Park & Ride facilities " .

My apologies for my error .