DiDiChok

Can you tell me what this new "Maow Visa" is please? I've done a search on Google but nothing comes up other than chatter about "O" visas.

Yes, I used to pay around that for variable power spectacles but not any longer as I had the cataract "Supersight" surgery to replace my eye lenses with ones that allow reading as well. But I can also tell you not to go to shops in malls or large department stores becaise they have to charge that price to pay their rent. You are always best advised to visit small family street shops as they haven't got the overheads of the big chains of optometrists. The price quoted at the chain shops can usually be halved in this way. Like everything, always get at least three quotations.

I think the best replacement app for international calls from Thailand and from the UK is "Yolla". I use it from both and top up from both using local Bank cards. Charges are easy to understand, it just works and for SMS as well. See: https://yollacalls.com/en/

To me it looks like some drunken wag has gone along the road and twisted the signs through 180 degrees and I've thought that from the beginning. But this being Thailand, maybe the sign installers had just run out of left chevrons. We're in the land of smiles.

Yes, Yolla is the best & is what I've swapped to now Skype is dying.

Well, I had the lens replacement surgery a.k.a. "Supersight" and can now see near AND far. Only the bankrupt NHS in the UK still insert the fixed focus replacement lenses just to save a few pence. You simply do not have to "choose". I agree with other posters that the reading is not very good in poor light, but that's a small drawback. My vision is now 50/20 which is above 20/20 and what they call "super" sight. I had glasses from the age of seven and bad astigmatism. All gone now, lovely clear vision and no glasses any more.

I sometimes pay electricity bills for people I know who get stuck. If you have a Kasikorn Account all you need is a bill showing the "CA Ref No 1" number that's also on the actual Electricity Meter. Then you simply try to pay the Bill using "Payments" in the app and it tells you about the latest bill. If there's arrears, you simply try to pay again and pay whatever's owing. When it finally says there is no bill, you've finished. No other app, passport or any hassle from officials is necessary. This repeated payment process also works for MEA & water bills and for post paid mobile phone bills. I've even paid outstanding AXA life insurance bills for Thais using their Customer Number (Ref No, 1). The number 2 Ref is usually the payment date but it's sometimes in American format. Most of the time you can put a mobile phone number there instead of the proper Ref No. 2. It really is so easy. I can't understand why anyone has any problems paying anything. At worst you could use the QR code on the bill to pay or even a person by PromptPay or receive money by using your own QR code in the K+ app.

Mine is 18 inches when I measure it from the back of the settee. Does that count?

There isn't an age limit. Most who have it done like me, have always needed spectacles to see properly and then get cataracts. At that point you have the lens replacements that include the reading component. Cataracts gone and back to being a teenager in that you can read without spectacles again. Note that the lens implants cost more to have the reading component included and in the UK the NHS doesn't fit those as they think that reading is just a luxury. If you were to have it done then you would never suffer from cataracts and could read without spectacles. Bit much just for that and not worth either the risk or the cost doing it in my opinion. But I couldn't see and had bad astigmatism plus other problems so that all cost a lot more to sort out in total, but was worth it to me.

This is a bit obvious really. Says to me that you haven't disabled "Location" in settings on a WIndows 11 machine. Go into Settings (Cog icon) and then in the "Find a setting" search box type in Location. From there you can stop the pesky PC leaking your whereabouts by turning the services off, then reboot the machine so it forgets where it was too. Do similarly when you're on a mobile and accessing iPlayer via a VPN. Turn Location off first. Simples!

Did you know that British pensioners based in Europe will still be paid the winter fuel allowance this year while millions of the elderly based in the UK will be stripped of the payment? As many as 35,000 retirees on the Continent are in line to get the £300 handout even if they exceed the new wealth threshold set by Rachel Reeves. It has become apparent that Expats living in the European Union plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are guaranteed the allowance by the Brexit withdrawal agreement. What is your opinion of this?

I had this after updating to Win11 Pro and it turned out to be the two new USB sticks I'd bought. I bought some new Samsung USB 3.2 ones, threw the others away, did the commands below and have never had any trouble since. To delete all the hidden USB devices, open an administrator command prompt, type Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and then the command Devmgmt.msc which opens device manager. After that you have to click on show hidden devices in the View menu followed by clicking on each greyed out device and right clicking plus selecting uninstall. Previously, I didn't know how to show the "non-present" devices. I've never found out the reason why the faulty flash drives went on and off like a turn indicator and can only suppose that they were cheap imports.

Why have cataract IOL replacement? To get "SuperSight" without any spectacles ever again, that's why and you can have the surgery from the age of 45 and never get cataracts. Most just won't pay to have it done properly and have fixed focus lenses. I had to have mine done in the middle of the pandemic and the results are fantastic and better than 20/20. I'm 74, can read the paper specs free, use the computer, drive cars, ride motorbikes and do what I want. Don't believe the Opticians and spectacle shop workers when they advise you not to do it. Of course they don't want you to have the surgery because after you do, they know they'll never get another penny out of you! All things optical have advanced a long way in the last ten years. Yes, there's big money to be made from everything to do with the operation, that explains the advances. But you get the benefit of never having to pay an Optician ever again.

Dear oh dear, not good advice at all. "Aspartame" or "Nutrasweet" as it's better known is a substance to which I am allergic and consuming it makes me collapse in a kind of breathless shock. I think it's banned in some countries but I keep on getting caught out as it's in many items such as marzipan and icing and almost all soft drinks nowadays. Members of my family are also affected but as there is so much money in this substance, problems with it are kept very quiet. Saccharin causes me no problems at all.

No, I remember that yes there was discussion about gambling but the crime was actually playing using cards not sold in Thailand. Apparently, the Police said that Thai packs have a tax sticker on them showing that tax has been paid. I thought it was ridiculous at the time as they were all respectable people.