rickudon

I believe in Anthropomorphic climate change and would love to see most transport use electricity in future. However, i am realistic enough to know that that it needs an economic incentive too. Currently, i spend about 25,000 baht a year on Petrol. But an equivalent electric car will cost around 500,000 baht more than the ICE version. So it would take me 20 years to recoup the extra cost of the EV by not buying petrol, even if the electricity was free. And would the batteries last 20 years? Currently it doesn't even make financial sense to buy a new electric car when my current ICE car dies of old age. The economics needs to change. EV's need to be cheaper than ICE cars, and replacing batteries should not involve re-mortgaging your home. I will go electric when i can afford to do so.

Sorry for late reply. First they did a colour test - just had to shout out the colour (red, yellow, green) about 10 times. The brake test - put your foot on the pedal and watch for a red light to appear, then brake. Does take maybe 2 attempts to get the feel of it, but they will let you do it until you get it right about 3 times in a row.

Money in the bank is the most trouble free. If you cannot raise it in cash, can you borrow enough to make it? That's what i did when the system changed from Embassy letters. I'm married, so only needed 400,000 baht. I borrowed the money from one of my banks in the UK, at 3% per annum. My repayments are about 100 GBP a month - and after 7 years (about 4 to go) it will be paid for and i will have my 400,000 baht free and clear until i no longer need it. Interest rates are going up, so an option to do NOW, not later. With the monthly income, you have to transfer it EVERY month, even if you are out of the country for a few months.

My wife (who runs a small shop) was told by her main wholesaler that their beer prices were going up TODAY - she would have to collect before 5 p.m. So she bought 10 boxes. Prices were going up by up to 50 baht a box. If you are only paying 57 baht, you are lucky - or maybe that was the last price rise; new stock maybe more?

Big spenders! that's 2,220 baht each!

It is not just those at the bottom of the ladder that suffer. My niece got a salaried job 2 months ago, but still exploited. Works 6 days a week, starting at 8 a.m., meant to finish a 5 p.m., but actually made to work for up to another 2 hours (unpaid of course). No sick pay when forced to isolate when a co-worker got Covid, and docked 2,000 baht a month for some <deleted> reason. She quit on Monday.

Here in Isaan, rice is a once per year crop. F-in-L got just 3 bags from the one field he planted last year (worth probably under 2,000 baht). It cost more than that to plough, sow and harvest. Also all his pigs (about 8 ) died. He does have a pension (a massive 800 baht a month, as now 80) so he can buy food with his 27 baht a day....... Good job he has 4 children.

The payout is worse than most other lotteries, even without the grossly inflated ticket prices

Yes, the UK pension is insufficient to live on in Thailand. One thing which peeved me was the 'New state pension', for all new pensioners, which we were promised would end Pensioner poverty - it would be about 25% higher than the basic old state pension. Didn't work out that way though. You needed more years to qualify for the full rate, no married pension and no widow's pension (in most cases). Also, and not announced until a few months before it came into effect, was that if you had been in a company pension scheme they cut your pension by up to about 20%. So how much more did the new pension give me compared to the old pension? One pound a week. To get that, i had to work for 2 more years, and lost all partner pension rights. I received the magnificent sum of just over 130 GBP a week in State pension (a little over 20,000 baht). And because i now had more total pension, had to start paying tax again......... so net increase was more like 16,000 baht. I have enough to qualify for the marriage extension, but probably never enough for the retirement. No Company pension scheme in the UK i know off is not indexed linked, and you can live anywhere. (if you take your pension as a lump sum, and buy a personal pension as an annuity, it may not be indexed linked, your choice). It is totally unfair that not all State pensions are index linked. Other benefits fair enough, they are intended for specific UK related costs, but the basic pension should be up-rated annually for everyone. Answer to one query raised on here, how to avoid getting a proof of life letter, if your pension is paid into a UK bank account, Uk address, they just ask the bank if your account is still active (I think).

It has taken 4 days, but at last the serious sanctions are starting - swift, no overflights, cutting sporting events and Germany has even said that they will try to phase out Russian Gas ..... And that they will at last spend 2% of GDP on defence. But in reality all this is to late and makes no difference at this stage. Weapons will help, but deploying and training troops in their use will take time. But Ukraine has claimed to have shot down 50 aircraft and helicopters, and destroyed over 500 armoured vehicles (cannot really verify those figures). But it does seem some of the Russian troops are just conscripts driving straight into ambushes, which is why no major city has fallen yet. Maybe, just maybe, the invasion is not going to plan. But if so, the gloves will probably come off and total war will start. The west needs to get a lot tougher if they really want to stop it.

There is one document that you can get from the Amphoe in English - a birth certificate. Costs 20 baht. Got a couple of copies in English of my daughters birth certificate. Other documents I have never asked.

Euglena sanguinea. In intense sunlight it become distinctly red. If it is causing an algal bloom, the surface can turn bright red. I have seen and studied this in Australia, typically a day or 2 after a thunderstorm has washed nitrogen and organic matter into the water. Also have seen this algae (probably) on my fish ponds here, but only ever a slight reddish tint.

Well, if those figures are right, they are fairly close compared to the UK - 1 per 100,000. Maybe the USA is also a 3rd world country ????

For those of you who say "if you are under 60 years old there is literally zero risk" are missing one important fact. First, ignoring Covid, it is those in their 80's (or older) who are most likely to die. say about 100 in every thousand per year. if the excess death rate for a country is 10%, then 110 die. But your risk of death in any year is 10% greater. If you are in your 40's, Normal risk of death is about , say, 10 per thousand. add on a 10% excess mortality rate and 11 die. Only one extra person died! But the increased risk of death is still 10%. And that is true for Covid across all age groups above about 30. Doesn't matter how old you are, the excess deaths are approximately spread as an equal percentage increase in death rate for all age groups.

Take Thai statistics with a pinch of salt. One reason why very few deaths among triple vaxxed people is because most have only had the last vax recently, so only a small cohort and time period for them to get sick. Excess deaths are 2.5 times higher than the total reported Covid deaths, that in itself is a caution as to accuracy of Thai statistics. Positive side - in Udon Thani, the local government has been pretty good at vaccinating people, nearly everyone who wanted them has had 2 shots, many have had 3. Typically about 100 or so cases reported a day, but no deaths for about a week. 10 year old daughter vaxxed last week (pfizer). I am still waiting for my booster. I had Moderna, told i have to wait 6 months before booster. damn!

I renewed my 5 year licence a week ago (in Udon Thani). It was 10 months expired, not a problem. You need to apply online, watch a video, answer a few simple questions and then select where and when to get your appointment. In some areas all appointments are booked for weeks, try a smaller more rural centre if that is an issue (what i did). Take the required documents, do traffic light test and brake test, take a photo, pay, pick up licence 10 minutes later. Whole process at the test centre took about 1 hour, their were sufficient socially distanced seats (there is a cap on the number of appointments each day).

My M-in-L is totally untrainable.

Covid-19 statistics in Thailand are pretty meaningless due to the lack of testing. Actual deaths going by excess deaths is actually about 2.5 times greater. As for 'nothing more than a cold' yes, true for most people. But death rates are still at 0.2-1% ( going by reported cases) around the world. Still makes it a lot more dangerous than say, Dengue, which has a death rate of about 0.1%, Global deaths still ticking away at 5-10,000 a day, no great change. Live with it? Yes, we will have to. But it is a long way from being 'over'.

I have drunk the Cha tra Mue brand. Rough as the old Sainsbury's brown label floor sweepings. But it is cheap. I prefer PG tips, Typhoo or Earl Grey any day. Fortunately brought back a box of 240 PG tips in November, will last me a few more months.

Reality - in the 12 years i have lived in Thailand, this is at least the 3rd time we have had a prolonged cold spell in February. No other month in my experience has prolonged cold periods, only 2-3 days at most. In fact, the lowest temperature record for Isaan was set during the last few years in February; if i remember that time the cloudy weather lasted 2 weeks. What has been changing is the rainfall pattern and the end of most of the cool nights in the dry season. Watching Thais warm themselves in the morning by a roadside fire just doesn't seem to happen anymore. The tropics have seen little impact from global warming, mainly impacts the temperate and polar regions.

How well has Thailand been doing? Well in 2020 very well. 2021 to now, not so much. Because of the pathetic testing rate in Thailand, you cannot rely on the Thai Covid figures. But excess death rate doesn't lie. In 2020, Thailand's excess death rate was mainly slightly negative, with just a few months when it was up to 9% Compared to the UK, the excess rate was usually a lot lower. But 2021..... Although the UK started off badly, from the beginning of March 2021 until the end of January 2022, Thailand's excess death rate was higher than the UK except for 6 weeks in October and November. Thailand only reports monthly figures - excess death rate was - - 11% in March - -3% in April - 7% in May - 12% in June - 19% in July - 36% in August - 19% in September - 6% in October - 18% in November - 21% in December - 6% in January That is an average of about 14% excess mortality over a 11 month period. Not 'insignificant'. Over a 22 month period of the epidemic, Thailand reported 22,000 Covid deaths, but excess deaths were 2.5 times higher at over 57,000. That is not a bad performance, but not brilliant either. https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker

Buy some nice powerful bangers next time fireworks are available. One tossed over the fence works wonders.....

No one has mentioned Valerian? A natural herb used to reduce anxiety and help fight insomnia. I rarely suffer from insomnia but the 2 things which help me get a good sleep are playing computer strategy games (makes the brain work) for an hour or two before bedtime, and not sleeping early. But for me 5 hours sleep is sufficient.

I wonder how much revenue was lost on alcohol sales during the pandemic?

Exactly. My son is in West Africa currently. He made it through the UK pandemic for 22 months without getting Covid-19, but caught it within 2 months there; also a number of people he knew there had it in the same time period. But officially cases are just a few hundred a day. Why? Covid tests are not free - if you are earning 5 dollars a day no way are you going to spend 2 or 3 weeks wages on a test. Likewise, when someone dies, the chances of it being diagnosed as Covid is low. In Thailand, last year the excess death rate was higher than that in the UK for more weeks than it was less - but Covid deaths were supposedly a mere fraction of the UK's. They didn't have a 'wave' in Thailand, just a fairly steady death rate, but there is an obvious anomaly in the Covid-19 figures. There were practically no excess deaths in Thailand in 2020, so something was killing all those extra people in 2021. I wonder what?