xylophone

He just goes on and on proving that he is dumb and works very hard at doing so!!

I noticed the Oscar-winning movie by Jane Campion, "The Piano" on BBC iPlayer and couldn't remember much about it although I was in NZ when it was released, so thought I'd watch it again. Nothing exciting about it as it just plodded along featuring some of the typical New Zealand forest and bush life, along with some Maori folk, not to mention the coastline of the South Island, so how it became an Oscar-winning movie, I'm not sure. However what I am sure of is that the acting by the young Anna Paquin did deserve an award because she was superb, as for Holly Hunter, well not so sure about that as she was a mute and IMO very difficult to show too many skills with just sign language! Sam Neil and Harvey Keitel also starred.

He is an American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the chairman and founder of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group that is a leading proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. Since 2005, Kennedy has promoted anti-vaccine misinformation and public-health conspiracy theories, including the scientifically disproven claim of a causal link between vaccines and autism. Many of his often false public health claims have targeted such prominent figures as Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, and Joe Biden……also Kennedy began experiencing severe short- and long-term memory loss and mental fog in 2010. In a 2012 divorce court deposition, he attributed neurological issues to "a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died"……….and people vote for this nut job???

You also make some very good points Patong2, putting forward your view of Patong from NZ, and the thought of being in a place where it is 8° C now fills me with dread! Yes, you are quite right, there are a lot of things to do in Patong and even in my "sick/poorly" state I have managed to get down to Big C to do a little shopping and many of the girls there know me from the years I've been shopping at the store, so I'm greeted with smiles and helping hand if I need it, which has been necessary after the fractured coccyx. I had forgotten about the Yorkshire as a place to eat, although years ago I had a few good meals there, so must put that back on my list of things to do. However these days I do spend more time in my condo cooking my dinners, than eating out, but then again the options for eating out, as you quite rightly say, are manyfold. As for a walk along the beach at 6 AM – – hmmmm, not for me I'm afraid, and anyway walking at this moment in time is "difficult", let alone at 6 AM!! Thinking about it, the fact that I've had a rough four months, what with the motorcycle taxi accident, fractured coccyx, concussion and now Chikungunya, has quite probably clouded my view of the place, although nothing can take away the fact that the traffic here is bloody horrendous, not to mention dangerous, so perhaps I should have a rethink. Having said that, it's probably time to have a look around down south, and not Kamala as mentioned in the post above, as I've never really explored the south, so that something I will put on my bucket list. Meanwhile I'm hoping that things get better, although I'm not sure that I will ever be a regular visitor to Bangla again as I was only ever a regular visitor to a couple of bars, both of which were owned by friends, not to mention having a singsong at Red Hot, which I did enjoy! I will end by saying thank you for your words of encouragement and for giving me a different and positive view of Patong. Good health my friend.

Your comments are well noted LL, and I know you recommended Kamala to me in the past, and I have been there quite a few times when I had friends who lived there, but it did absolutely nothing for me and I always considered it a "one-horse town". Also a couple of those friends have moved out and another one has died, so even less attraction for me to move there. There was a time when I quite liked sitting in Smiley Ban watching the world go by, but that view is now blocked by the dancers at the front, attractive as they are! Also my other favourite bar in that Soi, Island Bar, is now no longer the same as it was, as it was sold out from under the previous owner by his then "girlfriend", when he was visiting his home country, so he returned to having "no bar". The perils of owning a bar in Patong!

That's because they are reading from the MAGA cult followers lie sheets/instructions and anyway do you really expect trump followers to "understand that simple concept"................ego requiem meam causa!

Good observation HP, and as regards getting better paid........ More on that later, but trying to get over my broken coccyx (which is still painful) I decided to go out with a couple of friends on Friday evening to eat at Blue Beach and PERHAPS take a meander up Bangla, not that walking is that easy at the moment, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. Strangely enough although I hadn't eaten all day, I my appetite deserted me at Blue Beach and I only had an entrée size meal and I didn't feel completely "on the ball" for some reason? Bangla was relatively busy although I can't say that the bars were particularly crowded, so we stopped at Blue lotus bar for a drink and I caught up with a lady I hadn't seen for quite some time who was working at the bar and she explained that the girls there got no salary, but were paid something relative to the amount of drinks they were bought, a sort of commission I suppose? And I've heard this is somewhat of the norm in many bars, sad to say for the girls, who will pester you for a drink, mainly because their livelihood depends upon it. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why there are fewer pretty girls left in the bars? Anyway after one drink I felt a little off colour so decided to walk up Soi Sansabai to my condo and by the end of that Soi I was feeling extremely tired as it has been my first long walk in four months since the motorbike accident. However it was probably not the long walk which affected me the next day, because I couldn't stop shivering and shaking, sometimes quite badly, and I got back into bed for a few hours to see if it would abate, but to no avail. The next day I knew I had caught some sort of virus because about 14 years ago I had dengue, and this resembled it in some ways, but not entirely, so I decided to do some Googling and came up with the Chikungunya virus which seemed to fit the bill. Judging by events since that day I would say that's definitely the case because the shakes and shivers continued for just another couple of days as well as the profuse sweating at night (including soaking wet bed sheets) and the joints in my hips and knees hurt like nothing I could ever have imagined – – so onto the paracetamol. The worst part about it was but I couldn't support my weight so getting out of a chair was a major challenge is was trying to get into bed, and I fell out of bed on my first effort and had no power/strength to get back in, so considered sleeping on the floor. Coupled with that is that I couldn't get off the toilet and was stuck there for more than three hours because I hadn't the strength to lift myself off – – what a useless creature I had become, and frustrated that I could do nothing. Eventually I did manage to lever myself off, but not without a lot of pain. So the past four months have been the worst I've ever had since I've been here what with the motorcycle taxi accident, broken coccyx, severe concussion, dizzy spells, and now chikungunya, and I sincerely thought that it would be better if I left the country and went back to either NZ or the UK. All this got me thinking about why I first came here, and it was the nightlife and the atmosphere with it, which I revelled in, and in those days the traffic was nowhere near as bad, nor were the crowds, but now the whole situation has changed and I find it a nightmare. Of course not forgetting that I retired early because I had a pre-cancerous condition in my throat caused by stress so was advised to get out of my stressful job by my brilliant NZ doctor, so here seemed ideal......back then. I really don't know what I saw in Bangla all those years ago, because now I see it as just a place to drink/get drunk, for old men to grope and chat to younger women and for some women to look for the ultimate sucker, and I've seen a few of those in the past. Perhaps it was because I was younger that I saw it with younger eyes, but now whatever it was has faded and I will consider moving out of Patong after I've done a bit more research as to what other area is less crowded and friendly, on Phuket – Rawai perhaps? Getting back to Patong, as I mentioned in another post, someone has managed to fill the holes in Soi Banzaan with tarmac, but it's only temporary and will soon disintegrate again, and the state of the roads here in general is abysmal. On the subject of Banzaan, someone has decided to open up a "Monster eightball (or is it billiards) Hall" and the venue is large, so it wouldn't be cheap to rent the place, and although I'm not an expert in this particular art, I immediately thought to myself that they either have some insider knowledge, or they are desperate to lose some money? Time will tell. Yesterday I decided to make my way very gingerly to a Thai lady-friends massage shop to try and massage my legs back into some sort of functioning entity, because this virus was playing havoc with my leg muscles, and they were very good, as they always are, as I've known them for quite a few years. However they mentioned that they were struggling for business, and the only business that "almost" came their way was when small groups of Arabs enquired as to the price of a massage and then tried to beat them down from that price, which they didn't like one bit. It would appear that these people came from Kuwait, and were certainly not favourites for the massage ladies, come to that nor were the Indians or Pakistanis, and the boss lamented the fact that there were fewer and fewer "farangs", whom they could put up with. Tough times for these ladies. And I would suggest that it's tough times for many farangs as well, because a couple of days ago I got a message from someone on Facebook, whom I had no contact with for years, asking for a 3000 baht loan – – right out of the blue. I thought about it, and wasn't too sure whether it was a scam or genuine, so put my mind at rest I blocked him. It was something I would never consider, especially as I only knew the guy many years back through a girlfriend of his, and we had nothing in common then, and I wouldn't know if we did now, because of no contact over the years. He must have been desperate. And on that note that's about how I'm feeling at the moment, so I will do some research on other areas on the island which are not too crowded, have decent accommodation and decent restaurants. As I have mentioned before, I am wondering if it's time to call this thread to a halt, because the "Wake" has long since passed and now it's business as usual with its ups and downs, scams and scandals and bar-flies.

I have been singing the praises of "Smart DNS Proxy" as it has been brilliant for me – – that is up until about a week ago when I couldn't get onto the BBC iPlayer site!!! So I tried altering the profiles they provided to me, but still no go, and I was most disappointed that I couldn't get onto my favourite BBC iPlayer. I thought about sending them a message but then noticed that they have a small app which you can download (free) and it shows quite a few countries in which you can activate Smart DNS Proxy, so I tried the London (Smart) setting and it worked, so I am a happy chappy again! Anyone else had this problem?

Shock, Horror, Perhaps trump and his trumpies "stole the election" back in 2016..............LOL!!!!

I never complained.....just wondered why the writers decided to dress the main character like a tramp.......simple observation.

I have just finished watching what appears to be the final episode of the "Vienna Blood" series on BBC iPlayer which I found good viewing, and the final episode was indeed totally unexpected, but quite possibly hinted upon what the future will hold for Austria??

Maybe it's because the trumpies, just like trump are not really au fait with what abortion is – – judging by this remark by trump: – "During the presidential debate in June, Trump falsely accused Democrats of supporting abortions , "even after birth". So maybe his followers lack mental acuity just as he does!! A mental midget no less.

Great post and well done to you. Best post of the thread IMO.

See my post above yours........reason enough, and some.

One very important reason.......and he is not fit to lead the USA. If watching Trump's public meltdown at Mar-a-lago right now, you think he's stable and cognitively able enough to entrust with the lives of our Troops and the lives of your families, we don't know what to tell you. The old man is one egg short of an omelette," warned the progressive political action committee VoteVets. On Wednesday, conservative political strategist Mary Anna Mancuso declared, "Trump is quiet quitting his own campaign." Hours before Trump's Thursday presser, she wrote: "Trump is panicking." And during the news conference, she noted Trump was "spiraling." And later, she concluded, "Trump is not ok."

To be fair he might have had yet ANOTHER crash landing just recently.....or.....he has just got totally confused and is rambling about this pre- 1997 crash? Who knows??? I have re-posted my original link Will, and it is not behind a "paywall" so you can show Yellowtail again, but as I have had him on "ignore" for some time, I cannot do that............ https://fox59.com/news/national-world/willie-brown-says-near-death-experience-with-trump-never-happened/ The cult follower doesn't want to read it in case it is true, and we have seen how the truth is an anathema to trumpies!!

He just can't help himself........just a lie generator with Dementia. See below: That time Donald Trump nearly died in a helicopter crash? Didn’t happen…….. In a news conference, the former president recounted a brush with death alongside Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor. A few aspects of the story don’t hold up to scrutiny. Former President Donald Trump told a jaw-dropping story Thursday about nearly dying in a helicopter ride with Willie Brown, the former California politician and ex-boyfriend of his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. There was only one problem with the story. Or maybe two. Or maybe three. There was also no emergency landing, and the helicopter’s passengers were never in any danger at all, according to Governor Gavin Newsom, who was also on the flight. Read more on this compulsive liar here…. https://fox59.com/news/national-world/willie-brown-says-near-death-experience-with-trump-never-happened/

My pleasure.........

"Out of sort"........is that a polite way of saying that trump is probably suffering from a form of dementia, and it has become worse recently? James Pennebaker, a social psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, performed a formal analysis based on complete transcripts of 35 Trump interviews from 2015 through this year. "There’s reasonable evidence suggestive of forms of dementia,” he said. “The reduction in complexity of sentences and vocabulary does lead you to a certain picture of cognitive diminishment.” "Trump’s habit of speaking off-topic is likely related to the frontal lobe, the part of the brain involved in executive function such as planning and problem-solving", said Andrew Budson, a neurology professor at Boston University and author of “Seven Steps to Managing Your Aging Memory.” This is the area of the brain and aspect of thinking that is most often affected by aging. Trumps recent mangling of a speech in which he was "all over the place"; think electric boats, sharks......he told earlier this month about theoretically getting electrocuted by an electric boat. “It’s actually not crazy. It’s sort of a smart story, right?” he said at a rally this weekend after a visit to a South Carolina boatyard, whose owners purportedly complained that they couldn’t get boats to float if they were manufactured with a heavy electric battery. “So then I start talking about asking questions,” Trump said. “You know, I have an, I had an uncle who was a great professor at MIT for many years, long, I think the longest tenure ever. Very smart, had three different degrees and you know, so I have an aptitude for things. You know, there is such a thing as an aptitude. I said, ‘Well, what would happen if this boat is so heavy and started to sink and you’re on the top of the boat? Do you get electrocuted or not? In other words, the boat is going down and you’re on the top, will the electric currents flow through the water and wipe you out? And let’s say there's a shark about 10 yards over there. Would I have to immediately abandon or could I ride the electric down?’ And he said, ‘Sir, nobody’s ever asked us that question..........maybe because no-one else is that dumb! And he is a candidate for POTUS.......Weird or frightening, take your pick

As I mentioned earlier, I got onto the series, "High Country" on BBC iPlayer and enjoyed it for a while, until the writer seemed to have run out of ideas, because the storyline was all over the place, including the back stories, however I do have the last episode to watch tonight, but I doubt that it will redeem the series for me. So sad because it started off so well.

Well, for the record, I am not American nor am I a "lefty", but what I do believe is that America deserves better than the compulsive liar, multi-bankrupt, 34 times convicted felon and someone described by the CEOs of some of America's largest companies, as "dumb", in so many words; and why you Cowboys keep voting for him is a mystery, but then again trump has already stated that he likes a certain type of supporter, so perhaps you fall into that category? And just to prove my point, the previous post by certain susanlea certainly overlooks the many, many personal attacks made by the trumpies here and elsewhere – – it is to laugh, but they certainly fit into trump's preferred supporter category. LOL

For speeding and DUI in 1995?? You have to be pathetic to bring this up esp given trump's RECENT convictions as a proven felon. Grasping at straws much?

"You make a lot of unfounded childish claims in your statement". Well what did you expect from a die-hard trumpie. It has been proven time and time again that they have no use for facts and live in a land which can be found by going "down the rabbit hole"..........trump in Wonderland, no less than a cult.

But nowhere near the "Bigly" liar that trump is. LOL.