xylophone

I have read the occasional book, but the books I read most (despite my post) are books about wine and all about the different grapes, origins, vineyard practices, wine producing countries and so on....... Then of course I can also try "one of life's incredible delights" by buying a bottle of the wine I have been reading about!???? I will get round to finishing "Sapiens" because it did interest me, but seem to be forever busy.......doing not a lot!

Meanwhile in New Zealand as of 26 June:- Covid-19 latest: Two children under 10 among 36 deaths; 7702 new cases, 181 people in hospital Two children under 10 are among the 36 deaths attributed to Covid-19 in New Zealand in the last week. There were 7702 new cases reported to midnight on Sunday. The Ministry of Health is reporting of the 36 deaths, two were less than 10-years-old, one was in their 40s, three were in their 50s, four were in their 60s, seven were in their 70s, 13 were in their 80s and six were aged over 90.

But what it does make him is a person totally unfit to be in any sort of office of influence/power, or to lead a country like the USA – – see my previous post which begins with this paragraph: – "As a president, Trump misled Americans about economic indicators, about a hurricane, about climate change and about his past actions and meetings with foreign leaders. While leading the nation through the pandemic he underplayed the severity of coronavirus while endorsing fake cures". I guess his supporters will stick with him no matter how bad he is! A cult perhaps?

I would prefer Biden over trump for numerous reasons, and the following will give the doubters a clue:- As a president, Trump misled Americans about economic indicators, about a hurricane, about climate change and about his past actions and meetings with foreign leaders. While leading the nation through the pandemic he underplayed the severity of coronavirus while endorsing fake cures. During his presidency, Trump lied so often — in person, on TV, on Twitter — that tallies of his falsehoods quickly crested 100, then 1000, then 10,000 and then 30,000. An entire Wikipedia page was created dedicated to keeping track. Elections and voting have long been the most frequent target of Trump’s mistruths. He won the 2016 race but claimed that it was rigged anyway because he lost the popular vote. He declared the 2020 race rigged even before Election Day, and said before the vote that the only way he could lose the election was due to cheating. Proof was never offered, and after the election, Trump’s claims were rejected by dozens of courts, including ones overseen by Trump-appointed judges. It has to be Biden over trump for the good of the country.........or just about any Democrat in the main.

I have just read an article which describes trump as a "cockwomble", a word which originates from Scotland. Meaning: – a person, usually male, prone to making outrageously stupid statements and/or inappropriate behaviour while generally having a very high opinion of their own wisdom and importance. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Excellent, well done @gomangosteen

Really no more than Tandoori chicken on a pizza base instead of another carbohydrate (rice).............pure heaven. Mind you I do eat top Italian pizzas in the main and a restaurant here makes great pizzas (with extra anchovies a must)!! Spoilt for choice.

Some good news in amongst that lot, because if the pain was caused by constipation, then that's an easy fix, and as I suffer from it almost constantly, prune juice does it for me! Don't know what to make about his answer to your question regarding the apparent failure of your Turp, but then maybe you will be lucky! I was prescribed the Ucholine tablets for my lack of bladder emptying, but they made no difference whatsoever, so let's hope your outcome is more positive. Great to hear that your PSA is low.

I used to use an HP Pavilion laptop and it became very slow and I wasn't sure what to do with it, but then had a thought that I could use it purely for my movie downloads and it wouldn't matter if I got some sort of nasty virus or some such like. With that in mind I bought a new Lenovo IdeaPad L340 Gaming, although I don't use it for gaming, and that has become my main laptop. With the HP Pavilion, I took it along to a local computer whiz and he fixed it, as well as reinstalling my Windows 10 without having to pay a subscription. My Lenovo is connected to an HP 22F monitor, as well as a wireless keyboard and mouse, and also connected to the TV to be able to watch BBC iPlayer and other programs. Very happy with the setup at the moment although I do get a few freezing problems on Windows 10, which is a pain and no matter what I've tried to do, no matter how many YouTube videos I've watched about stopping this, or how many websites I have visited for the same problem, not to mention all sorts of cleaners, I still get the occasional freeze.

I occasionally make my own pizzas, and they are varied, and one I do like occasionally is a tandoori chicken pizza, complete with onions, a little sliced banana and some sweet mango chutney – – to die for? I first tasted them in a pizza restaurant in Auckland and decided to recreate my own when I came here. Lovely jubbly!!

It only has a 5.9 rating on IMDb, but then we all know that these can be a little suspect, so I will give it a try, and thank you for the tip.

Yes HP he did have Lovely Bar, as well as one of the bars on the side of the Soi in which he sold Belgian beers on occasion, but that went many months ago. He was always good to have a chat with and as I knew him, the girls didn't hassle me, but I did know one of the girls from way back, so she always got a drink from me! Don't know where he has gone, which is a shame as it was a sort of "bolthole" bar for me, away from the madding crowd.........perhaps that is why he left; too quiet with little business?

I will give that a try as have just run out of prune juice!

With those prices SM007, it could well have been the Suzie Wong establishment!

Yes, it looks like you did speak too soon LL, because the traffic on Nanai since the roadworks started has been horrendous, almost impossible to get out of my Soi in fact. As regards Da Moreno, I'd have to agree that it produces probably one of the best pizzas around and I have to stop myself from becoming addicted to them! Out at Bangla last night and it was fairly busy overall, and there were quite a few Indian families, with young and old in tow, out and about in Bangla itself. Having said that not all of the bars were that busy, and Soi Freedom once you got past a handful of customers at the entrance, the rest of the soi contained no customers whatsoever, but many bar girls waiting for them, obviously to no avail and in a way I felt sorry for them. Met up with a friend and we ate at the relatively new Italian restaurant next to where Salute used to be and overall the food was good, so after we finished we caught up with another friend and we meandered off to check out the delights of Bangla and environs. We went to check on a friend and his bar in Soi Sea Dragon, but both he and the bar were gone, and that was a shame because he was a nice guy (from Belgium I think) and at one time he owned two bars in that Soi, so we had a drink in another bar, aptly named "Hangover Bar", and I say aptly, because I'm definitely suffering from one today! None of us had been to Suzie Wongs in an age, so we decided to pay that a visit and it was very crowded, and for whatever reason, I only sat there for about five minutes before I decided I didn't want to be there, so left my drink and walked out, with one of my friends following and the other disappearing somewhere? I caught up with a Scots guy who seemed to remember me from a year ago and wanted to know how I had overcome my Barrett's oesophagus.......apparently I was speaking to him back then about my battles with it and how I overcame them, and he wanted to know the ins and outs of what I did, so I gave him a number to contact me the following day, before we trundled off to Red Hot, which was only about half full and didn't seem to have the same "appeal" as it has in the past. Maybe I'm getting too old? I did manage to sing a couple of songs when beckoned up on stage by the lovely Mayen, and they went down well, but I couldn't seem to put the same sort of vigour into them as I had in the past. Anyway, back to the table to sit down with my two friends and down yet another rum and coke, before deciding that I had better leave and go home, which I did. I am going to limit my Bangla excursions, because I don't enjoy them any more, although occasionally it's good to get out. When I think about it, I realise that there's a hell of a difference between what I was used to back in the two countries in which I lived, where the pubs were meeting places where laughs were had, plans were hatched, outings were planned, and sports were discussed, accompanied by a couple or three pints, compared to here where the bars are purely purveyors of sometimes overpriced alcohol, where every girl wants you to buy them a drink and they cost the equivalent of NZ$10, and if they don't get one they sulk or keep pestering you. In my opinion Bangla was an experience to look forward to, but now it has become stale for me, although I will venture out to a couple of good restaurants thereabouts, and visit a friends bar, but barhopping is not something I want to keep on my agenda.......been there, done that.

You must be a mind reader.......thanks for the info, and I will pass it on to my friend.

Hi Pumpuynarak, Also, thank you for your reply, and I think it could be a help if you are able to publish the price on AN as I'm sure there could be others in similar situations to you (especially my friend in Canada, due back here soon). So sorry to hear about your TURP not being very successful, and again, please let us know what the outcome of your visit to your urologist is, and hopefully it could be something as "minor" as a bladder infection, which can be easily cured. Having said that my TURP hasn't been that successful, although it's been many years since I had it, although we are probably too late for the newer procedures, OR PERHAPS NOT in your case – – fingers crossed. The more research I do and the more information I gather on prostate procedures, I've come to the conclusion that the TURP is a bit hit and miss with a percentage of side effects which are none too good; Rezum has its detractors because some recipients of this report side effects which last for months (leaking, blood etc) but iTind and Urolift don't seem to have too many downsides, although one has to say that feedback on both of these is minimal. Anyway, good luck in your visit and would love to know the outcome, as I'm sure would others on here.

Sorry I can't help you there as I really don't know, because this "offer" was sent to me by the friend I spoke about, who is in Canada at the moment, and he is hoping to come back here to have that done?? However you did say that you had telephoned them (BNH) and that they still did the iTind procedure, only now perhaps the price has gone up – – perhaps another enquiry via their website as to the cost?

Have you ever considered travelling to another country to get the Urolift procedure done? Esp as a couple of other posters have had goood experiences with treatment in India, and as I recal at a hospital in Kolkata. I ask this because I have just found the following information regarding it: – https://apac.urolift.com/ And available in.... Asia Pacific Australia India Japan Singapore Hong Kong I will keep this on file for possible future use for myself. Best of luck, Xylo

Thanks LL as I hadn't seen this because I've not been out that much of late, but it sure looks like a mess and I wonder what the bar owners in that complex think about it?? Quite a few years ago there was talk about this complex being demolished and a supermarket/shopping mall being built there, but nothing happened, but perhaps now that is coming to fruition – – who knows. It will be interesting to see what becomes of that site.

I've got no idea what a Murkin is, however I love the sound of the word, so it will fit for me!!????

Sensible advice, because after Bangkok Bank decided they wouldn't sign the form this year, I was wondering what to do, and as I had to go to a local clinic here to get a wound dressed, I asked if the doctor would do it, and he said no. So on the way out I asked the receptionist if she had a little stamp for the clinic, and she said she had, so I asked if she would witness my name with her signature, which she did, then stamp the form – – easy and the receptionist was a Filipino!! I had spoken to her before so we were on speaking terms so I gave her a good tip for her troubles. Now I know this works, I will go back there again when necessary.

Agree with that comment LiK and it was not long ago that a coach did that very same thing, and a couple of years prior to that either a coach or a truck coming down that same stretch of the hill wiped out a Toyota car when it squashed it against a concrete barrier, and all that could be seen was the car drivers arm hanging out of the open window. Brake failure was blamed again. I agree with the many other comments about Thai large-vehicle drivers not being knowledgeable about engine braking, or indeed brake fade, and once you add to that the fact of poor maintenance schedules, then you have deadly results. One minute you are driving along thinking about nothing in particular, or singing a song and within a split second you are completely wiped out. Unbelievable.

What is meant by, "smh"??

I'm sorry, I don't know about that, but they are advertising the iTind procedure at a one-off cost of 70,000 baht, that having a time limit on it I think