xylophone

I too owned many British made cars and as was the norm in those days, they would suffer from many mechanical complaints, but we would always get them fixed. And I disagree with your comment about the Japanese car industry and mainly Toyota killing the British motor industry, because the British motor industry actually killed itself by not changing. The Japanese were producing quality cars which easily competed, and beat, those built in the UK, and the reason being was a man called Dr Edwards Deming. He was an American sent to Japan after the Second World War to oversee the "reconstruction" of it and he homed in on the car industry and built on something which the Japanese already had started, called "quality circles", whereby, for example, a group of people who would install the engines would meet on a regular basis and discuss the problems they were having, and present solutions to upper management who were prepared to implement them. They did this on every aspect of the car manufacture and assembly and therefore produced very reliable cars, something which the British motor industry was not particularly famous for. The reason for this was that managers and those in charge of them were the people that made their decisions, and their decisions could not be questioned, so nothing was done about poor quality. And here is a little anecdote about quality: – Rank Xerox UK sold photocopiers, and had them imported from Japan, but then decided that they would produce their own and a factory was set up in Wales to do just this, and I got a chance to visit and inspect it. So I was intrigued why it was closed down after a few years and there was a reason – – the main production and assembly line was still producing "dud" photocopiers at the end of the assembly line when they were being tested. So another assembly line was made and these machines were put back on to that particular assembly line and would go through the motions again, and if at the end of it the machine wasn't functioning properly, back it went. The Quality Circles doctrin had not been taken on board............. So the idea of quality circles a la British industry really hadn't taken hold then. So the machines were once again imported from Japan. The British motor car industry was rife with union problems, management problems and the inability to recognise where they had made mistakes, and indeed to even rectify them.

The only "extreme world view" that is evident here is the fact that MTG is a complete and utter nut job and you only have to listen to her to understand this, but then again Magas with their own view on the world fit nicely into hers.

I like your reply, and it may well be a fruitless task trying to discuss things with this poster, because when I suggested in another post that Magas believe in and are driven by trump's lies, his response was.......... "What lies?". I rest my case.

Not sure that I have ever seen minocycline here although minocin seemed to be available a while ago, but was mainly used for acne treatment. I found this when looking on the Internet, but you appear to have tried some of these, so this might not be of interest to you: – What is the fastest way to cure mycoplasma? Antibiotics such as erythromycin, clarithromycin or azithromycin are effective treatment. However, because mycoplasma infection usually resolves on its own, antibiotic treatment of mild symptoms is not always necessary. If all else fails you could order them online from an Indian pharmacy, which I have done just recently and here is the link, they do sell minocycline (as Cynomycin), and you won't need a prescription (or at least I never have when ordering from them) but you will need to research what dosage you will need to treat your condition. https://www.shreemedical.com/search.php

Following on from my previous posts, I found this on another thread which I had posted a while ago and it encapsulates what has been said here.......... On the subject of restaurants, and one which I have mentioned before, because it closed, the Italian restaurant which was known as, "The Loft Italian Restaurant" (on Nanai) has seen some building activity in the place, and a bar/restaurant would be a good bet – – time will tell. This is just another small business in the myriad of small businesses in Patong, which has seen its fortunes rise and fall with the tourists and the seasons, and looking back on this particular aspect of Patong, it has been an ongoing occurrence over many years – – one business closes and another one takes its place, and so on. All too often, the business that replaces the failed business, follows the same pattern of lack of planning and lack of business nous, so is doomed to follow the path of the previous one. Someone is making money out of it, and it's not the folks opening the new small businesses! A few of the smaller bars on Nanai are showing signs of a decrease in patronage, even though one in particular has had two or three hopefuls in "wifebeater T-shirts" waiting for it to open at around 11.00 AM in the morning. This is not a one-off though, and I often wonder why people will travel thousands of kilometres from their home to come to a place where they sit on a bar stool all day??

It's been almost a month since my last post on this thread, and it may well be my last, mainly because my posts are becoming very repetitive, which is not surprising given that Patong is up and running again with the usual Bangla shenanigans and bars closing and opening and closing and opening, the same as many small shops/businesses here – – you get the picture. Now that Jungceylon is becoming fully operational, despite the fact that the food and service at Starbucks is abysmal, and the stock of wine at Wine Connection is vastly reduced from that previously, there is not much else to write about! I have visited the food section at Central Patong a few times of late and have partaken of the ready cooked meals to take away and found them to be very good, so that will be another hunting ground, and will save me cooking my own dinner. Unfortunately "La Drinkeria" which was a very hopeful attempt at a nice restaurant/bar, closed a while ago and looks like it's being gutted now, but it would always struggle because there is no foot traffic and not much in the way of parking spaces. OTOP is still suffering from far too many bars and far too few customers, and that also applies to massage parlours/shops, and what hasn't changed much is the amount of beer-bellied, wifebeater T-shirt farangs marauding around the place, and just last night I witnessed a sweaty, old, ugly, fat Aussie trying to chat up (more like molest) a couple of Thai girls in a restaurant I was dining at – – he was an absolute animal in the way he was pawing those poor girls. So Patong carries on like it used to, just being Patong, so I'm not sure that the title of "Patong – the Wake" is relevant anymore, so the thread will see even less of my comments, especially in light of the fact that last night when I was out, I didn't enjoy it like I used to, and trundling home at about 1 pm in the morning with a bladder full of alcohol which I can't get rid of (medical problem) is no fun anymore. Whereas at one time I was out in Bangla almost every night in younger years, just recently that dropped to about twice a week, and as of the past month, just about once per month, which I think will suit me now.

I hope this is true, especially for a recently ousted US President!!

I think you've confused the difference between being a Patriot and a Dumbo who believes the myriad of lies which have been propagated by trump.

"the allure of owning your own business sometimes cloud the cool heads and judgments". If indeed there was ever a "cool head and judgement" in the first place and I can give you a couple of prime examples.......... An ex-girlfriend of mine, who was university educated with a minor degree in accounting, was working at a small hotel here, until it was demolished for redevelopment by the landowner. We split up and as part of the deal I bought her a small laundry business which was going well but she couldn't manage, especially in the art of delegation, so she was doing all of the work and looked quite unwell through overwork. As far as management goes, she had no management or delegation skills and sold the place. She later told me that she was going to open up a little restaurant/food shop near the "tourist elephant camp" even though very few farangs actually came through the place, but that didn't deter her and after paying good money to set up the equipment etc, it made no money at all, so she walked away from it, going to France to work for three years to save some money. She is now back in Bang Rakam and told me she was going to open a little shop, so I asked her what the foot traffic was like (or indeed any traffic) and she didn't have a clue. However she opened it up with the money she had saved and now it is doing absolutely nothing. It is lucky for her that I have vowed to take care of her daughter from the time we split up until now when she is a 22 year old completing her last year of a teaching qualification at university. So in summary there is an intelligent (supposedly) and fairly well-educated Thai woman who hasn't got a clue about business but who was adamant she wanted to own her own business and failed at it three times. I have two other stories like this, but this one has already gone on too long, however it is not only the Thais who get taken in by the "want to be a business owner/boss" as it happened to 2 farang friends of mine who opened a bar which became very popular, and they were offered 12 million baht for it some 10 years ago but said it was worth a lot more – – that is until business started falling off and then the landlord decided to close it and make something different out of it, so they walked away with basically nothing. The dream was gone.

Good to hear from you again, Merijn.????

Where on earth would they let such a nut job as MTG hold such a position in government. BUT, having said that it really goes to show that the GOP is a party of MAGA loonies and are desperately searching for something to cling onto in order to besmirch the Democrats and Biden – – sad for a country which was once held in high esteem.

I bought some Tart Cherry capsules when I thought I had gout, but not really sure if it was or not, as have had quite a few inflammatory episodes after decades of playing football and tennis. HOWEVER whatever is in the Tart Cherry capsules, they worked.

Has he been playing in the Reserves these last few years?

As mad as a meat axe and about as popular as a rattlenake in a lucky dip. US politics for you.

It happens a lot here in Patong and I could name quite a few café's and bars that have opened up in place of others that have closed down, and are now in the process of doing the same. Owning a business here as bignok has said is a "dream of theirs" (Thai girls esp) and unfortunately the majority of people who do open small businesses/cafés etc really don't have a clue. For example in my street there are three Italian restaurants which have opened and closed in fairly quick succession, four bars which have done the same, likewise a couple of cafés and I could probably name another three bars which will be on the market very shortly. Suffice it to say that all of these "small businesses" had one thing in common – – a Thai woman who wanted to own her own business, and a farang who was willing to back her. Having said all that, there are some profitable bars and restaurants here, but the small ones in the out of the way places are the ones which turnover quite frequently, and is not hard to see why.

I'm with 3BB and it seems strange that IvorBiggun2 has been able to download it on TBP?? Will try a few more avenues, and thanks for your help.

Thanks Will, but tried to download the movie, "Millers Crossing" on both TPB and RGBG and it said I needed a VPN to do so and gave me 3 VPN options....will try Lime tomorrow. Ta.

A question please for all of you movie buffs who are au fait (and then some) with the downloading process....... I usually download my movies from 1337x.to but occasionally they don't have what I want, even in the archives, so I have to go to some others, and in a huge percentage of cases, they need you to download a VPN in order to access the movie. I have found ways around it before, but it looks like they've been "closed", so here's the question: – "I have already got the Nord VPN installed on my other laptop and can transfer it to the one I use for the downloads, and I did do that, but how do I get it be recognised by the download site?" Any tips or info would be most welcome.

There has been some good information posted on this thread, and your decision to go to the doctor at his clinic to get it signed is very wise indeed. I say this because he will also have a stamp, which whether it is needed or not, is always good to have. I say this from experience because I have two POL forms sent from different countries, one from the UK and one from New Zealand. Also, I send mine back to the countries concerned using Thai registered post, and it costs me about 120 baht. Good luck and no need to worry.

I don't have a problem with that as it stands, however there are procedures for taking blood pressure and I've never seen them followed in any of my visits to the hospital. In fact on one occasion I suggested to the nurse that the machine needed recalibrating, if indeed it had ever been calibrated in it's life, because it gave an abnormally high blood pressure for me? She didn't know what I was talking about of course, so I went to the ENT room next door (just a few metres away) and got my blood pressure taken then by another machine and it was fairly normal, far lower than the previous reading, and I showed it to her and there was a blank look on her face!

I agree with you, and I always wonder why they bother to take my blood pressure, this especially when I have just walked a few hundred metres across the car park and up the stairs and have only been seated for a couple of minutes, when the nurse comes over and proceeds to take my blood pressure whilst she is talking to me?? It's a nonsense and is added to the bill, even if I wave them away and say I don't want it. Furthermore I remember for some strange reason that my blood pressure was very high, much higher than normal and nothing was said about that. So what's the point in taking it?

I have to say the same about the Bangkok Hospital Phuket dental department, which is an integral part of the hospital, and the dentist I saw there, Dr Supachai was very good indeed, although the whole procedure was expensive, and painful at times (as I hate deep injections) but he did a good job, so far anyway! As others have said, there are good, average and indifferent doctors and practitioners throughout Thailand, and as far as dentists go, I've been fairly lucky, whereas urologists, not so much.

"He wrongly claimed that U.S. gasoline prices reached $9 under Biden. The highest weekly average price under Biden was about $5 in June 2022." Q.E.D.

They seem like nice boys (as one English comedian used to say).

Yes, and that's my point about licenses here and I loved your "barefaced cheek" quip. Actually something similar happened here when I first arrived and I brought with me from NZ an International Driving Permit (I think that's what they were called) and put it under the seat of my motorbike and forgot all about it! About three years later I was stopped at a police checkpoint at the end of Nanai Road and asked to present my license, and there was another farang guy in front of me being dealt with by a second BIB who was asked the same thing. I got my Driving Permit out and realised that it had expired a couple of years earlier and I was a little worried about this until the policeman took it from me and walked over to the other guy and in fairly good English said, "this is what you should have". He didn't look at the date or anything, or perhaps he didn't understand it, however he gave it back to me and sent me on my way! For the record I did eventually get a Thai driving licence for both motorbike and car. PS. Forgot to add that I thought giving the Border Official your gas bill was "genious".