xylophone

Many thanks for your positive feedback @LaosLover it is much appreciated. I do try for "quality" in my posts, however I am aware that I can wander off topic on occasion, but only if it is somehow related to the post to which I am replying. As for a comment about "dictating" by @gargamon..........I've had the cartilege and some bone fragments removed from my right elbow, so keyboard use can be painful, so I use Dragon voice recognition software and it is a 'godsend".

I watched another BBC iPlayer movie called, "Captain Phillips" and thoroughly enjoyed it as not only was it based on a true story, but the director really knew how to crank up the suspense/danger and it bought back vivid memories of my time in Libya. The scene where several guys had a pistol put to their head and thought they were going to be shot, brought back memories, when an extremely angry Libyan soldier burst into the room where a group of us were drinking, pistol in hand and shouting loudly/angrily put the pistol against my head and I thought that was it, especially as he would waive the pistol around the room and repeatedly put it to my temple screaming something in Arabic. I really thought but my time was up......... Obviously it wasn't as I'm still here to post on AN. Frightening all the same.

I wanted to know what had happened to the poor old Swiss guy after yesterday's event, so I went along to see the two women who had helped and who had taken him in the tuk tuk, and they said that they had found his hotel, through him mentioning a bar nearby, and had taken him safely back to it. The hotel staff knew him and said that he was going back home next week. So to say thank you to the two women, I bought them a bunch of durian, and they were delighted. Very pleased to know that it ended well for him.

Had I known that you had reading and comprehension difficulties, then I might have made it a little shorter especially for you, however I will leave it up to the moderators to decide what posts will/won't suffice. Unless you are a new moderator of course. LOL!!! Anyway, you're now going on to ignore, so others can put up with your tardy remarks, but I won't see them, thankfully.

He can't, it's in his nature!

But not when you are dumb or incompetant like trump??

I managed to find some real oldies on BBC iPlayer, so thought I'd give them a go: – The first one was, "Scott of the Antarctic" which was made in 1948 and starred Jon Mills and Kenneth Moore, along with James Robertson Justice and others, and I nearly switched it off in the first few scenes when the backdrops were clearly painted to look like countryside scenery, however I kept on with it and was pleased that I did. I had seen the movie "Amundsen", which I thought was very good, and in it they made mention of the Scott expedition and basically scoffed at the idea that the British were taking ponies and motorised sledges, neither of which had been really tested in the Antarctic, and they proved to be right, because they were the downfall Scott's expedition. So pleased that I kept watching it because it was a good movie. I then found another oldie called, "The Big Country", a Western with Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives and others, and I'd never seen it before, so I watched that last night and enjoyed it, and I'm lining up another one called, "The Spy who came in from the Cold".

As if to back up some of the posts on this thread about being old and alone and having someone to care for you, I experienced something today which really brought it home to me – – Sitting talking to a couple of women I know who own a massage shop, and I've known them for quite a few years now, so I often stop off for a chat, and if I'm making a Thai meal, I cook enough for them as well and they seem to appreciate it. Anyway just across the road we noticed an old farang stumbling along and falling over, and my immediate response was perhaps he was drunk, and one of the women said she thought she recognised him and he wasn't a drinker?? Having said that, the two women went over to him and lifted him up, and bought him over to the guesthouse/bar next door, so I asked them if he was drunk/smelling of alcohol and they said no, but they thought there was something wrong with him mentally. When they said this I went over to him to see if he understood English, and to see if I could help, but the only thing I got out of him was that he was Swiss and that he had forgotten his hotel, although he had a hotel key with him (nothing on it to indicate which hotel). He did point up the road somewhere and muttered, so I thought I would walk up the road and see if I could see something which might match the picture on his room key, but no luck, even though I asked a few shopkeepers and motorbike taxi drivers, and they were no help unfortunately. There was a farang sitting nearby, whom I had seen over many years, and who a friend of mine had known, and often said that he was a miserable, grumpy old bar steward, however I thought he might be able to help so I asked if he understood Swiss/German, however this grumpy old bar steward dam near bit my head off with just one or two English words in it but the rest of it was grumpy and loud and he was just obnoxious, so I walked away. I was speaking to the two women who were still sitting next to the poor guy trying to comfort him because he looked a little flustered, and I would say he was either suffering from some sort of dementia, or had a minor stroke or suchlike, but he had no idea where his hotel was unfortunately, and the only thing we could get out of him was a Soi name, and we didn't even know if that was the right one. So I said to one of the women, the one who thought she recognised him, that perhaps we should get a tuk tuk and put him in it and drive to this particular Soi to see if he recognised his hotel, which they thought was a good idea. I also suggested that if they had no luck they should either take him to the hospital or to the police station to see if they could help They both wanted to go with him, so I gave them 500 baht for the tuk tuk fare and off they went. I sat down and spoke to the owner of the massage shop and her sister, and they were puzzled as to why he would be here on his own, and I said maybe he had just had some sort of mental problem, and that it could happen to anybody, although someone should always have the phone number of a friend to help. To which they replied that I was about the same age as him and that I shouldn't worry because if anything happened to me they would come round and take care of me and I only had to let them know and they would be there. In its own way that was very comforting, but it got me thinking about this thread and wondering how many old guys here could be in the same position should a medical event occur.

Who would know as they, like trump, are serial liars!!

The writings on the wall, Biden's done! Who can disagree with that..........simply the people who know that Fox News is a GOP mouthpiece that defended a huge lawsuit by stating that "nobody is foolish enough to believe the news on Fox as it isn't real news, just one persons opinion" or words to that effect. So believe Faux News if you are foolish enough!!

I believe that to be true, and my experiences here seem to have borne that out. On a personal level I prefer to be on my own and I'm never lonely, always finding something to keep me interested, despite a few ladies I've met trying to determine that I really do need someone to care for me, despite my protests (nicely so I may add). Yonks ago I posted about the "mutually beneficial relationships" that I know of, where an older farang ties up with a younger Thai woman, and both seem to get on okay, and why not because he has someone to take care of him, and occasionally get some rumpy pumpy, and she has someone to care for her financially, and perhaps her family, with potentially a windfall when the farang pops his clogs. It's a win-win for them. As if to confirm this, just yesterday I was having a manicure and a very large and older Australian man sitting next to me was lamenting the fact that he was in ill health with diabetes and other ailments, and the fact that he had difficulty walking, he was not in a good way. However he said that he was looking forward to a weeks time when he was moving in with his girlfriend up North, and his girlfriend was waiting outside of the shop for him and I would say was in her late 30s/early 40s. So he had found someone to take care of him, and she had found someone to take care of her, so what's not to like?

I really liked this short series and the acting was brilliant and the key character (the murderer) played the role so well as to really hate/despise him!!!

Had an overwhelming urge to watch "The Accountant" again, so downloaded it and enjoyed it. Despite some poor feedback I have always like Ben Affleck, and another favourite of mine is, "Live by night" which I think is great, so if anyone hasn't watched it, give it a try and I think you will be surprised, despite an average ImDB rating.

I forgot to mention that the "love of my life" in the 60s was playing football, and luckily enough I got paid for playing as did the rest of the team, even more if we won the match. I lived for football and would play on Saturday and in the mid-week floodlit league on Wednesday, and again on the Saturday and also played for a senior Sunday league side, as well as training midweek whenever possible, so I was very fit and just loved my football – – although it didn't stop me from partying occasionally, especially in the off-season! This pic is of us lining up before the start of the Cup Final at Brighton's ground in 1968/9 in front of a crowd of around 9,000........plenty nervous!

In the 70s......travel and adventure:- In the 80s....White water rafting and sailing the NZ Americas Cup Challenge boat:- In the 90s....Setting up an investment division and playing tennis against Steffi Graf (a friendly warm up) in the 20s.....Thailand and my lovely Daughter Couldnt have asked for anything more!

Thank heaven that in my younger days we didn't have women with nose rings, lip rings, facial studs and the like, nor any tattoo's, or none that you could see anyway! Born in 1947, so experienced the 50s, and the 60s and 70s were brilliant, with far too much adventure and excitement to recall here. The 80s were good, with a fantastic job in NZ, which enabled me to dine out wherever I wanted, and date some pretty Kiwi girls – – wouldn't change it for the world, and I'm well satisfied with what I'm doing at the moment, which is not much at all, apart from spending far too much time on the computer and collecting red wine.

Sad to say that I have just noticed that a very good Italian restaurant I used to visit, along with some friends from our "Italian Food and Wine Appreciation Society" (IFAWAS), is no more – – it has gone and is being replaced by a Turkish restaurant, the name of which isn't up on the premises at the moment. It is in what is commonly known as "Soi Patong whiskey" or alternatively, "Soi Dr V" (after the doctors clinic on the corner of the Soi). I don't believe it's had much, if any custom since Covid struck, although I do believe there were some guest rooms attached to it, however it is a little out of the way and not the sort of place where one would normally pop into for a meal. All the same, I wish the new venture the very best in its endeavours, and I may have to give it a try in the near future.

Yes, thats the one........and a young looking Brian Cox was a surprise!! Also liked the music in it at the appropriate time; Iron Butterfly.....In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, as it suited the scene.

Jeez, I tried watching this, but couldn't watch it all the way through because I became nauseous after listening to the lies – – whatever makes a man (or a poor excuse for one) lie like that?? Unbelievable.

And when somebody mentions that Thailand is a "Third World country" some posters jump in and say that this is incorrect, it is a "developing country"!!! I would suggest that after this fiasco, Thailand is a country that has no idea where it sits in the grand scheme of things, and it is run by a bunch of corrupt idiots, so doesn't even qualify as a "Third World country" – – shameful, or pitiful, however you want to view it.

I noticed on BBC iPlayer that there was a movie from the 80s, called "Manhunter", the title of which I vaguely remembered, but could remember nothing about the film itself, so I decided to watch it, and am so pleased that I did because it was a very entertaining/good movie IMO.

Will look into this as I like Bill Nighy.......thanks for the tip.

You are right because I used to post regularly on the "Wine Thread" because collecting wine has been my hobby for 50 years (drinking it also I may add!). It had a few followers at one time, but if the law says we can't post/talk about it, then so be it. A pity really because it's such an interesting subject.

Sounds like you are a lucky man to have such a good wife, and who is such a good cook. Mind you in New Zealand I had a Chinese girlfriend (a very charming, witty and lovely lady) and she could cook Western dishes as good as anyone, and her steak was the best I've ever tasted! Yes you are right, beef bourguignon does take about 3 to 3 1/2 hours anyway, but if I put it in the slow cooker I don't have to bother with it for 3 1/2 hours, apart from the cursory glance after two hours, so no stirring or fear of it getting burnt and I can get on with doing something else. I've also found that the cheaper the cut of meat, the more tasty it is after the long, slow cooking Your mention of Beef Wellington has got me drooling, so I'm probably going to have to go out to a local restaurant where I know it's being served, and have myself a good helping of it. No photos sorry.

I thought any mention of wine on the forum was banned?? At least that's what I was informed by someone from the moderator's team, and I know this because I had to change my avatar which was a bottle of "The Hedonist" wine! However I did notice somewhere else that there was a post/advertisement for a huge wine showed/exhibition in Hua Hin – – so I'd like to know what's going on if possible. Thanks in advance to the moderator team.