xylophone

I do love a good Port and I have found an importer and wholesaler here from whom I buy mine, and they deliver and I've tasted two of their "Ruby" ports, and I'd have to say there were nearer to the old "Late Bottled Vintage Port" than the plain old "Ruby" that can be seen in many places here (yes even Grahams and Taylors). They are about 30% cheaper than those mentioned above and details can be found: – Quinta do Portal Fine Ruby Porto https://vinumlector.com/our-wines/?swoof=1&product_cat=portugal The best (and only) real port, of course, comes from Portugal and although countries like Australia and New Zealand do produce what is called a "port", it isn't a patch on that from Portugal and I'm not even sure these days that it can be called a "port" and certaily not a Vintage Port!

No, she is happy with this arrangement.......seems to suit them both!

As is my wont, I found a movie that looked interesting on the BBC iPlayer (again), so decided to watch it and was very pleased that I did. The movie is called, "Mr Jones" and is based on a true story about a reporter heading into Russia at the time of the famine, to try and seek out the truth about it – – was there a famine, or wasn't there?? I thought it was very good indeed and was so pleased that I found it, and I saw this on Wikipedia, in relation to that movie: – The 2019 feature film Mr Jones, starring James Norton and directed by Agnieszka Holland, focuses on Jones and his investigation of and reporting on the Ukrainian famine in the face of political and journalistic opposition. In January 2019, it was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The film won Grand Prix Golden Lions at the 44th Gdynia Film Festival in September 2019.

And there you have nailed it, because most people who watch it really don't fit into the category you mention with regards to having a brain.

Yes, I think that's a sensible suggestion, however where there are things like joint property and bank accounts to consider, then it can become a different situation. A friend of mine here spends six months of the year back in the UK with his wife and six months here in Thailand with his girlfriend, and he and his UK wife are "separated" but still consider their offspring and grandchildren to be important enough to maintain a relationship, not to mention their property. The UK wife is okay with it, as is the Thai girlfriend, so all seems hunky-dory and even when he goes back to the UK he stays in his marital house, although I believe all "interpersonal relations" have ceased, so he seems to have worked out the perfect solution. It can be done when both parties are on the same page, and indeed if it is done correctly then it can be of benefit to both parties – – I think!

Many about cos they are small and cheap and I quote from a US motoring magazine; "The 2022 Mitsubishi Mirage gets great fuel economy, but it suffers from weak acceleration, lazy handling, and a so-so ride quality". Next time will look at the Swift, Celerio and Nissan March (if they are still around) as only need a small runabout.

All checked but I think the description from my American friend was about right!!!

Despite being on this forum and a couple of others for a few years, I never understood what the abbreviation "POS" stood for until I read a post from a friend, who is an American, who used that term to describe the Mitsubishi Mirage. As it happens just a few days earlier I had test driven one as part of my process of small car testing and elimination, and it was, IMO, not worthy of my further investigation, and nothing on it seemed to appeal to me – – the roadholding was average to poor, the outside noise was very audible, and all in all it seemed like a car put together for pure cheapness.

Well what do you expect when you are dealing with drongos like this......it is clear that the guy is Maga/trump through and through, so trying to have a reasoned discussion with him is impossible. The very reason I have put him on "ignore".

Seems like a nice boy!!

You raise a very good point, because I was thinking exactly the same as you when I saw the list of nominees, however I have to admit to not seeing many of them at all as nothing that I've read about them encouraged me to do so. I did see the "Banshees" movie and could not see the point of a movie based around pure Irish stupidity, which was meant to mirror the 1921 Irish Civil War. Also I did start to watch "The Whale" but couldn't get past the first 10 minutes mainly because it assaulted my sensibilities. I haven't seen "Top Gun Maverick" as I'm not really a fan of Tom Cruise (perhaps in small doses), so in summary there is nothing that I'm really keen on seeing, so trawling back through some of my old movies keeps me busy most evenings, apart from the things I find on BBC iPlayer – – and on that note I do enjoy some of their history and nature programmes as well as the occasional doco.

I finally got round to watching, "The Fabelmans" and thought it was a very average movie, so was quite surprised when it was nominated as a potential Oscar winner! The next night I watched, "Luther – The fallen Sun", and it was okay and a bit far-fetched for something that was portrayed as being in the current era, but then again as I got closer towards the end of the movie and realised what was going on, I began to think about all of the nut jobs, perverts, killers and masochists that have made the news over the past decade or two, including a few recent posts on AN, especially in regard to the Capitol Hill insurrection! Lastly, something which actually hit home because I was in Auckland, New Zealand, when this actually happened, and the documentary is called, "Murder in the Pacific" and although it does stretch out a little, it really does show the good work done by the Auckland police in catching the perpetrators (actual footage is shown throughout). When it was first rumoured that the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior could have been carried out by a foreign government, the NZ newspapers and indeed government bigwigs dismissed it out of hand, saying that in this (that) day and age such a thing would be unthinkable........ but how wrong they were. The most disappointing aspect of it all was how the foreign government and the actual perpetrators really got off lightly, mainly because little old NZ was held to ransom by the French government with regards to trade threats, so us New Zealanders realised that we were powerless to do anything about it.

Oh, sorry to hear that, esp as I have not experienced any of what you describe.........maybe what we used to call "a Friday Afternoon" car?? I would certainly buy another or as Transam has said, take a look at the Celerio.

Forgot to mention that I had to do that as well!!

Actually I had my first ride in one of those the other day when I took the Swift in for a service and one of the service guys gave me a lift to the hospital to fulfil an appointment I had, and I was most impressed with it. And funny that you should mention the aircon, because it was probably better than my Swift, so when the time comes for a change I will have a look at that little car and see how it fits.

Don't know if it was available in 2012, but did try the Mazda 2 and wasn't impressed.

That's basically what I did in the house we rented when I first moved here and to be honest it was just about all kitchen appliances, so it wasn't too hard to run earth wire between the socket outlets and then run it through the wall to the earthing rod outside. Despite the fact that many of the large metal clad appliances in a kitchen only have a two pin plug on them, you will often notice on the back of these appliances there is a small nut/screw assembly which is meant for an earth wire, so I use that, and that also ends up being connected to the earthing assembly I have put together. I had to do similar for a Thai friends small restaurant where kitchen staff were getting a tingle from the larger appliances.

I tried all of the smaller cars/hatchbacks before I settled on the Suzuki Swift, which I have had now for over 10 years, and I've been delighted with it – – good roadholding and good feel to it, comfortable to sit in even for long drives/journeys and I really couldn't complain about anything on it, and not only that I found that the service folk were superb when it came to the checkups and suchlike. I was quite taken with the little Nissan March, but then again the OP says that his wife is not keen on a Nissan. What clinched it for me was the fact that I took every one of the smaller cars for a test drive, and whereas none of them actually "jumped out at me" with regards to the purchase of it, I only went a couple of hundred yards in the Suzuki Swift and realised it was the car I wanted.

I haven't been out in Bangla for around five weeks, due to health issues and big dental work, so I can't really comment on it, but I have been out and about a little bit in Patong, and what really did surprise me was the traffic (again/still)! I tried to get across what was once called "Middle Road" but is actually called "Phang Muan Sai Kor" (or so I believe) at around 6:30 PM, and the road was absolutely jampacked, nose to tail with traffic at a standstill or barely crawling along, and this went from the roundabout at the south end, past Jungceylon, and up to the far end traffic lights at Phra Baramee and I've never seen it like this before. Just as an aside, the minivans have made a huge comeback and at one time last week I counted 14 of them in a row on Phra Baramee road, heading out of Patong. Meanwhile, elsewhere, in Nanai Road, what was once a café called "555" which closed down some time ago has shown all the signs of opening back up.......well at least it has over the past couple of months, but it still seems to be stalled? I also noticed that the "Green Mango" guesthouse/restaurant was now fully closed whereas it had been closed for a while and then opened up a few months ago, only to close down again? And further south, the Italian restaurant, "The Loft" is now completely empty and looks to have been gutted, although I'm not sure what has happened to the rooms which were available as part of that building. I did visit Patong Central a few days ago and was pleased that it was doing business, but was very surprised at the customer mix, because the seats/tables in the dining area were completely full of Chinese, with the exception of four folk on two tables – – and the poor serving/wait people were not happy with the customers demands and complaints, not to mention the mess. I did pity them. Maybe there are bar mongers frequenting Bangla, but they certainly aren't evident in the small bars in Nanai, or in OTOP come to that, at least not in daylight/dusk hours, so it would seem that the small window of opportunity with the return of the tourists, will be short lived for these bars. And of course to add to the "interest and excitement of the place" along with the influx of the Russians and now the Chinese, the air quality has taken a dive which means sore eyes and a certain amount of hoarseness in the voice – – oh the joys of Thailand. As a rider to the above, I've had quite a few people exclaim that they believe the tourist numbers have declined somewhat, and a couple of women I know who own massage shops are not exactly inundated with customers, so maybe there is a lull and I haven't really noticed it?

"Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they’re doing this now, but it’s going to be a very long and uphill battle to go after the bigger fish, higher up in the food chain". So it won't happen......as too many people in powerful places will be affected. Loss of income and wealth, as well as loss of face. A couple of months and things will be back to "normal".

Connections in high places.

No probs, only kidding SAB????

No, but they will probably accept a bribe to let them go on with their business and stay on this visa, because that's what they've always done, and this latest brouhaha is mostly about "show" and of course squeezing a bit more from the Chinese. This whole episode is the very tip of the iceberg, and is very easy to go after, so that's what they're doing, but if anyone thinks that corruption will change in Thailand, then they don't understand how deep or high it flows.

Portsmouth isn't a dirty place!!

You could always ask an Australian, because their idea of foreplay is, "brace yourself Sheila"...... so they would know!