xylophone

I eventually "binge watched" the last three episodes of "The Gold" last night and I thought it was a great series although IMO I was left "hanging" in the final episode – – but apparently that's the way it was. Well worth a watch as you have said. I also dug out one from way back which I had dismissed then and really couldn't remember much about it, and watched it again, and now it all made sense! The movie was called "Dark City" and I'm so pleased that I decided to rewatch it, and I have to say that whomsoever dreams up movies like this, must have a vivid imagination. Again, well worth a watch if you haven't seen it before, and even if you have, give it another try!

I totally agree with your post and following on from your comments, just to show how totally brainwashed or gullible the human race is, I cringed when I heard the cries of the rescuers in the Turkish earthquake, when they pulled young girl out from the rubble, and shouted, "God is great" – – and I wondered where he was, this imaginary being, when around 40,000 other people, including children were crushed to death in this earthquake; not so great I would say, or possibly on a tea break?? I also cringed the other day when I watched the Pope's visit to the Congo and there were thousands of dirt poor "believers" chanting and singing to this corpulent Pope, head of probably the richest corporation in the world, when they didn't even know where their next meal was coming from. So it's no surprise to me that there are some very gullible folks out there who choose to "worship" this imaginary being, who by the way, also oversees the people that convince suicide bombers that they will go to a "better life with 72 virgins on call", if they will set off a bomb which kills scores of people – – how stupid is that, or should I say how gullible can one be?

But you can't prove that he isn't can you! That's because he is a man made construct to try and help humankind make some sense of their lives and existence......and that age old question about, "there has to be something else/life after death, doesn't there??".

Maybe you are right LL, because the situation in Patong at the moment has changed quite markedly from an almost dead "backwater" to a lively, thronging place which bears no relation to what it was a couple of years ago. I've enjoyed contributing to the current thread, and also in reading the responses, so maybe other posters and contributors, along with the mods, could suggest another name for it and we could still continue a thread about Patong in general, maybe called something like "Patong Life" or something more adventurous if someone can come up with a name?? Would be interested to hear any comments.

Probably sold to the Chinese as delicacies, as those people will eat just about anything that moves, and even if it doesn't, they'll still eat it!

Plenty in South America to choose from ????.

A guy back in the UK has jumped onto this "woke" bandwagon and has written to the NHS telling them that he "identifies" as a monkey, in which case he has asked for a weekly delivery of bananas to his house, so as not to be discriminated against.

Ah yes, that reminds me of the old joke about the piano player in a pub who has a pet monkey to accompany him, which does various tricks, however unfortunately the monkey lifts its leg and pees in a guys beer, so he goes over to the piano player and says, "do you know your monkeys peed in my beer"...........and the piano player says, "you hum it son, I'll play it".

I tried all of those individually and in various combinations, over a period of perhaps six or seven years, and all to no avail I am afraid, and as Sheryl has said, only "supposedly good" for BPH.

Your quote from Eckhart Tolle shows that you are into new-age "mysticism/spiritualism" and his most famous book was described thus: – "The book draws from a variety of spiritual traditions,[5] and one reviewer described it as "Buddhism mixed with mysticism and a few references to Jesus Christ, a sort of New Age re-working of Zen."[6] It uses these traditions to describe a "belief system based on living in the present moment".[7] Its core message is that people's emotional problems are rooted in their identification with their minds. That explains a lot about your posts and belief system.......new-age twaddle and very little about a god..

And that's the nub of it.......well said. A man made construct to help bring some comfort to a hard life and in grief.

I just had to comment on that LL, because the traffic here now is the worst I've ever seen it in my almost 16 years here, and the drivers seem to be a mixture of obviously Thai, with their usual bad road manners, wobbly Russians on wobbly bikes and the same with the Chinese, and on that note, on my visits to Bangkok Phuket hospital a couple of times over the past few days, I've noticed quite a few Russians with lots of bandages on their legs and arms – – motorbike accidents! Jungceylon is now just about fully back to normal and quite busy, with Big C being the busiest of all, and guess what, with a huge percentage of Russians milling around the place – – who'd have thunk it!! I took a trip to Central Patong and although it was not too busy overall, the food hall on the bottom level was busy and again, mostly populated by Russians and a few Chinese! I like to take a trip over there because they have a slightly different food selection than Big C and this time they had a lovely "healthy fruit and cranberry snack bar" from NZ which I happened upon and I bought a couple, which was fatal because I'm now addicted to them! Not only is the traffic horrendous in general, Nanai Road, which is narrow, is now a nightmare come 5 PM and the road off it, Soi Banzaan is just about impassable at times due to stupid parking and the inability of Thais, in the main, to be able to judge distances between cars and motorbikes on the road. However the small bars dotted along Nanai seem to be doing reasonable business at that hour, apart from a few bar mongers who can be seen at these places throughout the day, but they seem to be in the minority. I did hear some sad news that a young and attractive (32 years old) Thai woman had hung herself a few days ago, and it seems to be over a domestic argument, and it made me very sad, as it did a few friends of mine in that Soi. I met up with a couple of bar owners yesterday and asked them how business was going, and they said it was "up-and-down" and they echoed the comments of myself and LL on this thread, whereby they suggested that although Bangla Road itself was crowded, the bars were not so much. They also suggested that one of the reasons was because the clientele were younger and there were more families visiting these days, however they could well be Russian families escaping the war. I'm hoping to get out again at the end of the week, but over the past couple of weeks I've had quite a few dental visits with the extraction of a molar, double root canal and also a couple of visits to the dermatology department, and just a couple of days ago rather large skin excision, requiring 22 stitches, so those events have slowed me up somewhat, but plenty of painkillers should put me right, as has the occasional glass of wine or three!

I know this is a little out of your way, however courier post is always an option, and if you were able to contact the guy, then you could get a better idea as to whether he could fix it or not. I have an old (40 years plus) Eterna watch which had stopped working and nobody here in Phuket could fix it, until I was given the name of a watch repairer in Phuket town by a friend of mine who had his Rolex repaired and completely rebuilt by this guy, who seems to be a bit of a whizz. So I took my watch along and sure enough, within a week he had it fixed and I was pleased and amazed, so here are his details, and good luck: – Ratsada Optical. Email address is: [email protected] or telephone: 076 218292 or 089 7488060 All the best.

Interesting post, and I am pleased that we had the previous interchange of posts, because it has got me thinking about my insurance costs! My current premium is 140,000 baht per annum and in the main I pay for any outpatient procedure, and as I am 76 this year I'm expecting the premium to increase, so that has got me thinking about cancelling the insurance and covering any medical costs out of my own pocket. I've got to think long and hard about this because in truth, Aetna has been pretty good through the years, however do I want to keep paying 140,000 baht plus increases for the remainder of my years when I could probably cover it myself without too much of a problem – – but therein lies the conundrum, because as one gets older the chances of a major medical event become more likely and I'm wondering how much a "major medical event" would cost? Food for thought.

And you don't need to be Einstein to realise that all of this god/religion malarkey is plain nonsense and fairytales. PS. "God obviously existed well before man" can you prove that!

They are inextricably intertwined, because man invented/created/wanted there to be a god or a being who created the world/heaven and earth/whatever, and needed to find a way to be able to "reach him/worship him" (or her as the case may be in this new woke world) hence the creation of religion to do this. Some cunning folk way back when, decided that they could make it a great moneyspinner, so they did via the Catholic Church. Other folk decided to write their own version of this and worshipped him/her in a different way, but they all have one thing in common inasmuch as they are stories made up of hearsay and rumours, dreams and fantasy. Now Batman, that is something different entirely.............

We'll have to agree to disagree, because this was merely a skin cancer excision, and one could hardly call it an "operation" – – and I've had many before due to my skin colour (freckle faced and red hair when younger!) and have always paid on an outpatient basis? Whatever the case, I was pleased that Aetna picked up the bill! ????

Have you ever thought that this Dotcalm poster maybe just a ruse to stir up trouble on the thread?? I say this because he is so far off the truth and so far "down the rabbit hole" that his rants are totally unbelievable, and more to the point, they would be unbelievable to a rational person, even if they were Republican? Either that or he is totally s....., but unfortunately I can't post that word although I'm sure you can fill in the dots.

This was an outpatient procedure and only local anasthetic was used.......I was fully conscious throughout and it was over and done with in under two hours, including time needed for a full covid test, so I don't think your suggestion is correct.

Good question PR, however I'm not sure if that could have changed since BUPA eventually became Aetna, but for the record, if I took out my health insurance before the age of 60, then there would be no age limit on me as regards cover i.e. it would cover me for life, and I had the agent check that out just recently and according to her, it still applies! You could contact Aetna to see if that applies in your case as well? Good luck.

Me too Phoenix, and the agent here informed me before I got to the age of 60, that if I took the insurance out then, then they would cover me for life, which was very tempting, so I did it, and of course now it is Aetna and so far I've been delighted with them. I do get a 10% return of my annual premium if I don't claim during the year and that's a "bonus", and just a few days ago I had another nice surprise because I had to go into hospital to have a basal cell carcinoma removed, and they wanted to remove quite a bit of skin and tissue, and the whole operation was going to take nearly 2 hours, but because I had no outpatient cover I was going to have to pay for it myself. However the hospital got in touch with a Aetna and they agreed to pay for the operation, which was hugely surprising, but then again as I've been with them for 16 years or thereabouts, perhaps they thought I was due a bit of "kindness"?? Or some sort of recognition that had been a regular customer. Anyway I can recommend Aetna in light of my experiences with them over the years.

You sure it is "brick"????

Not a face one could take to is it!!

Spent some time there and didn't like it one bit!!!!!!