xylophone

Not a difficult thing to do to a trump supporter!!!

Oh dear, someone has overdosed on the cult Kool-Aid by the looks of things. Sad, so very sad. Just a point though, you mention six years of lies and dishonesty used to attack trump, well it's well documented that he lies on a regular basis, that he stole funds from a charity to fund his election campaign, that he has failed to pay tradespeople working on his property in the past, and that he has had many failed businesses, so I don't think people are, as you say, "showing a lack of respect", just stating the truth. And that hurts for the Kool-Aid gang.

The only political party with a "screw loose" is the Republicans, one for allowing this pudgy, lying and dumb orange idiot to be elected in the first place, and secondly for trying to shield him from what was a perfectly and legally issued request for documents stored at MAL! You mention "so much for doing the best for the country" and the only person and people who have stuffed the US up has to be the GOP, trump and his right wing idiots, along with the various right-wing publications which keep spouting nonsense. I never thought that trump would be capable of driving such a huge a wedge through the two parties, and the US, with his idiocy, but maybe that is the way of the US at the moment, and as for spouting off about laptops and other conspiracy theories, which have long been discarded, best to stay on topic. And just to add to the dire straits of the country, trump has even suggested overturning the election results – – this time just a few days ago, and as I posted elsewhere, he is not alone, as the right wing nut case Marjorie Taylor Green has also said the same. Reminds me of the last line of a song by the rock group "Nice" when they sang, "America is pregnant with promise and anticipation, but is murdered by the hand of the inevitable". The inevitable being trump and his Republican nut jobs.......well most of them anyway.

The delusions run deep and strong in the tiny minds of the MAGA cult, and just a couple of days ago Marjorie Taylor Green was spouting off at the gathering of the deluded in Philadelphia, that "the election was stolen" and that "trump won the last election". She needs to be quietened or locked up for her comments because they cause/foment civil unrest, especially amongst the cult followers, and of course it gives a reason for QAnon, Proud Boys and others to continue their vile behaviour.

Like you, I have both NZ and UK citizenship and lived in both countries, but born in the UK and emigrated to NZ in 1984, so I believe I've seen the best of both countries, and now that I'm living in Thailand and have been for 16 years, I can look back on those countries and those times with a certain amount of nonbiased clarity. I left the UK in 1984 because I wanted a new work challenge, although I enjoyed my years there, having played a fairly good standard of football and at one time it was "my life". I revelled in NZ when I first arrived, exploring the skiing, whitewater rapid rafting, beautiful countryside, trout fishing in Lake Taupo, smelly and interesting Rotorua, as well as sailing in the Auckland harbour and also in the Bay of Islands, not to mention the beautiful trips down south, and I simply loved Christchurch and Nelson. There was nothing to dislike about the place apart from the fact that the summers sometimes seemed too short and the winters too long. I left NZ in 2006 to retire in Phuket, mainly because of a health problem and I needed to get out of the rat race. So where is all this leading to........ I had been back to the UK a few times and my last trip in 2018 was a disaster, with poor weather (in June??) fairly expensive food and constant building in my beautiful old Sussex town, ruining it completely, so it was nothing like the place I left and I was glad to get back home to Phuket. I have visited NZ a few times as well and still believe that it is a beautiful country that offers so much more than others, but like most places, things have become expensive, and just recently in the paper there was an example of something I know only too well: – Rustique French Camembert cheese in NZ was five times as expensive as it was in the UK?? This is just the tip of the iceberg as house prices in NZ have rocketed, and crime is much more commonplace now and there seems to be no effort to curb or control it, and that has to come down to the current government which is a disaster. But, for a professional person looking to move to New Zealand, it still offers a lot, but if one is "counting the pennies", then elsewhere needs to be explored.

I watched the new movie by Sylvester Stallone, called, "Samaritan" and he was the main star in it, but to me it seemed like another ageing movie star trying to make a few bucks with what I considered a poor film. And I finally got round to watching a movie upon which a couple of others have commented, "Thirteen Lives" and thought it was a very good movie, this despite me having followed the original events quite closely.

Hopefully I'm not getting too tedious for posters, however perhaps it's nearly time to say, "Patong – The Awakening" because having just been out and about, more of the roller blind shops in Soi Banzaan have opened, as has the small guesthouse which was called, "The House", however in amongst that there are still a few buildings for sale, so as I have said previously it's a mixed bag. A highlight of this afternoon was my visit to "Tops Patong", which has just opened again and which was quite busy, so I scouted around looking for any opening specials, and I have to say that the prepared food counter looked very enticing, and obviously it was the same for a few other punters because there were quite a few around the place partaking of the food they had purchased there. I think the amount of people in the place surprised the owners/managers because I had to wait behind about four or five people in the only cashier/checkout available for that section, and there were more queuing behind me, so I don't think they anticipated how busy it would be. Good news on the horizon.........well, we'll just have to see!

I did mention in one of my previous posts that I observed a decreasing number of Indian folk around the place, however having seen a few more groups of them around the place after that post, and just seeing this in the "Thaiger" publication, perhaps I was wrong! Having said that I have seen small groups in Big C buying "knickknacks" and nothing of any note, so along with that and previous posts, I can't see them adding much to the coffers of Patong/Phuket. This from the "Thaiger"............ Even though Malaysia has now beaten India for its number of tourists to Thailand overall, Indians are still the biggest tourist group in Phuket. From May 1 to August 30, the island province saw 104,350 Indian tourists arrive on its shores, according to Phuket Immigration. This was out of a total of 436,326 foreign tourists that arrived in Phuket in that time frame. The other countries sending the most tourists to Thailand, in order, have been: Australia, Singapore, the UK, Malaysia, Germany, the US, and Russia. In reference to the above, I have seen quite a few Aussies around the place, but don't like the news about the "return of the Ruskies" as I have only ever found one that I have liked in all my years here, and when I commented to him that the Russians seemed a surly lot, he agreed wholeheartedly, and he was Russian! Mentioning the Aussies, a large Aussie bar which was a sort of "Sports Bar" in Nanai Road, and has been empty for almost the duration of Covid, has now opened again, and driving past, the internal decor is bright red, so not my "cup of tea" or should I say "pint of beer", as the saying goes. Also, unfortunately the huge roadworks and reworking of the drainage system, if that's what you can call it, is just near the bar, and some traffic has to be rerouted away from that part of Nanai, so not ideal for a new/reopened bar. Time will tell.

But is unfortunately, par for course in this country, and I don't believe it will ever change.

I can see that now, however what confused me is that when I looked that term up on Google, one explanation was that it was used in the southern states of the USA to describe a "shirt lifter" (hope that's not against the rules), however using the term "Bin Dipper" to mean exactly that, explains it more clearly – – thank you for your efforts, all the same.

Still non the wiser!!!

How did they get that name??

I have seen the term, "Bin Dippers" used a few times on this thread, and I've no idea what it means, so would someone please enlighten me!

In amongst the doom and gloom of the rain over the past week or so, and the complete mayhem caused by heavy machinery digging up the huge 2 m² drain-like concrete thingies/drains which were put in place in Nanai, just after the junction with Soi Banzaan, supposedly to stop the road flooding – – but which had to be cleaned out of mud and sand by huge diggers (no not Australians) every so often, there was something to brighten up my week, and for that matter anyone else's week, should they have heard about this event!!?? I refer to the birthday shindig at Blue Beach Café and Restaurant, as it was the owners birthday on Saturday, so I and a few friends went down there to celebrate, and to meet up with other friends from around the place, many from bars and establishments in the Patong area, especially Bangla, where this lovely lady already owns a couple of bars (and works very hard at making them profitable and customer friendly) and it was a delightful evening. The saxophone player kicked off the evening, and although I find it a little too loud, others seemed to like it, but it does make one have to shout across a table in order to have a conversation! Next up was "Moody" a songster and guitar player par extraordinaire, who entertained the guests, and there were fair few, and it was good listening to his songs whilst munching down the delightful food off the menu, as well as far too many glasses of red wine, which later on were topped up with a few other drinks at Red Hot. Travelling along the Beach Road in order to get to the Blue Beach, the motorbike taxi driver encountered a couple of large convoys of jetskis being towed off the beach and back to their place of rest, so I suppose there is a market for these things these days, even if they are, in the main, operated by louts. Bangla itself was busy again and although some of the bars were sparsely populated, just a few of them were showing signs of a recovery, and this especially Bar Funk, which was about three-quarters full, and that's saying something for a bar that size. The folks walking up and down Bangla, as before, were a mixture of races, even though I would guess that the number of Indians has decreased, however I have noticed some well-dressed folks from Arabic countries (Saudi etc) around Patong and hopefully they are helping the economy here, although not spending in bars by the looks of things. I was pleased to see Red Hot busier than last Saturday, and also with a decent few young foreign "girls" (including a couple of delightful ones from Israel) having a good time on the small dancefloor in front of the band, which made very pleasant viewing for this old Kiwi, and especially when I got some hugs and a few kisses from these very same girls after I did my stint with the band, and I still say that this has to be the best band in Patong by a long shot. So all in all it was one of the best nights I've had in years, with the entertainment at Blue Beach, not to mention the excellent food and camaraderie there, and Red Hot, so there is life in the old dog yet – – both Patong and yours truly!

"Now for something completely different", although related in some aspects to the thread.......... I have occasionally posted that it looks like Patong is in a sort of recovery mode, although somewhat patchy, and the more I look and learn, the more this keeps coming back to me. For example there are many small businesses and small buildings which are up for sale, some being repossessed by the bank by all accounts, and I personally know of a few small businesses which are struggling big time, although this seems to be contradicted, at times, by new openings of bars etc and also by the reopening of a few "roller blind shops", so it's "all over the place as the saying goes". Related to this, are a couple of events which happened just recently, with farangs asking to borrow money from me. Actually one of them started asking about two years ago, just before Covid, and although it wasn't a great deal of money (3000 baht) and it was almost paid back on time as promised, it became a repeat performance, so it became quite obvious that this particular person couldn't live on what meagre pension he was getting, and I was financing his stay, so I told him it had to stop, and it did. Now two years later on he approached me again and this time wanted to borrow only 500 baht, and out of stupidity and a jai dee, I gave it to him, but said it was the last time and hopefully I will get it back next week. A couple of months back, I guy I had known for a few years here, and only caught up with him occasionally at Starbucks, asked to borrow 8000 baht and said it was because money owed to him hadn't been paid and that I would get it back within two weeks. Well, about a month later I eventually received it, however just a short while ago I got another telephone call from him asking for the same thing, so I politely refused. Where is all this leading – – well it struck me that there would be quite a few farangs in this situation living here, this especially as exchange rates in the likes of the UK and other parts of Europe were not good versus the baht, so these guys must be struggling, and probably struggling big time. So IMO these guys are caught between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes, because not only are exchange rates against them, prices of just about everything, even in Thailand, are rising quite substantially. On the one hand I feel sorry for them and their plight, but on the other hand cannot help wondering why they didn't plan for something like this, or indeed put some sort of savings plan in place to help complement their pension when they got it? One thing I do know, is that I am not prepared to become a "lender of last resort" to farangs here, even though I do help a few Thais out with occasional nonrepayable small loans (I say this because I know I will never get it back) and in just about all of the cases these poor folks never had the opportunity to save money for the future, so it is something I do quite willingly. Back to the thread..........as long as there are the usual "two-week millionaires" coming from overseas, then the local economy can be bolstered somewhat, however the plight of some of the farangs living here full-time will mean that they aren't able to do that, so are we in for many more months/years of "Patong – The Wake", or will it be back to the full on party mode of yesteryear?

Sounds like an ideal evening a nice wine and a good movie – – enjoy. Your point about the French vineyards is not quite right but the actual events are as follows: – a vine louse called phylloxera devastated French vines/vineyards starting from about the 1860s and it got gradually worse with around 50% of the French vines being affected, and these vines died off, including some of the most famous. The phylloxera vine louse was identified as the culprit, having come from America in one of many vine cuttings that were being exchanged between countries at that time, and whereas the American vines were resistant to this louse, having been used to it over the years, the French vines, and many others in Europe were not, and so were wiped out. The grafting of vines had been known for some time, and it was suggested that the American rootstock be used to enable the French vines to be grafted to that rootstock, and this was done over a few decades, with some resistance from the French, but without that, it's quite possible that the French vines and wine industry would have been decimated even further. So one could argue that French wines and vines owe their existence to American vine rootstock, whereas on the other hand it could be argued that had the American vines not been imported into France and Europe, then this would never have happened. No point in arguing anything like this with a Frenchman because in their eyes the French make the best wines in the world, and no-one else can match them, whereas we know that superb wines are made in many other countries, and wines which can easily match the best of the French. The movie you're about to watch deals with this, and furthermore in a winetasting in France in around 1978 (or thereabouts) a Spanish wine made by Miguel Torres, called Gran Coronas, beat the best of the French Reds in another wine tasting and caused further palpitations amongst the French. Have a great evening.

A few comic books and Playboy magazines, along with a secondary school book: – "How to spell, even if you are dumb". That should keep his followers happy!

Hopefully you saw my post regarding the movie, "Bottle Shock" which covered the now famous, "Judgement of Paris" winetasting between Californian wines and the best that France could offer. I won't spoil the movie for you, because it is very good and stars Bill Pullman as well as the late, great, Alan Rickman, and is essential viewing for wine lovers I think!

They took to Russell Crowe, Jane Champion and the group Split Enz......so stretches do happen!!

Forgot to mention two other movies that I have just watched again: – – "As good as it Gets" with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, along with Greg Kinnear, which is an enjoyable movie but certainly wouldn't get past the censors these days. – "State of Play", with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, which I don't remember seeing the first time round, so was glad that I decided to watch it.

A good Kiwi comedian who was well liked by both Kiwis and Aussies.

I was thinking exactly the same thing giddyup, so have taken to hunting out movies from long ago, which I can't remember anything about, and over the past few weeks I've watched the following: – – The Conversation, with Gene Hackman, and I remember seeing it in the 70s when it was released and not fully understanding what it was all about, so I thought I would watch it again just the other day, and nothing's changed, I'm still not fully sure what it's all about! – The Marathon Man, with Dustin Hoffman, and I couldn't remember anything about that from an earlier viewing, but it was an entertaining movie, although difficult to follow in the early stages. – The French Connection, again with Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider, and I must have seen it all those years ago, but enjoyed it this time round. – Blade Runner, the original with Harrison Ford as the star, and I did like it although I have seen it more than once. I also watched the later version with Ryan Gosling and thought that was good too. – The Three Days of the Condor, great movie with Robert Redford. May well get "The Big Short" out of my "library" and watch that again because it's a damn good movie, also a short while ago I watched the movie "Live by Night" with Ben Affleck again, and that is one of my favourite movies at the moment. Still hunting round for some more oldies which I either haven't seen or can't remember, so the hunt goes on..............

Just remembered what that wine was, and it was "Ravenswood Zinfandel" and I think it was reduced because it had a few years on it, although for me the slight bottle ageing actually added to the appeal. As for the Brunello di Montalcino, that also had a few years on it, but was still very, very drinkable and I was so pleased to be able to pick those wines up for a mere pittance.

Thanks, and I came to that conclusion after clicking on a few other links, however, strange that one particular wine at 14% ABV comes from the farm/winery in the Riverina, whereas the other one bearing almost the same label is 13% ABV from Victoria..............having said that, the Riverina wine is palatable!!

if it goes ahead. Is there a problem with the match being played??