mfd101

I filled out the form a couple of hours ago. Generally OK, though easy to trip up. I nominated my b/f (40 years younger than me) as Head of Household and I nominated me as 'Wife or Husband'. When I mentioned all this to b/f a few minutes ago he just looked blank. No idea what I was talking about. (And I predict his view when properly explained will be that it should be ignored. None of their f/ing business. Sigh. No wonder this country is a mess. When 3 Immigration guys in uniform rang the bell down at the gate 2 or 3 weeks ago I traipsed down to find out what they wanted. Which was a new photo or 3 of me standing at the gate and beside the letterbox. So I headed back up the drive and put on a shirt, grabbed my p/p and headed back down for the photos. All fine. Anyway, when b/f got home from the family farm I was told how stupid I am to open the gate for complete strangers. I could be dead by now ... Sigh. I'm afraid Surin is not Canberra.)

In Bangkok you can watch people dropping rubbish on the footpath 2 metres from an empty rubbish bin.

I wonder who owns the company (substantially, as opposed to 'on paper') ...

Not obvious what his crime was. Unless it was about leaving rubbish lying around, which many Thais do every day of the year ...

I did say HEV not BEV, and for country driving in & around Surin.

We never drive in the cities. Just country driving here in Surin & Buriram. I still like the idea of an HEV. Conceptual transition in my old age.

Only after an 'event', not before.

Guaranteed to produce satisfactory outcomes ...

We plan to visit there next year to compare HEV SUVs (preferably non-plugin) - Toyota & Mazda particularly, and the Chinese competition (mostly BYD, I suspect). Problem with the Chinese models will be absence of servicing availability here in sth Surin ...

TIT. No surprises here, but it certainly makes me and my boy wonder about our next bi-annual trip to Bangers for a week's break from the dangers of snakes and mossies here at the edge of the jungle in south Surin.

As usual in Thailand, the 'authorities' - and Thais in general - are better at picking up the pieces after a disaster than at preventing a disaster in the first place. We all see this on the roads every day of the year.

One professional (Western) seismologist was quoted a couple of days ago saying that seismology is a very imperfect 'science' and that, quite apart from follow-up aftershocks, an earthquake can strike any time anywhere without warning.

Well, given what we all know about the links between competence and corruption in this country, I wouldn't have too much faith in a safety certificate issued by the anxious locals. Try bringing in fully-trained & experienced engineers from some of the less corrupt countries of the world - Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Oz, NZ, Japan ...

Designed as a lesson for budding young auditors in how not to carry out audits.

That's the bit that makes sirens a useful tool ... But only up to a point. If you're in a single-storey or perhaps 2- or even 3-storey building, a warning - or even the first shake - allows you to take cover under a desk or table or bed, or (as we did in the shaky isles of NZ in my childhood) stand in a doorway. The idea being to have something strong over your head. But what if you're in a high-rise building? Nothing you do - either nothing or head under the desk or head down the multiple stairs - is going to save you if the building is about to collapse. And as for racing out onto the roadway between high-rises, well I was always taught that's the last thing you should do ...

And the relevance of that is what?

Yes, to me - as a non-technical old person - alarm sirens seem a more practical idea for the masses of people in a huge city. And have the SMS etc technical solutions as well of course. In any case, speed is of the essence. Not necessarily a strength in Thailand ...

Also Burmese & Cambodians ...

It would be nice if the AI & other writers could master the difference between 'refute' and 'deny'.

Obviously money must have changed hands. But apart from that, why would anyone think that importing 10,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate would be a good idea? Who was the 'end user' supposed to be?

Why would anyone bother? I rode in a Cadillac in Canada a few years ago. Absolute pile of s...t!

Well I'm homosexual so I guess my judgment in such matters is poor.

Only a matter of time till Trump decides that Musk is costing him too much in popularity. Then it'll be time for the TrumpDump.

Well she looks quite an attractive young woman to me.

The question is Why? Why do businesses including banks lend money to people who manifestly have no capacity to pay back the loan, tomorrow or any day? Seems to me that the relevant businesses including banks have noone but themselves to blame. They are all familiar with local poverty and cultural issues.