mfd101

As I understand it, the Brits have abandoned the concept. The French & the Aussies are scratching their heads and wondering how to make it actually work in practice (security enforcers everywhere?) ... Wait a month and it will all disappear. Meantime I'm just using the lovely Thailand National Certificate they gave me at Rajabhat University in Muaeng Surin this morning. Not that expect to actually use it for anything at all here in south Surin ...

I remember the photo a few years ago, when Yingluck was PM, of her & her cabinet ministers in full uniforms with bangles'n beads stretched out awkwardly on the floor as they briefed the then King sitting up high on his throne-like chair. They were poring over a map. Yingluck looked particularly uncomfortable in her uniform as she was (of course) wearing a skirt ... Appalling symbolism of 'modern' Thailand.

I keep using up my years-old photos for Immigration not because I'm getting older but because I hate to waste anything. Which is probably a sign of someone born before about 1970.

Nicely argued.

Given that La Maxwell is yet to stand trial or otherwise have her time in court, this civil proceeding against Poor Little Andie could well be a preliminary to criminal proceedings that depend on new evidence becoming available (accounts & recordings, travel documents, chauffeurs etc). And all of this in the US. Given that the current plaintiff was apparently not a minor in the UK, at this stage subsequent proceedings in the UK seem unlikely.

The one thing they never do is go back to the start with a blank sheet of paper and ask themselves basic questions: What are we here for? what are our aims? what are the constraints? how can we encourage more and 'better' people to visit/live here? what can we safely cease doing to make things easier for everyone? how can we make our processes simpler and more efficient? how can we make economies and replace employees with modern digital capabilities? what are the security implications of simplification and fewer employees? ... In your dreams ...

There is a major cultural problem to overcome first: Thais love complexity. You just need to look at traditional Thai architecture to see that, and its effects on modern hiso houses. Everything new in processes is an add-on, not a replacement. That's why you can have reasonably modern computing alongside 1960s bureaucratic practices (photocopies & mountains of paper) and poor education that encourages conformity not thinking. So the Thai concept of 'order' looks to a Westerner like a counter-productive maze of contradictory instructions. Simplification is not likely, just more complexity.

Remember: In Thailand 'face' is all-important. Strong currency = Lots of 'face'.

I'll have to send my b/f to New Orleans. He's shy of getting vaxed but he loves his noodles ... Second thoughts, I could put him on an elephant here in Surin with a bowl of noodles.

Yes, I always enter b/f's phone number because he can talk to them and that's what MPH currently has for the jabs ... but (I guess) that won't work in this instance because it won't match my other details.

Living here in south Surin I know noone who has had the CV: not in my Khmer peasant family (31 immediate members, almost all living in one village), nor in the shopkeepers we frequent here in Prasat. Nor amongst my own original Kiwi family, nor amongst my friends in Oz.

Reading, reading, reading ... After 40 minutes gym in the morning (3 or 4 times a week, always aiming for 5 but haven't yet managed that since we arrived back from Oz in late 2015). Making lists of things to do - both at the family farm and here around the house. Unless I push, nothing here gets done. All at the farm. (Funny that.) Modifying the lists of things to do, pushing back the dates. Endlessly. Currently: Beginning to gather my strength for the annual renewal horrors, and saving my shekels for the mandatory health insurance. B/f always needs more cash for the 3rd house we're building at the farm ...

Handy lesson there for Thailand. Assuming anyone's paying attention ...

Supply & demand vary from place to place, and the expiry date for assorted drugs just makes it all the more complicated to organise. Inconsistencies from one province or hospital to another don't have to be signs either of conspiracy or of incompetence. Though of course they may be in any particular instance ...

My b/f drives regularly from south Surin to south Buriram and back without difficulty. (If there were unusual police checks or health/CV/vax checks he would have mentioned to me.)

Never mind, the cruise ships will arrive soon.

In the case of the UK, probably in the hands of the scientists, medicos and health bureaucrats. These things take time. So don't blame the politicians (probably).

Yes, on this occasion they did have funny things to say about the 2 top generals. My b/f was in fits of laughter. Tsk tsk. Ridicule is the first step towards rebellion.

All good in theory. We await the outcomes on the ground.

As usual people see the world in black & white terms. But reality is more complex. Sinovac was around 50%+ effective against the first round of CV. Less so now against Delta. Sinopharm seems a bit better, but not much. Much the same can be said for AZ & the Pfizer/Moderna efforts, except that they were & remain at higher levels of effectiveness (75%-95% depending which day of the week it is). So for real-world people in real-world complicated circumstances: 50% or even less is better than nothing. And 75-95% is much better, but nothing's perfect.

Give it a scrub & use it again. Same result (negative) each time. Very effective

When I tell my Aussie friends about life in LOS they don't believe me.

Has had lots of practice but not very good at lying. This one beggars belief. Why on earth would AZ choose a [choose adjectives carefully] company to represent it and its product not just in Thailand but throughout SEA?

For me I'm thinking AZ.

All my friends & family in Oz & NZ are vaxed or in process, just like me. So - as far as I know - no conversions there. However, with the exception of my b/f and 3 others whose work bases them in BKK or travelling around Thailand, my Thai Khmer family here are unvaxed and fearful. They know only village gossip which focuses on reports of death-following-vax and have no grasp of statistics. I think/hope most will move as vax becomes available to their age group but I fear for my PILs (3 & 5 years older than me & increasingly frail) ... My capacity to influence them all is minimal. B/f is the key but he seems to be struggling to make progress.