mfd101

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.

Oh dear, so sad. And all Darwin's fault.

Certainly plenty of hubs to go round.

I'll be getting my 2nd Pfizer shot in a couple of weeks here in Surin. My forward planning is contemplating some booster shot in the first half of next year. My thinking at this stage is to get AZ as booster on the basis that the different approach to the virus will reinforce the resistance I should already have by then. But no hurry. Other developments may offer other choices at the time.

Everything is in motion as China rises and Usofa retreats.

Still in process both nationally & internationally. Many hiccups along the way, no doubt. Won't settle down for months, possibly a couple of years. It needs agreement on a uniform approach internationally, just as with passports. That'll take at least months to achieve. Domestic arrangements in every country will have to be subordinate to the international agreement, whatever form it takes.

Yes, does seem a little out of date when Pfizers are now being delivered gradually to falangs throughout Thailand c/- expatvac site & its delegated provincial authorities.

To be blunt, the pandemic doesn't make much difference to me. My b/f and I haven't been out of Surin or south Buriram (Ban Kruat lake) for approaching 2 years. Last time we were in BKK was Nov 2019. But I travel the world every day in my mind. I sit here in my library and I read and think and write. Every day. And every day my b/f, who has never done any of those things, goes to the family farm and manages his large family and builds houses for them. We're currently on the 3rd house for one sister & her kids - a solid steel construction entirely designed by my boy who is functionally illiterate & uneducated. But he is strong & determined, not a mouse like the rest of his family. House no.1 was built in 2013 for his Mum. House no.2 was built a couple of years ago for another sister & her husband & boy. Life is good. We live inside our heads and in relation to the people we love. We look forward to traveling again when we can. We were planning a trip to Taiwan with friends from Melbourne when covid got in the way. Will we ever get to Taiwan? Perhaps not, if Xi Jin Ping has his way. But we're certainly hoping to get to BKK next year. Will be interesting to see what has survived of our favourite haunts around Asoke and Terminal 21. This probably sounds silly to many of you, but every day I say thank you to God for bringing me love so late in my life, and I pray that he will look after my boy and all his family now and when I'm gone.

Yes, similar to me. First Pfizer jab last Thursday 26th. Friday, Saturday, Sunday feeling tired with occasional hot flushes (perspiring), a touch of diarrhea yesterday, today Monday back to normal. No arm pain at all but was aware of the jab site every time I moved my arm for the first 2 days.