London Lowf

True up to a point - and the employer's NI continues after the State Pension Age whereas the employees contributions stop, which seems a bit unfair. I was in that situation as I worked for an "extra" six months and it was fantastic - no NI and my mortgage was finished. It was tempting to do "just one more year" and then "just one more year" as so many people do, but the clock was winding down and so I quit while I could still enjoy it. However, maybe you would argue that the office space rental, furniture, computer, etc. also "comes out of the employees 'potential' wage"? Rhetorical question, just food for thought.

The State Pension is funded by National Insurance, not Income Tax. The basic rate is 12%, but if you earn more than +/-£1,000 a week then the rate is only 2% on the excess.

Okay - so that is the reason that you are receiving so little! You had me (and others) confused for a while.

I needed to change my ticket when I was in Thailand - I knew it would be a waste of time trying to do it online/by phone/by email and so I drove an hour to Phuket airport and went to their little office there and spoke face to face. No joy as it was a cattle-class ticket, but at least I got a quick answer. Are you nowhere near a Thai Airways office?

You seem to have a smart TV! When I was in Thailand I watched Eurosport on my laptop and Chromecast it to the cheap 32" dumb TV in my rented apartment - I had to go through a UK VPN as my Eurosport subscription is geographically restricted but apart from that, no problems. Sorry, not much help, but I think you have some fundamental problem if you can not even get a decent link up with an HDMI cable - have you tried linking the PC with the TV rather than the modem?

I have a private pension that I have not yet needed to touch - in the year to 18th September last year it grew by 9.81%! I also own my property outright and since I bought it in October 2019 it has increased in value by over 40%. I am not wealthy - I had always earned just slightly over the average wage, but I listened when it was drummed into me to buy a property and a private pension. I appreciate that many could not afford to do this, but many simply did not plan for retirement.

The full new State Pension is £179.60 per week i.e. £718.40 every 4 weeks, and you have paid for more than the qualifying number of years - there is a reason that you are not getting the full amount, and I'm sure that you know what it is! But at least you seem to realise that the state pension is entirely funded by NI contributions and nothing to do with income tax - and that is why you no longer pay NI once you reach state pension age.

Western junk food is now readily available in Thailand and, unlike Westerners who sit down and eat three meals a day at set times, from my observations many Thai girls seem to eat almost constantly throughout their waking hours. And also, rather than throw what they don't eat into the bin, they put it on their make-up table and then microwave it later. Cleanliness? The bum-gun! The way we clean up in the west is positively barbaric - but then again, the mains water where I live is damn cold!

...and even if they could, why on earth (or why off earth ????) would they want to? No PH up there?

Done ???? Although the article headline is rather sensationalist and implies that Thai expats are singled out. This has always been the case for emigrant pensioners unless it was to another EC country - not sure if that has now changed?

Deserved or not, you clearly have an attitude problem towards the kid and he has one towards you. I suggest you walk away

I always offer B2,000 and occasionally top it up with gifts - so you can imagine what I look like ???? (Actually, pretty good for my age, but that's the going rate down in Patong, I believe.) PS: And I no longer use BGs - 100% TF these days.

In my opinion....... I do not want to risk having my post deleted and so I will not name it, but there is one practice that is universally enjoyed by all men but a lot of Thai girls will not accept a return of the favour. And yes, I do know why. Also, a lot of (mainly younger) women don't even know what they want (or need) - or are saving their secrets for "the one". They particularly do not want to open up during casual encounters, which is fair enough I guess. For example, how many times have you been told "kissing only for boyfriend". Despite being relatively accessible, I find that many Thai girls are nonetheless surprisingly unadventurous and conservative - they are generally submissive, non-judgemental and servile starfish, which I believe is what makes them so attractive to the average Western man who simply wants to get his rocks off with the minimum of hassle or effort . Luckily, on my trips to Thailand, I usually/eventually find a girl that I click with and then stick with her - interestingly, they are always over thirty ????

We're all ears - fire away!

I would hate to be married while still having a strong libido - I'm now in my late sixties and think that maybe I could be happy with one partner, but in my earlier life? No way!

"If a guy does it right" - unfortunately, there is no universal method to help a woman to orgasm - they are far more complex than men! Or maybe I'm totally inept and lacking in carnal knowledge and skills - oh well!

You've lived in sub-Saharan Africa? Me too! i gave up sex for twenty years after that - but then i discovered Thai escorts in London.

Tell us your secret! It is a widely accepted fact that many women are incapable of orgasm, many more are only capable when it is they themselves that are providing the stimulus, and that those that are "fully functional and responsive" can only achieve it occasionally. And yet you "always made sure they "finished" - amazing!

Maybe not rigorous, but it's pretty much the same criteria that I start off from - and it's served me very well, thank you!

So, you equate the enjoyment of sex to alcohol abuse/dependence? That's a very strange attitude, and not one that I share.

True, but you can now get medication to counteract that - and the great thing is that you get to choose when and where!

It's not just a matter of cheaper, it's more a matter of attitude. There are prostitutes available for me at home and I can afford them but they are mainly British or Romanian and generally look down their noses at their clients particularly if they are over 40 years of age - when I lived near London I was almost exclusively a customer for Thai girls on a weekly basis and it was that experience that made me curious to travel to the Far East - Orientals have a completely different attitude to men, sex and relationships to Westerners.

Join a gym if you can. I'm 68 years-old and work out twice a week, although you wouldn't know it to look at me! I must admit that I do not enjoy it at all, but when I've finished I feel fantastic and positive - not the "endorphin rush" that the gym bunnies and ripped guys talk about, but just a positive smug satisfaction that I've done something good for my body which will be beneficial as I get even older. Apart from that, I recommend a reasonable intake of beer and a constant variety of younger sexual partners - but not at the same time!

I don't understand this post - as far as I am aware the restaurants (particularly "beaneries") in Thailand are open. Anyway, I am just back in the UK after five months in Thailand during which I lost 3kg of my body mass - not much, but I'm a light guy and that is 5% of me wasted away. Now that I have access to my fantastic home cooking I am quickly regaining the weight - this evening I had my own version of Chicken a la King and it was superb! Thai food? Meh! But that's just me and I would guess that I would be in a tiny minority on this site.

I came home two weeks ago and it seems to have become more relaxed since then. Although closing time was supposedly 11pm, the bars on Bangla basically carried on until the police cruised along - back in October/November that would be an impressive cavalcade of at least a dozen traffic cops on their Nmaxs but by February it was down to one or two tourist police patrol cars which would cruise along at some time between 11:00 and 11:30 - at that point all of the shop bars would "close" (many would carry on behind the shutters) but the music venues such as Red Hot and New York mentioned above would simply carry on as before. Very confusing! Most bars only ever pretended to be restaurants to the extent that they would have a menu behind the bar from a nearby eatery - Blue Lotus bar and the food soi at the eastern end of Bangla used to supply takeaways to the entire road.