London Lowf

I just completed this quiz. My Score 30/100 My Time 157 seconds  

Tax deductible is not the same as free! However, making charitable donations can be seen as virtue signalling by the more cynical amongst us.

To me, the only thing of note in this item is..... why on earth did they go to the trouble of attempting to make it look like a single photo when it is quite clearly two?

No, I read your post three times and am still not clear - but never mind. And by the way, it wasn't me who left the confused emoji so I guess I'm not the only one.

So, how does "after a while have been cut for the hundredth time by an undertaking speeding idiot" happen?

I just completed this quiz. My Score 80/100 My Time 88 seconds  

I live in the same reality as you - I'm a Patong barfly six nights a week for six months a year (in season) and a keen people watcher and VERY few of the girls EVER get barfined, let alone three times a night! Lolothais long rant is total fiction to me.

Why? Worried about the Thai "defamation" laws? I booked a ticket through a Skyscanner link to an agent - Carlton Leisure in the UK - and the flight was cancelled due to Covid. They wanted £150 to arrange my refund and pointed me to their T&Cs. Totally illegal practice under UK consumer law and I eventually got a full refund by credit card charge-back. A lot of UK agents use this scam - they must have made millions during Covid! As a result of this experience I still research flights/times on Skyscanner but only ever book direct with the airline. I reckon it costs me an extra 5% but I'm more than happy to pay the extra to avoid the scum.

But, unlike Australia, UK and everywhere, Phuket is absolutely littered with abandoned developments, many of them huge! I would imagine that there is a similar back story to most of them. When I first started coming to Phuket, the only one I noticed was at the south end of Nai Yang beach - now they are everywhere with more to follow I would guess.

Or maybe the tree had already fallen across the road and the driver simply didn't see it in time. We'll never know.

I'll miss Bob! Not so much for his posts but more for the hysterical reactions that he seems to be able to solicit from many posters on here that take him (and themselves) far too seriously.

But, back to the OP - I had several live-in relationships in my ealier life, one of them for four years, but do not recognise any of his "stages" - maybe it's just a Farang/Thai girl thing?

Some are - the last freelance girl that I saw regularly became very needy. I really can't handle that as I've got older and more set in my ways but many people enjoy that dependance.

I can do the first four quite well as a single but I'm not cut out for either caring or being cared for - I just find it oppressively claustrophobic. I accept that I am in the minority.

What purpose does life have being one half of a relationship? Each to their own!

Years ago I hooked up exclusively with bar girls – as an older guy and a long-term tourist rather than an expat it was a convenient way to meet. With the wide availability of girls online I am now reluctant to pay a bar-fine – very aptly named as it is a penalty for the punter. I have no objections whatsoever in paying a girl but do not like the idea of a pimp latching on to the transaction and so have only used freelancers for the last few years. Of course, most are one-night stands but there have been a couple of gems who I visited on multiple occasions and would have considered a longer relationship if I was a full-time resident. The fact that a girl has worked in a bar or as a freelancer does not put me off – in fact, quite the opposite as I prefer a girl who has experience rather than a twenty-year-old bimbo. PS: I still go to bars for beer and people-watching every night when in Thailand and there are still some nice-looking girls in Patong – Pattaya and Bangkok sound grim!

And so has the SETV.

I just completed this quiz. My Score 40/100 My Time 78 seconds  

I just completed this quiz. My Score 40/100 My Time 105 seconds  

I just completed this quiz. My Score 71/100 My Time 105 seconds  

Yes, I am fully aware that I can go for visa exemption on arrival, and then the 30-day extension either way, but I'm more comfortable doing it this way - I know, there's a word for that! Actually, I was expecting them to come back with "We are not currently issuing this visa" like they did when I applied for an METV a few years ago - gave me a TR60 but still kept the full fee that I'd paid.

Every time I do a TR60 there are less requirements - five years ago it was a PITA but now it is a breeze. My latest one (this week) they do now incorporate your submitted photo onto the visa.

Rather London than the South Devon coast - it's grim down here at the best of times.

Wow - not often I read that on this forum!