pelagicpete

During ten years in the Sahara I learnt from the paramedics from Hereford that "if you don't want to pi$% you are not drinking enough". In hot weather drink 1.5 to 3 litres a day depending on exposure and activity. Last but not least "wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.........etc" You get the idea.

I seem to remember the re build of Thappraya Road went on for years with no sight of the contractors at all.

The reason that Putin invaded the Ukraine was to take all its wealth, which Russia needs. It is right there sitting on their doorstep and ripe for picking. All their other excuses for the invasion are flim flam. Ukraine has the riches that Russia needs, oil, gas, wheat, exports, heavy industry and so on. That is the only reason for it. And he was ready for a showdown with the West.

Do the police have a part to play in this fatality? Don't they investigate?

In truth there is only one market that this price rise is going to hurt. You know it: the poorest people in Thailand. Noodles are a godsend that only needs hot water to provide a reasonably nourishing hot meal. Often this is the only meal of the day that needy out of work families will get. The customers in my wife's restaurant provide cash for these pot noodle meals to be bought, which we do, and we give them to local charities that distribute food to the villagers around the Pattaya area. The price has already gone up this year and this is an extra 1 baht. To put it into perspective, the 500 pot noodle meals we frequently buy for distribution to the very poor, used to be 5,000 baht, now it is 5,500 baht, and after this it will be 6,000 baht. That means that the original 5,000 baht of cash raised will now buy 1,000 baht worth fewer meals. That is 100 meals less. Few expats realise the extent of the dreadful poverty that is 'out there'. And mostly children are affected by it. Poverty and malnourishment for the young is certain to produce weaker and less resilient adults, with a poorer education. I hope most expats are aware of the sharp end of increasing the cost of food for the poor.

Surely the police should not be making laws, perhaps making recommendations but certainly enforcing them?

The one thing I always notice when the subject of road deaths in Thailand comes up, is that no one hardly ever mentions the fact that Thai people do not undergo the driving/riding education/training that exists in nearly every other country. The latest attempt is to fill in, on line, a questionnaire, and you get a number of goes. Then you get a certificate to be presented to the office, and after the usual braking test etc, you get a licence. The upshot of this system, combined with lack of enforcement, is that the standard of driving on the actual roads is not predictable. So no one has standardised road behaviour protocols, no one can predict what will happen at any time. Powerful education tools like adverts on tv, saying keep your lights down not on high, and safety, do not exist. Not to mention traffic police, lack of. This sadly demonstrates the lack of willpower in the govt to change anything.

Had a chat with a group of Governors playing golf a few years ago, and asked about this, the one who was interested told us that the Government is totally aware of the situation but is held up by a number of problems. One is Education, no driving test after lessons that are the same all over the country, this would be a Federal Inspection issue to pass individuals, the second is Enforcement, active on the road enforcement of the laws, another is Environment, ie the way the roads are designed and built to prevent accidents. There were two more that began with E, I cannot remember them. It seems they just lack the motivation to make it happen. I think the biggest problem is poverty. If you want to stop a family taking their children to school, five on a bike, how will they get there? they cannot all afford helmets or a car. And the self sustaining economy contains a significant proportion of bike and pickup businesses that evade the rules, cannot afford them anyway. More Government control would cost a lot of money, ie a lot more taxes all round. Look at the taxes in Europe and the West, to contain the problem the Government has to pay for an alternative. It is a big problem.

This is a really good idea, if it comes to fruition. Thailand lacks care facility for its needy in the community, to match the demand for it. I do hope this works well and expands its horizons to elderly care generally, and then perhaps needy children too. And the poverty stricken. Here's hoping.

I was getting very frustrated at the number of punctures i was getting in both cars, always pointed screws, in the Pattaya area. I used to get them repaired by a local shop but suspected he was gloating rather too much and the charges varied from 50 baht to over 300 for a quickie repair. So i went to a very well known larger tyre operation nearby and they repaired this type of puncture for free. I complained to them about how many punctures I was getting and they were not at all surprised. I asked how many times they repaired tyres with screw punctures and they said 20 to 30 every day!! It is also my opinion that a local repair shop is the culprit.

YUPINS RESTAURANT in Jomtien Complex does a traditional Christmas Menu every year and is usually fully booked. CALL Yupins Restaurant for a booking on 081 772 0679 or 087 062 9672 or Email on [email protected] Send us an email address and we can send you photos of the meal choices. Many thanks and Happy Christmas!!

I have a complete sausage making kit for sale, bought new a while ago, hardly used, if you are interested. all in Stainless Steel, plus large motor for grinding the meat. message me if you are interested. I have not advertised it for sale yet. But now you mention it....

there is only one way to do this, increase the flow of water in the river as it passes through BKK and into the open sea. This is a major engineering task featuring digging out the bottom on a decent scale. and repeat every year.

Looking at the Ventusky weather app, the pollution seems to always originate from Bangkok. Look under 'air quality' . None is shown as coming from farmlands. How reliable this app is, I don't know, but it raises questions.

Watching the Ventusky weather app, with the pollution filter on, it is very obvious that the source of particulate matter is in fact Bangkok itself. It is very easy to see this, and some other major cities also are pollution centres. In my opinion it is the vehicle fumes that in certain weather patterns are the cause, although factories may also be an additional cause.

I have been following the progress and start point of the pollution on Ventusky, a weather app, for a few weeks now, and it is startlingly obvious that the place it all comes from, in this region, is Bangkok. Wether it is factories or car emissions is not obvious, but it seems to be coming from big cities like BKK.