In the jungle

It is interesting that you mention knee operations. Three months ago my brother had a replacement knee operation. His treatment for years prior to the operation had been under the NHS by one consultant. When the consultant concluded that a replacement knee was the only solution my brother agreed. This operation would be carried out under the NHS. Due to a government initiative to reduce NHS waiting lists the surgery was transferred to a private hospital. At that hospital/clinic some three hundred yards from the NHS hospital the surgery was performed by the very same surgeon my brother had been seeing all along. Of course the NHS paid for the surgery. This seems to me to be a clear case of the government throwing money at their chums in the private sector for ideological reasons. There could and should have been a better solution.

11K a year is not a reasonable salary for a graduate. Minimum wage will be 15K if current proposal is implemented. My wife's unskilled Burmese workers already make 15K a month.

I think I recall that the Ridgeline has independent rear suspension which would mean it falls outside the Thai definition of a pickup truck. Also kind of a gas hog compared with the trucks sold here (I am guessing that the figures are miles per US gallon).

I very much hope the policy change you mention never happens. The NHS is one of the greatest assets the UK has and in the UK private healthcare is a parasite on its back. To see how truly dysfunctional private healthcare can be take a look at the USA. Even here in Thailand my perception is that in private hospitals proposed treatments are sometimes influenced by a financial motives. For any serious medical condition the NHS is the place to go in the UK. When Boris Johnson got seriously sick with covid he probably could have gone anywhere he wanted for healthcare. He went to the NHS.

It's OK. He had undergone a disrobing ceremony for the proceedings.

I think the man's behaviour was appalling. I have zero sympathy for him. The woman, on the other hand, was humiliated in front of her friends and subject to an unprovoked assault. She deserves no punishment for her reaction to that.

They are but flesh and blood.

It may well be that they just wanted me to go away! It was late afternoon on a Friday and they were all just chilling out in the office with nothing to do. My wife and I were the only people there.

I remember asking about the Yellow Book years ago at the Amphur and their advice, paraphrased, was 'Don't bother. It is a world of pain to get it and it is of very limited use.'

I have done the vast majority of the pipework on our house exposed. If you plan carefully where you run the pipes it doesn't have to be ugly. Much of it runs around the outside walls of the house just below the ceilings of the verandah which is on all sides. PVC pipe and jointing systems do not seem to have anything like the lifespan of copper pipe with brazed joints. The original pipework, generally under-specified, is still buried in the walls and under the floors. With exposed pipework it is easy to see the leaks and fix them and also easy to make changes to the water system. We bought the house secondhand. There was no way I was going to start smashing up walls or the, beautifully done, granite floor trying to find a water leak in the original pipework.

I use blue PVC for the cold and copper for the hot. The copper pipe and fittings (braze type only IIRC) came from this company in Bangkok. http://www.thainair.com/ENG/index.htm If you need somebody to braze the connections air con guys know how to do it.

I am pretty sure he must be. I think it is the only option now if you are applying from within the UK.

It looks to me like he was just trying to cool the brakes down.

What he said. The Chinese stuff is just an exercise in frustration. Poor quality. No parts or technical support. Just don't bother. In the Thai marketplace Stihl is the go to brand. If you hire someone here to do chainsaw work I can almost guarantee they will turn up with a Stihl. It's the Hilux of chainsaws.

I have a Stihl MS180. It is maybe 8 years old and I cannot remember exactly what I paid for it. Maybe 8000. Worth the money. But the main reason I am posting is because I strongly advise against using a chainsaw at height. You are much better off paying somebody else to do that; whether with your tool or their own. Chainsaws can cause horrendous injuries and the risks increase at height.

1. Change police processes so that there is never a reason for money to pass from a member of the public to a police officer. 2. Make it a serious criminal offence for both parties if such transactions take place. That would be a start.

How do I know they are BS stamps? Because I spent more than twenty years of my life working for immigration in a first world country.

It's BS because other countries don't find it necessary to do this stuff.

Thai Grand Prix. The braking point for turn one is the som tam stall on the right.

I went through this process recently. A different visa category and at a provincial office. The process itself was relatively straightforward with no demand for additional documents. What bugged me was the fact that they filled up two and a half pages of my new passport with a whole bunch of BS stamps and manuscript notes.

I have tried a 1960s Triumph. If you clenched your teeth on one of those you would need a good dentist to fix the wreckage ????

I reckon granny ain't getting much action after his sore prostate has been pummeled by that vibrating piece of junk.

I think there is too much emphasis in this discussion on reaction times. If you are a skilled rider you will anticipate problems in advance and you will maximise the time you have to deal with them by methods such as good road positioning to allow maximum lines of sight and safe braking distances to the vehicle ahead. You also need good braking technique and the ability to evade threats. Reaction times are a bit of a last resort. Yes you need good reactions but you do not need to match Lewis Hamilton or Marc Marquez. If you are relying upon fast reaction times on the road, generally speaking, you messed up earlier on in the sequence of events.

I think you have an incorrect perception of aging. Provided I remain fit and healthy I certainly intend to be riding at seventy. I am in my sixties now and I do think my night vision has deteriorated with age. I deal with that by doing my best to avoid driving or riding at night.

We all have different tastes. To my eyes that CL43 interior is horrific. Too complex and a mish mash of different materials seemingly chosen at random. And honestly I don't think it matters what colour you make the interior lighting it will still look like a tart's bedroom. The Toyota interior is relatively simple and functional. It has a proper handbrake and a proper manual gearbox. It is doubtless high quality and it it will keep on working. To my my mind simplicity is a virtue.