Lacessit

In the title of the thread.

My former Australian GF was getting a Canadian social security pension in addition to her OAP.

Nurses in government hospitals are compulsorily retired at age 45.

Tell your friend he should not live alone, he can hire a carer to live with him for 10k - 15k baht/month.

Why do Americans need therapy, even the mob bosses? Most of us live our lives quite happily without it.

The OP is destroying most organic nutrients present in his ingredients with prolonged boiling. Vitamins etc. My approach is to cook vegetables by bringing beans, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower to the boil briefly, then simmer for five minutes. I drain the water off, and put them all in a blender. I then add chunks of New Zealand Mainland vintage cheese, plus sai ua, northern Thai herbal sausage. I blend, adding boiling water to achieve the desired consistency. The end product is similar to a mulligatawny. Australians can add Vegemite for B vitamins, and extra flavor. Filling, and tasty. IMO that is soup. From the OP's description, he is in the process of making mush.

I had a six-figure salary prior to 2000. If I knew then what I know now in terms of scammers, I would not be getting Centrelink benefits. I have a friend in Australia who was earning a really big dollar as a software designer. He and his wife are living in rented accommodation, both drawing a full OAP. He lost all his money to a crooked partner, who looted the partnership bank account and all the other assets. He disappeared to South America. I think the Arab/Muslim countries have the right idea when they cut off the right hands of thieves. No one can predict the future. Although someone on this thread thinks they can.

He knows how to sell the personal data of his Facebook members to any organizations that want it, including scammers. He knows how to harvest said data from their posts without their knowledge. It's why I have never been on that social media platform, and never will.

Agreed. It's highly unlikely a TFN would be allocated to anyone else, at least while the original recipient is still alive.

To be fair, a downhill fairway, following wind, and sun-hit course with a hard clay base under light couch grass would assist distance in various ways. Titanic Thompson was a golf hustler back in the days when there were only hickory-shafted clubs and gutta-percha golf balls. An expert player could achieve 200 yards with a drive. He once bet a mark he could drive a ball 500 yards, a wager which was gleefully accepted. Thompson teed the ball up on the edge of a frozen lake, and made the required distance easily.

CaddyShack was a hoot as well.

The reduction in pensions for Australians living overseas is a modest one. It consists of losing any rent assistance, energy and phone subsidies six weeks after leaving Australia - about 7.5% of the full pension. It's restored as soon as I land in Australia. To me, it makes sense - why give me subsidies for services I am not using?

Voters certainly can do something about a government that messes with their pensions. Politicians in Australia learned long ago to avoid offending the pensioner vote. To do otherwise still is electoral suicide.

IMO the worst snobbery I encountered was in the private golf clubs in Scotland. I think I got shoulder strain from changing in and out of a jacket and tie so often. One of the members there was complaining about declining membership. I said it was not surprising, given the rigidity of their dress code. I am not advocating golf in flipflops and wifebeaters. However, there is a middle ground.

I have had my share of failures as well as victories. I can remember coming up the last hole of a club championship, needing a par to win. Getting dark, and my second shot was from a good position. Either I was having a problem with depth perception, or I was fired up with adrenaline. Most probably the latter. I finished up under the clubhouse at the back of the green, and took 6 to lose by a stroke. A couple of weeks later, I played my second from about the same position, same 7 iron. It finished 2 feet from the pin.

My personal record for 18 holes ( 2 players ) is 1 hour 50 minutes, when I was much younger. Anything over 4 hours even now is too bloody slow. It gets a bit frustrating here when I get stuck behind Asian players, who seem to accept 6 hours as normal. I usually cut the round short, or move to another hole, when that happens. Participating in a sport is not the same as watching it.

Golf is like fishing in that respect.

Believe it or not, it's a special treat for them. Good post of yours, though.

I give modest cash gifts to her family members, and take her and the grandchildren to KFC.

How do you know she is not faking it?

Steady on, my GF is a grandmother. In better shape than many women 20 years younger. Sick puppies are those sixty-somethings that like sex with barely legal teenagers.

IMO the bans on travel during COVID are unlikely to happen again, every country saw what it did to their national airlines. I doubt there will be carbon passports, AFAIK nobody has worked out how to fly passenger aircraft with batteries.

Australians call it soccer too. We play Australian Rules football, which is far more physically taxing. A midfielder covers 15 - 20 km in a game. Granted, there are moments of great skill in passing the ball by foot alone. Or a well-executed header. However, i'd agree there are long periods when the players don't seem to be doing anything. I suppose there are masochists who enjoy watching a 0-0 drawn game, I am not one of them.

I have Kplus installed on my laptop and phone. I can't say I have tried to login on both simultaneously, why would you want to do that?

Depends on whether one is a glass half empty or glass half full person. We may be heading into a depression, IMO I am well equipped with cash if it is.