Lacessit

Do not buy a car until you can save enough to pay cash for it. What happens if your 70,000 baht job disappears through no fault of your own? Take songthaews and taxis in the meantime.

I thank you for your service to Australia. As Cold Chisel put it, there were no V-day heroes in 1973. Best wishes.

Same in Australia, cash transactions are like unicorn sightings. Governments love cards, it makes everything traceable. Cash is anonymous.

Back in the day, my dream car was a Bristol. Aluminium body, some owners stripped off whatever paint was used. IIRC, the piston stroke was way more than its diameter. Not much on acceleration compared to the oversquare engines favored by Ford, but the top speed for a comparatively small engine was something else. Nowadays, I'd settle for a Kia Stinger.

I'd say the limit is set by the amount of GBP an individual shop is holding. AFAIK nothing preventing the OP from going to other exchanges, if one does not have enough on hand.

You're right, I misremembered the detail.

Most fun I have ever had with a car was a Honda Civic, 1974 two door hatchback. Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula is a very twisty hill climb of 300 metres elevation. I would drive the Civic up there to home after picking up fish and chips down below in Dromana. Occasionally, I would get a bogan in a V8 trying to overtake me on the way up. They never could, even with only 1200 cc of engine it was just too nimble on the hairpin curves. For its time, the engineering was brilliant. It was also the only car I ever made a profit on, bought it new for $3200, sold it about 6 years later with 100,000 km on the odometer for $3400.

Why are you still engaging? I put KH on ignore quite a while ago.

My Thai GF is afraid of ghosts. She will not go outside after dark unless I am with her. I think her reasoning is because I don't believe in ghosts, they will stay away when I am around.

You really think the ATO can be bothered with an audit of people on pensions? They have bigger fish to fry.

Most 60 yo Thai women would meet that criterion.

IMO government pensions do not get the same nose-in-the-air attitude ordinary pensions do, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I seem to remember in the residency tests they get exempted anyway. I was told this joke by the former chairman of the Victorian EPA: Q: Why do public servants never look out the window in the morning? A: Because then they would have nothing to do in the afternoon.

You can build a 36 sqm comfortable granny flat for about 400K - 500K here. I built one for 350K a few years ago. Problem is, you'll have to marry a Thai to get the land to put it on.

Roosters procreate with hens, when they have outlived their usefulness they go into the cooking pot. They are one of the principal sources of protein in rural villages, chickens are good at feeding themselves. I am wondering if I will go into the cooking pot too, when I reach my use-by date, figuratively speaking.

I think you mean they cannot get laid in their own country by a woman 30 years younger than them.

The inflammation looks nasty, I'd suggest a visit to a hospital or clinic. Irrespective of how it happened, sepsis is not something anyone wants to follow the initial trauma.

Obviously, you missed out, which is influencing your view. My Thai GF cooks, washes my clothes, gives me a massage and more, even cuts my toenails. She sees dirt which is invisible to me, and I am not a slob. I am certainly getting more bang for my buck than I got in Australia, they were the ones who wanted to sit on their a$$ while I was busting mine.

Crazy like a fox. A cashed-up stud like you with a big todger is their dream. After the introduction to mum, next step would be having your baby.

A rather cynical view, but I suppose you are entitled to it. Mother-daughter hostilities have been around since Adam was a pup, and you're assuming the mother is the one at fault. Permit me to doubt the assets she has are the result of 2 or 3 broken hearts, perhaps I should have said she is no oil painting. I'm inclined to the view she is simply a hard worker. Many Thai women are. It's a long time since I have been in a bar, maybe 8 years. IIRC, the standard questions I got then centered around lady drinks, and if I would pay a barfine. The questions I posted get asked even now by massage women, restaurant waitresses and hospital nurses, and it's not because I am hansum man.

I'd suggest if - and it's a big IF - the s##t does hit the fan, many pensioners will be minimizing what the government can get its hands on. I know I will be. As Kerry Packer once famously said, anyone who doesn't minimize their tax needs their head read, because you guys don't spend it so well we should just give it to you.

Your tolerance of the Ku Klux Klan is noted.

If I was a Thai woman, I'd be looking for a farang to take care of me too. Because once they get to their forties, fifties and sixties, the future is pretty bleak. Some Thai women are abandoned by their husbands or partners because they are no longer beautiful, or they have a child/children the Thai male does not want to support. Presumably there are Thai men who remain in a marriage, even if they play around, which I understand is quite common. Mia nois and giks. Having said that, I am astounded by the number of quite attractive Thai women I meet that are single, and not by their choice. It's a contract of mutual support. I can expect to be looked after when I am messing my diapers, in return for the money I provide. A case in point is my regular Thai massage lady. 60 yo, hard worker. When she was 30 yo, her husband told her she was no longer beautiful, and split. Her daughter hasn't spoken to her for years. She's actually better off than many rural Thais, owns her own house, car, and scooter. However, if she stops working, she will only be getting the government handout of 500 or 600 baht/month, which is a sick joke. Standard questions I get from just about every middle-aged Thai woman are "Where are you from?" Second question invariably is " Do you have a Thai GF?" Quite sad, really.

You're not mistaken. However, you were saying they are just letters. It's when they are used by dictators and groups with an agenda that they are no longer just letters. They become symbols as well.

I am heavily into gold and silver, too many governments printing money.

Quite correct, but how is the ATO going to know what you have invested in? Only if you tell them in a tax return lodged with them. The ATO is connected with Centrelink, and if they start taxing the OAP, I simply won't put in a tax return the next time around. Plenty of people doing that already.