Fruit Machine

Agreed - makes a lovely alternative, knocks the spots off cargo shorts. Worn a sarong in Bali, and a longi in Burma (but tricky to tie properly!)

Do any of you have a thing about Angela Merkel? She always, but always, wears trousers, never a dress or a skirt. A search engine came up with one picture of her in a long dress at a diplomatic function, but that was the only one I could find. I guess her pants must be pretty tight as she's not Paltrow. Gosh, I'll miss that woman when she's gone, and the German's will too as they embark on maybe months of horse trading to decide who's to succeed her.

John Steed in the Avengers, played by Patrick Macnee, was a wonderfully eccentric character. I recall his suits were always impecable and always in the latest style, such as width of the lapels, number of buttons etc. No chance of his suits coming from China; that would've been back in the day when chairman Mao was in charge so his countrymen would've had a pretty miserable existence waving their little red books and denouncing all and sundry as capitalist roaders, but I daresay a decent suit could've been purchased in Hong Kong. Not long ago it seemed to be the fashion in a three-button jacket to button the top two buttons. That was a faux pas IMO as only the middle button should be buttoned. No wonder we talk about somebody being buttoned up when they're a bit reserved or stand-offish, what with all these rules and that's without going into whether the buttons on the sleeve of a jacket should unfasten or not, and if they do whether leaving oneor two unfastened to indicate to others your suit isn't off the peg is buttoned up behaviour.

Rather like Bond's liking his drink shaken, not stirred (or is it the other way round?), one may wish to proffer ones preference for imbibing in general: are you a slurper or a sipper? The sage of Omaha may have a decent tie but no way I'd slurp (guzzle?) my drink in that fashion, plus it's 15 - 20 years since that kind of fizzy abomination passed my lips and the last time was on a blazing hot day in Mexico coming down from one of the Mayan temples and I was dying of thirst, so even I am mortal. And yes, I guess I did guzzle it down rather sharpish. In general though drinking any liquid from the bottle isn't my style, and since this is a rather Thai / tie-obsessed forum I like my Singha, Chang or whatever beer I am drinking drunk from a glass perhaps with a little ice as I do like my beer cold and it warms up ever so quickly in Thailand, and no, I seldom sport a Windsor knot, indeed the size of my knot varies according to my mood.

My wife has just been granted settlement in the UK. The main qualification is to live here with a UK citizen, either husband or permanent partner, for five years. There is a financial requirement, however, but it's clearly defined, so fair IMO. Wife has a good job and has earned her own money almost from Day 1. The cost of the visas is extortionate, and a big rip off, but we knew that before we started so we factored it in. My wife has no intention of returning to Thailand - Covid or no-Covid, and my Thai-born step-son will make his home here. My wife can now apply for citizenship: once that's granted she can apply for a UK passport and, assuming the world doesn't stop spinning on its axis, enjoy foreign travel to her heart's content.