herfiehandbag

ÚN peacekeeping forces are utterly, utterly, useless. The vast majority are there for the money. The UN pays their governments a lot of money to hire the troops, who are supposed to arrive trained, equipped and ready to go. I remember the Bangladeshi Battalion which arrived in former Yugoslavia. Understrength, barely trained, light arms only, virtually no ammunition, virtually no vehicles or communications, no rations or procurement ability, no cold weather equipment, no real medical services. They were starving, sick and shivering within a couple of weeks - had to be fed and looked after by the rest of the UN forces. They were known as the Olympic Flames, as they never went out!

Yes, I was wondering - two months out and not a whisper. I would bet the farm that in a years time the same people will be in the same seats

Years ago, I found myself in a car in which the driver and the other passengers were high. It was scary. "even when I was high on the most powerful stuff, nearly obliterated out of my mind, my reflexes were far sharper than they are after I've had three drinks." - I really don't think so, just as a drunk driver is sometimes convinced that the alcohol makes him a better driver is! By the way I don't condone drunk driving! I would also suggest that there are physical health risks associated with regular smoking, be it marijuana or tobacco. I tend to agree that there is an element of hypocrisy in banning cannabis whilst allowing alcohol and tobacco, but, there are many worse and uglier hypocrisies both in Thailand and worldwide,

I used to be an English teacher. I also speak passable French. I used to teach French as an optional extra for Matayom students a couple of hours a week after 3.30pm. The school offered it as an extra curricular class, students (parents) booked it through the school, and I got paid for those extra hours every month in cash. It all came about because we had a french child join the school. She had no Thai or English. The only French speakers in the school were me and the Principal ( Reverend Mother - a nun). I always sat outside to eat my packed lunch and the child used to come and chatter to me in French, some of her classmates watching on. It sort of turned into an informal lesson. The French child picked up Thai within the first semester, which was just as well as whenever I had a free period the older teachers used to march in with her in tow, demanding I explain things to her. In the end the Principal started offering the French lessons. She also got me to show the teachers some of the techniques for teaching a child a foreign language - there are techniques TEFL teachers will (should) know. That was a waste of time - with a couple of exceptions they simply weren't interested.

Says the poster who regularly urges that the families of senators should be hounded for being in the pay of various interests...

Having children riding on an emergency bridging system when it is being deployed. What an insanely stupid idea!

Oh, and since it is taking part at our naval base, could you bring one of your submarines? It doesn't need to have an engine or anything, we just want to see what one will look like parked outside the Admirals office at the new Submarine School! Pretty please, if you do we won't make you sit through our Special Forces demonstration on how to drink a snakes blood, again, honestly!

Several. And the account holders are jolly determined to ensure that it continues to do so! I understand that the police force has some involvement - makes a break from fighting crime I suppose.

Presumably version 1, the one with the dictionary provided by Alfred Lord Tennyson!

Sleek, flaunting, majestic, lavish, meticulous! Someone has just completed the lesson on "adjectives" on their online English course (yes I know flaunting is not an adjective)!

Yes, I get a quarterly mailing from an outfit based in Surbiton. These are all franked by Jersey Post.

Far easier to crack down on children not wearing face masks!

It is not entirely impausible. My mother had a heart valve which failed when she was in her seventies. She was in hospital for several months until she was stable enough to be operated on to have it replaced - by a pigs heart valve actually. She lived for another sixteen years, although bacon sandwiches were off the menu!

I live in Chiang Rai. It remains closed.

I became of "pensionable age" a month ago. I applied for my state pension three months before that. I have heard nothing. According to the information on the application form I should have received my first pension payment four weeks after the date I became eligible. I actually knew how much it should be - I had gone on line through the "Government Gateway" to check and the National Insurance people had told me ( I am a couple of years short for full contributions!) Needless to say telephone calls went unanswered. Concerned at the lack of communication I emailed them. The automated response told me that it could take up to 10 days to get a response. Today, 10 days almost to the minute ( they must think that I came up the Severn on the last banana boat) I received a reply, it simply told me that they had received my claim ( there was a worrying 10 days difference between when the recorded delivery text from Thailand Post told me it was delivered and when they said it was received). The claim was in process, and they would write to me whe it was finalised. They could give me no further details, as email was insecure etc etc! Of course it takes what, up to two months for "surface mail" to get from the UK to here. Has anyone else experienced these sort of delays in dealing with the International Pensions Office? The email is insecure bit is a joke. My last Army Pension Statement at the beginning of this financial year had been opened at the Bangkok International Mail Office, and the amount received monthly, and the annual total, written in Thai figures on the back of the envelope!

I became of "pensionable age" a month ago. I applied for my state pension three months before that. I have heard nothing. According to the information on the application form I should have received my first pension payment four weeks after the date I became eligible. Needless to say telephone calls went unanswered. Concerned at the lack of communication I emailed them. The automated response told me that it could take up to 10 days to get a response. Today, 10 days almost to the minute ( they must think that I came up the Severn on the last banana boat) I received a reply, it simply told me that they had received my claim ( there was a worrying 10 days difference between when the recorded delivery text from Thailand Post told me it was delivered and when they said it was received). The claim was in process, and they would write to me whe it was finalised. They could give me no further details, as email was insecure etc etc! Of course it takes what, up to two months for "surface mail" to get from the UK to here. Has anyone else experienced these sort of delays in dealing with the International Pensions Office? The email is insecure bit is a joke. My last Army Pension Statement at the beginning of this financial year had been opened at the Bangkok International Mail Office, and then amount received monthly, and the annual total, written in Thai figures on the back!

We must protect the pure innocence of the people - after all there is no prostitution in Pattaya!

You forgot about burning witches! Those big buckles on your shoes pinching a bit are they? PS I realise (hope) that you are taking the Mickey!

I am not sure that, certainly visual, advertising of alcohol is a problem any more. If we are to believe what we often read, it is mostly obscured by a haze of pot smoke! Seriously though, has anyone ever been persuaded to buy a particular brand of beer by the logo on a bottle of soda water?

Whilst that is certainly your long term hope, and one which you have evinced quite regularly (funny but I thought openly wishing death on people was against forum rules, but then you do seem to have some leeway in these matters); if he does die it raises the question onto which unfortunate will you turn your obsessive attention?

Unfortunately in the sense that it rather undermines his point.

Yes jolly clever - unfortunately I am not an alcoholic - at present I very rarely drink in fact. You may, were you not so obsessed with drawing conclusions from no evidence whatsoever, have deduced that I am not really bothered at all. In fact the point that I was making is that with the exception of a few falang enthusiasts for and opponents to the stuff, no one else is really bothered at all!

Thailand has made a significant "down payment". Has any form of construction started? As they now tell us that changing from a German to a Chinese engine will add 40 months (!) delay it is clearly not such an easy switch as was suggested! I thought one of the selling points of the Chinese deal was that it was, relatively speaking, an "off the shelf" deal! Perhaps time to recognise that they have been scammed and cut their losses.

One could of course ask why does he need to sleep?

Absolutely, outside of a few enthusiasts no one cares. So nothing will actually happen then. Perhaps some sort of zoning scheme to increase revenue?