stratocaster

Barclays bank have announced that as a cost cutting plan, they are examining ALL current accounts, and accounts that generate no income for the bank, for example no service charges, will be closed. This is an addition measure from the overseas residents accounts closure announced in September.

It has been reported in the UK media that owners of cars damaged at Luton have had their insurance claims rejected. Insurance companies are saying that responsibility rests with the Luton airport insurance company. Interestingly the airport car park has the usual "cars parked at owners risk" signs.

There is a you tuber who detailed the issuing of his mothers 15 month visa for 60,000 baht in Bangkok using agents money. Last month he decided to renew mothers visa himself in the boonies. He had deposited 800,00 baht in his mothers account 11 months ago. Imagine his shock when immigration wanted to see his mothers account in her name, for the missing four months. Of course he had to use the agent again to get it smoothed out.

Posting this out of curiosity. In the last three weeks I have met Americans who propose starting businesses in Thailand under the Amity laws. First guy will rent a shophouse and install 4 washing machines with two dryers and open as a laundromat under the amity treaty. He is doing this to get a work permit plus non B and no 4 employees rule. Second guy has a hole in the wall restaurant he is selling for 200,000 baht in which he claims if you are American you can run under amity as a sole proprietor. Third guy is starting a real estate business from "his" home under the amity concession, again to get a work permit and non B. Is it really that simple? Before I burst their bubble, I would have thought that there would be minimum financial requirements at the very least.

Sorry I disagree with you. My feeling is that what's happening in the UK now, is what will be happening in Thailand in 3/5 years time. So be prepared.

Reminds me of the German gentleman who rented a 4 star hotel in Pattaya on a three year lease, and sold all the rooms on a lifetime timeshare basis.

I have just watched an interview with an old Palestinian gentlemen recorded in 1947. He states. "If the British, French and Americans are so intent on giving the Jews a homeland why don't they donate some of their land. Why should we give up our land." Simplistic I know but it is the root of the problem.

I have not read all the posts but I think the 1500 pounds per month for total care is a come on. I looked into a retirement home a couple of years ago out of curiosity. The accommodation only cost was 40,000 baht in a shared room! with breakfast only. Private room, nursing, extra meals, transportation and medical services were extras. Regarding nursing care the cost was 15,000 baht/month for 8 hours per day and 40,000 baht/month for full time nursing. This is not at the care home featured.

Be interesting to see the news from the UK on Wednesday, as the Tory party will reveal if 52 no confidence letters have been received in regards to Sunak. Rumor has it that 40 had been submitted before the last by-by elections.

The best two stories doing the rounds are the Tory supporters claiming it is just a by election blip. The other is that a faction within the far right Tory MP's are pushing for Nigel Farage to be the next leader of the party. Firstly he would need to find a safe Tory seat at the general election and those will be like hens teeth to find. Also the last time he stood for parliment he was beaten by a candidate dressed as a dolphin.

How could this be correct. Only yesterday Grant Shapps (who's he?) on Skye news, said that the UK has the highest growth rate of any Westernized country. Notice it is no longer the highest growth in the G7 which has became a provable lie whatever time frame you use. https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2022/apr-2022/chart-of-the-week-g7-economic-growth.

Actually the biggest problem in the UK is now depreciation. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-12160659/Used-electric-cars-nosedived-value-2023.html

Sorry I am old school but to me a distributor is a mechanical device to distribute the high voltage current to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. Nothing to rewind in the Bosch distributor as fitted to the old E30. Perhaps it is the ignition coil that has failed as it is a known weak spot on pre 1991 cars. Or do you mean some sort of electrical distribution box associated with the wiring harness. If you want a reliable ignition system it is possible to retrofit the coil over individual spark plug system as fitted to later cars.

It is not only Thais but farangs also. Just seen a well known Thai based you tuber install a wall mount for a 55inch tv. He drills about 1/4 inch and the bit punches through in to fresh air. All four holes are the same result. He then inserts what looks like 3/16 inch plastic wall plugs with small screws. If he had left the screen parallel he might have got away with it, but he angles the screen downward putting the top screws in tension instead of shear. I am waiting for the headline, "Well known you tuber starts crowdfunding his medical bill after TV falls on his head".

And then there is this. Today Money Mail raises serious concerns around how easily banks have allowed fraudsters to set up accounts. We have obtained the details of 82 bank accounts opened by a criminal gang using fake IDs and counterfeit utility bills. The list, which was compiled by police as part of an investigation into online fraud, shows that the crooks managed to trick nine major High Street banks into letting them run accounts to carry out scams. Almost half of the accounts were opened at HSBC, Nationwide allowed 13 accounts to be opened using fake IDs, while NatWest opened 12. Barclays and Santander each had five accounts on the list, Metro Bank was responsible for three and Halifax two. Lloyds and TSB each opened one.

I wonder which method they used. Key words from video are "BUY" "OWN" and "THEIR OWN HOME" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHlNUg7E0yc Also a well known blogger trying to flog his friends house in PKK with it's 90 year lease.

I am sure you have already done this but you need to ensure with whoever you end up dealing with, that they are 100% sure of the gearbox model fitted to your car. Check the VIN number to get the build date, not the date the car was registered. Sixth generation V6 Accords last build date is Oct 2002 worldwide. Then it is a seventh generation. Six gen V6 have a four speed auto B7XA. Seven gen V6 have a five speed either BAYA or MAYA or some have a H5. These of course are Japan and Europe fitments no saying which boxes were supplied for the Thai market. It could be a case that Honda had a bunch of 6 gen right hand drive cars and decided to sell them in Thailand long after the 2002 cut off date. As the problems are with the B7XA box it sounds to me you have a 6 gen car even though it is a 2003. To confuse you further the 6 gen large engine Accords are built on an Acura platform. The small engine models are built on a stretched Civic platform.

Was at the car auction last week and during a lull went to see a couple of motorbikes. A Honda pcx 160 cc 20,000 clicks, 2022, ex finance house, 51,500. GPX drone 155 cc, same specs made 27,000. Surprise for me was a Rybka? Honda Wave lookalike went for 8,000.

I mentioned on another post that I was going on holiday to Vientiane and I would walk past the embassy at collection time. On Wednesday there were 14 people waiting at collection time outside. My last SETV for Thailand I was queue number 202 in 2017.

Here's my rant. My sister in law has operated a used car business in Bangkok for over 20 years. My wife's uncle has been in business for 40 years. Not every dealer is a cowboy.

My lasting and final distant memory of flying Thai was a trip to London in a 747 with the movie screen at the front of the cabin. Picking up a newspaper I read that Singapore Airlines were celebrating the 20th anniversary of first installing seat back screens.

Perhaps not available in Thailand but there are lots of companies fitting AC seats as an aftermarket extra. Prices per seat range from 4,000 us for fully ACed to 750 us for a series of computer type fans mounted under the seat cushion.

I have a different slant on this. Firstly they have already tried increasing the VE from 30 days to 45 days and decided to revert back to 30 days. Maybe they discovered that there was no significant increase in VE arrivals so why did they not leave it at 45 days?. There could have been a situation that 50 % of 30 day VE entries extend their stay by 30 days at a cost of 1900 baht but 45 day entries only 10% extended. Secondly who will make up for the loss of revenue that will occur from less visas been issued. I am sure the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not be happy. Just take one consulate as an example, 200 visa applications day three days a week at average 2000 baht a pop is 1,200,000 baht/week. Also, can't see immigration sitting back while their income is slashed.

Reminds me of the time I did my last border bounce to Phu Nam Ron and there was a backpacker who was addiment to the point of argument that it was 2 land crossings per country per year. he had already done 2 crossins to Laos.Thai immigration refused to stamp him out of Thailand. Spent the whole trip back to Bangkok listening to him complain about Thai immigration. My German buddy had no idea that lockdown was starting but went to the same crossing anyway. Finding the crossing closed he asked around and for 4000 baht got a new 90 day stamp. He was happy as larry, never crossed his mind to whinge about it.

My only experience of PKK comes from watching a series of you tube videos made by an American who dumped his 70 year old mother there after living her entire life in the US. First thing you notice she does not or cannot drive. There are no taxis so she basically became house bound. He bought her a three wheel electric trike which on Thai roads is a disaster waiting to happen. He rented a cheap, totally inappropriate house, but it was next door to his American friend so I assume the you tuber thought his friend would look after his mother. You can see on the videos she goes to the same two restaurants everyday. After almost one year they have discovered that living in the boonies as a 70 year old with limited mobility is not practical. There is also a back packer video that shows them arriving in PKK and can not understand why their grab app is not working. They are trying to get to a resort 15 kays out of town and are stuffed.