Daffy D

I have had TOT landline for many years. Originally the strung wires and more recently the fibre that comes with my computer. In all those years I have never actually made an overseas call, until just a few days ago only to get the message that this phone does not have permission for overseas number, or something like that. TOT said for ฿200 they would change the setting to allow overseas calls, it would take some time and would let me know when it's done. This blocking of overseas, is that the default setting on all landlines in Thailand, if so why? Anyone else have this blocking on their land line? Have you tried? Incidentally no problem with mobile phone so why only on landline.? Forgot to ask TOT if overseas incoming calls are also blocked. (Maybe some Nigerian prince has been trying to call)

Hitachi Spares Water Pump Spares

Yes, that's the one, according to IMDB its 2019 Strange! on another IMDB page it's listed as 2025 with a lower 6.7 rating Take your choice

Interesting Drama/Documentary:- Last Breath 2019 (IMDB Rate 7.7) A deep sea diver is stranded on the seabed with 5 minutes of oxygen and no hope of rescue. With access to amazing archive this is the story of one man's impossible fight for survival. Not to be confused with The Last Breath 2024 About shark eating scuba divers

At the time there was a lot of Exchange fluctuations and so different monthly amounts arriving in the bank did not raise any real concerns. No I did not win the lotto and at the time had sufficient funds not to have to rely completely on the pension.

I checked all that when first set up and as I said monies arriving in my Thai bank were Ok. I think "upnotover" hit the nail with the cancellation of the Adult Dependency Payment.

That must be it. I read something about the Adult Dependency thing at the time but took little notice of it. With that gone the figures make a bit more sense. Guess I'll have to tell the wife and kids I can't afford them any more

I see what you mean! There are some additions to the basic pension but this was their doing. I just gave them the facts and this is what they came up with. I don't really understand all this so just accepted what they said. Attached original letter from Pension Service:-

I have been receiving my pension since July 2006. I have a letter from Pension Service confirming amount each week is £157.22 £157.22 x4 = £628.88

I have been receiving my UK Pension paid directly into my SCB account for many years. Regular deposits every 4 weeks no problem. At first when my pension payments started I would regularly check the amount arriving in my Thai bank. I can't remember exactly but the difference between the exchange rate and what arrived in the account, allowing for some minor bank charges/transfer fees seemed quite small and reasonable. Over the years there were of course some fluctuations of monies deposited depending on the fluctuations of the exchange rate, but overall it seemed OK. With all this talk of tax, both here and the UK and general messing with the pension system of the UK Government, I thought I'd just have a check on the payments into my Thai Bank. My (Frozen) Pension is £628.88 per 4 weeks. These last couple of payments into the bank have been ฿17827.45 and just last week ฿18546.56. Now according to the current exchange rate of ฿43.319, the amounts should have been nearer ฿27242.52 or similar. If my calculations are correct I'm missing out on about ฿9000 every month. Surly the bank charges could not be so high on such a relatively small amount and any new tax or additional charges would show up on the bank statement. Any thoughts, anyone? Anyone interested on checking their own historical Exchange Rate:- https://www.x-rates.com/historical/?from=THB&amount=1&date=2020-02-12

Update:- The light can be wired direct to the mains, bypassing all the old Fluorescent fittings. And no, polarity doesn't matter

Thats what I was hoping for. As said in my original post I had already got rid ballast and starter, so have no choice but wire it direct to the mains. Just a thought, does he say anything about the polarity of the wires, does it matter ? Thanks

I bought a replacement LED ceiling light. I already removed all the fluorescent fittings ballast and starter and was hoping this LED would be a easy fix with mains wires straight into the new fitting. Unfortunately the new LED light has a 4 pin adapter, like for a fluorescent so not sure if it will work by just two wire connection to the mains. I Found a YouTube clip which shows how to connect my LED but it's in Thai and not very clear. In the video clip the guy seems to say that the LED will work with the ballast and then looks like he disconnects the ballast and connects the LED directly into the LED. Seems to indicate that the Light will work with or without the old fluorescent fittings. What I need to know is can I connect the light straight to the mains or does it need to be wired through the old fluorescent ballast and starter. The wife got confused with all the "technical" speak so wasn't much help with translation what the guy said in the video clip, so am hoping kind soul could listen to the clip and let me know if I can connect straight to the mains without things going bang! Thank you

Looks interesting Thanks

Thanks for the quick response. I don't have a touch screen so looks like I need to get additional drawing tablet with pen I'm guessing that whatever is drawn on the tablet can/will come up on the computer 24in monitor . Will follow up on your info so far, any more suggestions and ideas still welcome

One of my kids is a bit artistic and uses Windows paint to create some quite good pictures and designs. Unfortunately we only have a mouse and keyboard so is limited to what she can create. I'm thinking that adding a touch pen to use as a drawing tool would open up more possibilities and make it all more interesting for her. Is it possible, and what would I need to add a drawing pen to my existing computer? Thanks

Update:- Got a working copy of the blue key from the key stall in my local Tesco. Took a couple of hours and cost 2500Baht. Not cheap but now have a spare key. Advice, Do not ever take your brown key out of the house.

Interesting, but not really practical. Not very cheap and we only have the one key now so sending it away would leave us without motorbike for long time. Will try some local locksmiths, there must be some shady guys around that have the gizmos for stealing these bikes. Anyway thanks for the info, will keep trying.

That sounds promising. There's a key stall in our local Tesco so will give that a try. Thank you

So we have lost the brown key for the Vespa Piaggio, only have the blue key now so no spare. Local Vespa dealer says can't clone Blue key need Brown key, only option is replace all the anti theft electrics on the bike at a cost of about 10K Baht There must be a way of making an extra spare key from only the Blue key. A quick look on the Intrnet does seem to suggest that it's possible but can't find any in the Saraburi area. Any information on local key cloners most welcome Thanks

Thanks all for your feedback. I have been getting lots of good info from Google and every little helps. Seems village or bottle water doesn't really matter, guess its' all just water. Anyway hoping for better luck with my fish in the future

A few weeks ago the kids came back from the local fair with a couple of fish in a plastic bag. Seems they won them at one of the stalls throwing hoops or something. Anyway the upshot was we got a small tank and then all the bits to go with it that make up an aquarium. We got the usual plastic plant and stones for the floor and a small water filter system and an air bubble machine and the fish seemed to be quite content. Getting a bit over confident with our fish keeping ability we got some extra fish from the local pet store to keep our original fish from the fair company. Unfortunately over the weeks some of the original fish and all the ones from the store have all died 😞 Have done some Googling and followed the advice and was wondering about the conditioners you can get to add to the water. Are these products any good and do they work? Also does it matter what water is used in the tank? At the present we use bottle drinking water as it doesn't have chlorine or whatever as the village water would have, Any information from successful aquarium owners welcome. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/seachem-prime-prime-complete-and-concentrated-conditioner-for-both-fresh-and-saltwater-i2864221775-s17483936881.html?

Lazada:- Washing Machine Coin Box

Pizza with double anchovies

Been missing from my local Lotos's for some weeks now Does Makro still have them?