Oblomov

There's email address there, so I sent my visa PDF simply to ensure there'd be no hold ups - As it happened, the STV and Pass were both processed and approved in less than a week, which I thought was very good.

If it's an emergency then better to go to a hospital nearby than fly half way around the world don't you think

Members of our family and friends work in the struggling UK health service, which now has a waiting list of 6 million + people who are tax payers and residents in UK, so instead of idiotic comments like yours, have a bit of sense and ask yourself why someone should fly in for treatment, after no contributions for 30 years - No doubt you think the magic money tree applies to health services. Idiotic argument

So you've paid ZERO in National Insurance for 30 years yet you want to fly over and get free treatment? And they say migrants are a drain on resources - they work (on low wages) and pay NI and taxes - get your treatment in Thailand where you live

Smoking, high levels of obesity, poor dietary choices... all contribute to less than robust immune responses to viruses and compromise treatments, including vaccines, as good as they have been at giving health services a chance at continuing most of their core functions. It's been good to see all of the new walkers and joggers taking their health more seriously and I hope that continues. Improving vaccines along with improved personal responsibility for one's own health in some, as well as maintaining personal hygiene and common sense distancing gives us all a chance to move into the inevitable necessity of living with this, as well as all of the other nasties that have always been around. I wonder if the age demographic has something to do with Gibraltar's decision to pre-empt an increase in cases. The news seems to be dominated by Germany and Austria at the moment so haven't seen anything about Gibraltar

As well as the inevitable schools component in UK, some of the difficulties arise from UK's population centres being so densely populated - In London, a significant majority of houses are multiple occupancy with multiple flats, each with multiple occupants. Like our seasonal flu outbreaks, that seemed to sweep through London extraordinarily fast (though none in the last 2 years) this virus finds the perfect breeding ground in places like London, with people squeezed into transport and accommodation, especially in the colder weather when life and transport switches indoors.

It's not a great mystery why UK fared so badly with fatalities - even before this present virus, the NHS was buckling under the strain of treating so many people with myriad and complex obesity related conditions. Theatre and recovery medical professionals in our immediate family face huge additional problems treating any respiratory illness when people are so compromised by the many obesity related health issues. UK also has an extremely aged population so is hit hard also due to this. In the last year or so, much more is being done institutionally and personally to address this, so that a more robust immune response can work in tandem with a pretty solid vaccination program. Also, UK has much too densely populated cities (especially in 'flat-share' London.) to make distancing rules as effective as they might be in say Scandinavia. Waning vaccine immunity is being addressed pretty fast with 14 million boosters already administered to the oldest and those with compromised immune systems. Therapies for the post-viral effects of Covid will hopefully be introduced in the race to keep up with a mutating virus. It's a wake-up call to all of us to get as fit as possible and the correct weight etc., as all treatments work much better in these circumstances.

I am vaccinated and do encourage vaccinations so you misunderstood that Noting faux about my concern for others as I'm actively involved in practical and real support for some of my poorest friends on Bali as well as donations to a kind group that feed the starving dogs of Bali as their primary source of food has all but disappeared I didn't object to lockdowns because they had any impact on me as I worked right through them but I objected because they harmed my friends who don't have the luxury of an idiotic state to pay them to sit at home - One of my closest friends didn't make it through the impact of the lockdown so I resent your rudeness, which is easy in anonymity Craven and idiotic replies likes yours are thoroughly reprehensible

Seems like I'm tired of people like you focusing on this as it can affect you whereas destitute familes with kids begging and ill from many other conditions bothers you not a bit You're blocked so don't need a reply

I really hope so too

And the importance of exercise and good diet has never been more important - You're dead right as all of my Thai friends that learned languages all of those years ago when I first lived in Bangkok, some taught my myself, are now living very fulfilling lives in Amsterdam, London and Copenhagen.

And in the process of locking down the fittest (the tax payers that fund our services,) the very services the oldest and weakest rely on for myriad other needs, is compromised and rendered unable to cope Witness now the staggering backlog of treatments in health services and the crushing of our most productive people.

No of course it will never end but we'll have to get used to it, just like we tolerate and manage risk in all other parts of lives. It's obscene that nothing much is reported of the masses of kids begging on streets (and worse,) as well as the disruption to treatments for significant other illnesses due to this much too singular focus on this present threat to societies and health. Of course, if they're not our kids starving and not us missing treatments or losing livelihoods, then we have the luxury of only fearing this present virus. Excess deaths will even out and we'll all find an acceptance with those (not through choice but by the fact of them) just as we know and accept all the other nasties that will carry us off. I think vaccines are the best hope to limit the terrible disruption to the increasingly difficult lives of so many and the core services of health services globally. It's a pity voices are never so loud and unremitting on the causes of these viruses as there are many others seeking that bridge and capable equal misery and chaos. Will it end? No - Will we get used to it like all the other viruses and disease? Yes, because we will have to.

Rented possibly 20+ condos over the 30 years I've lived winters in Bangkok and other places - Never had an issue with any landlord and always had all of the deposits returned minus the outstanding utility bills. I've always found renting accommodation in Thailand much easier than almost everywhere else I've lived/worked etc,. so always relaxed about renting in Thailand

I ha to show £5000 or above for the past 6 months so had to convert 6 statements to PDF then reduce and merge them - this was required for a 60 day single entry as well as the MEV On a previous application I showed 20 x that amount in a different kind of account but it wasn't accepted so had to do the bank account statements Seems odd that much less in a bank account is more acceptable than a lot more in a different account but hey, nothing surprises me now after 50 years of fun and games with visas : )

Sadly too, they are the lurid headline that gets shared, whereas the masses of decent travellers obviously barely get a mention. Seen this type all over but I guess in Thailand, smashing a room up gets national coverage whereas in many countries, it's only the murders or very violent attacks etc., that get in the headlines. He probably would have been less infamous had he done that in Pattaya : )

He's got 'winner' written all over him - one of those tattoos must say that on the law of averages 58 years old and still being a complete idiot and terrifying those in that homestay no doubt Unfortunate that this moron will be all over the Thai press and not the decent and respectful visitors from many countries that obviously don't get the headlines

Comparing with Germany/UK/France, where on some days 900,000 tests garner 35,000 cases, the ratio of cases is much lower. In UK, the falling rates reflect the higher vaccination rates (not the fault of countries with less easy access to home developed vaccines,) but also the higher levels of anti-bodies in those that have had the virus. As with major flu outbreaks, a natural resistance post infection is an important element in blunting outbreaks. The Oxford AZ vaccine, built on a platform used for flu vaccines for decades, is reported to now being 'tweaked' to better combat the inevitable and more wiry variants. With UK doing 500,000 genome sequencing tests per week in Cambridge, hopefully identification of concerning mutations can be identified faster. Hopefully we're moving towards a rational accommodation with this, just as we have (eventually) with all of the other illnesses and viruses amongst us, as the potential for chaos of this has certainly and vey quickly damaged so many of us in so many ways.

Might be cheaper in the short term but it won't seem like that when the super wealthy move to the new capital and leave all the peasants in the mud : )

Yes I know they've been draining aquifers for decades and that causes the subsistence but my general point was that human activity is at the root of this self destructive ruin - of course most of our main cities have their genesis as ports, so are at vulnerable points for storm surges and rivers rising and pushing through cities. I'm involved n and also very interested in engineering and find it astounding that aquifers are being drained rather than a more sustainable solution found and still so much water just wasted.

I don't think a lot of Westerners can either LOL

Some just can't comprehend that a tourist, double vaccinated and double tested and no doubt very careful leading up to flight time, is possibly the least likely spreader at the moment they land anywhere. UK tested 900, 000 + to find 40, 000 cases and dropping - I'm sure Germany has an equally robust testing regime Thailand finds 8,000 cases from how many tests? 35,000 ? Heavily scrutinised visitors are not the risk and hopefully numbers increase and regular Thais, friends and partners to many of us here no doubt, can get their lives back and feed and educate their kids and get back some hope.

He wrote that he is assessing climate change by looking out of his window and confirming the sea is still in the same place as yesterday LOL So I'm not sure he's the man to ask for a good plan LOL

Still available - a friend told me

Well you're going to have to get vaccinated as there will be no travel options without it and certainly if you left unvaccinated you would not be getting back in that way. The AZ vaccine was built on a platform that's been used to develop and tweak flu vaccines for decades, so you should not have this fear of being poisoned - it's going to be mandated to do almost anything going forward so I don't think that's something that can be avoided. They might even require you to be vaccinated for a visa renewal based on the Covid situation so you should check that.