RayWright

Big issue now is Visa, as a general Pommy tourist you can only spend 90 days out of 180 at any given time. So you could stay for upto 180 days in any given year, but in 2 tranches, with 90 days outside of Spain (includes the mainland, Canary and Baleric Islands) and the other 26 countries that are part of the Schengen agreement. So you can't flip-flop between say, Spain and France. Recently both Spain and France have voiced financial concerns over the impact of lack of UK tourists, as the UK isn't in the Schengen Agreement, to create an exception to allow UK passport holders the right for 180 continuous days at a time. Knowing the speed of EU law changes, great idea, but won't happen over night. Like Thailand, there are other types of Visa to circumvent this issue, but they are based on financial status, education or marriage. Wouldn't hesitate in a moment if I could do 180 days at a time, 6 months in Spain or France, 3 months in Malaya and 3 months in Thailand. Was surprised recently on having to visit Hong-Kong, you get 180 days as standard with a UK Passport.

Stuart

Best value for money / taste I've found is in Big-C Extra on Pattaya Klang Road, not seen it in their other stores or elsewhere. Knight Black Horse (KBH) at just over 400THB. It's a Australian Cab Sav, but mixed with a bit of Thai Roselle to get round the high foreign alcohol import tax. Bottled at 13%. Also Roselle is used in lowering blood pressure, so essentially a health drink! No hints of oxidation from the bottles I've drunk, so implies good cellaridge. Check the label carefully (yellow with black writing), as KBH also do a Mulberry-Roselle fruit wine which is cheaper, and technically isn't wine and a lot sweeter. A review on this esteemed organ back in 2020 used the word "antifreeze" as a means to describe the taste. Currently the 2017 is on the shelves, the 2016 does have a slight edge though if you can get it. Price did jump 5% about 6 months ago. They usually have it in their bins, so laying down so the cork stays wet. Unlike an old Tesco store I saw recently that's got a bottle of Grange predominantly displayed upright in a lighted display cabinet, at a price that's nearly 2 months rent.

As @TorquayFan lawyer says, "Wait and see". Take a read of Barry's article in today's Pattaya Mail. https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/myths-about-thai-expats-and-those-income-tax-changes-starting-very-soon-447262

Had similar problem. My Landlord's electrician said "common problem", he then proceded to disconnect the feeds in the main Condo Distribution Panel (DP), jumbled them up, then re-connected them. Must say, shower heater now working, however what's connected to what breaker is now a mystery. Had to create a new DP document. Bought a plug-in mains socket tester to assist in re-documenting the circuits, discovered that 87% of the wall sockets are wired back to front, i.e. the positive and negatives are reversed. Concluded that as Thai sockets are upside down (especially in my Condo block), the Earth pin is on the bottom compared to UK etc, which is on the top, they wire positive on the right, then install upside down! As has been reported many times on this forum, the use of colour standards is a myth, to quote P.G. Wodehouse and Cole Porter, Anything Goes.

Neither, Napoleon Brandy, just a VSOP, keep the XO for a more memorable occasion. It's more medicinal. Think St. Bernard's.

More a Brighton Rock fan myself.

The Glimmer Twins The Boss Robert / Jimmy & John Paul Jones (not necessary together) Pete & Roger Brian and Roger Madness Blondie U2 Def Leppard Acca Dacca Iron Maiden Kiss (Upto last weekend, now a virtual concert band, like ABBA) The Eagles Doobie Brothers Chic Tears for Fears Muse B-52's Cold Chissel Rick Wakeman 10cc Sir Cliff And due to a tenious family connection, The Drifters, but only in the Canary Islands! To name but a few that are still treading the boards. The oldies ain't finished yet.

I'm bored I'm the chairman of the board

It's quite simple, Saskia Peeters and Nellie Keukelaar-van Rijsbergern as the Dutch translators did their job, I.e. translated from the English text into Dutch. Fault if any, is no-one checked. Scooby's comment, he had “never submitted a book that had their names in it” Would be true, as the article in question would more traditionaly be in manuscript form, not a bound book. So semantics. At the end of the day, who cares.

Fully agree with you @richard_smith237, the mature sensible thing, unlike the Gen Z'ders who would have photo'd it and put it on TickyTok and all their other platforms to increase their profile, without thinking of the negative impact it causes. Sent food back at Rick Steins in the pass, discreet and without fuss, much understanding on their part and rewarded accordingly. Same for Simpson's in The Strand, and a corked bottle of wine at the old Wheeler's in Soho. All this story of hair/hare has got me pining for civet de lièvre.

Have you checked your AV AIS device? What happens if you plug into your 50"? When you say switching off, then on again, do get the standby LED being illuminated, or just loss of picture? Just loss of picture would possible point at the HDMI connected device. Could it be thermal cut-off, how hot is the AV AIS unit?

Silica sand is available on Lazada, have you looked there? Make sure you suit up.

That's good news, I can still smoke my pipe. Obviously Parliament had forgotten vaping is already illegal.

Would recommend U Store It in Pattaya, run by Lee, who's from USA, so no language issues. Can do packing, transport and storage. https://www.ustoreitpattaya.com/

Use a combination of VyprVPN and ExpressVPN, so covered if any issues. Originally used as App on PC, ChromeBook or Android mobile. Recently moved to hardware type solution where VPN is loaded on my router, am experiencing 5 to 10 times performance, wish I had done this sooner, especially for the Rugby World Cup. Take a look at GL-iNet.

Gave up yesterday as taking more than 2 minutes. Today opening your OP was 6 seconds, so more acceptable.

Agree, Decafe coffee out here is as rare as Hens Teeth. Have seen the 1 odd jar in Big-C, Lotus or Tops@Central of instant coffee, but price is astronomical. Did buy a jar from M&S in HK recently to sustain my morning fix, can't remember the price, but was the same as the M&S normal instant. Friendship Supermarket by TukCom might be a go, else know anyone flying in from Blighty or beyond might be the idea?

Mea culpa. Meant to write Tom Bailey not Chris Bailey. Chris Bailey was the founder of The Saints, another great band.

I reckon it was all a publicity stunt. They used a low resolution camera in a darken room. I know Banking laws were different back in 1995 in terms of how much you could take out. Couldn't do that in Thailand as you'll be up on a 112 charge.

He was a winner on NZ's New Faces in the early 70's. Absolute party animal. Settled around Mullumbimby, unfortunately killed in a car accident just over 30 years ago. Great shame.

Alannah Currie was born in Auckland. Did return to NZ after she married Chris Bailey in 1991 when the Thompson Twins were a duo. Couple of kids. Gave up music and moved into glass casting in Auckland. Divorced Chris in early 2000's and moved to UK. Lives in London and currently married to Jimmy Cauty of The KLF.

And Mi-Sex.

Had a few albums, Generation X, Blonde Parallel Lines, Free Story signed by Andy Frazer ( knocked on his door when he lived in Ealing), plus God Save the Queen signed by a Mr. J Lyndon. Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and the original Simple Minds all on UK £1:00 notes. All gone in house moves. My dad when he was teenager use to door step the theatres and sport grounds in and around London in the '30s, in fact sold his old books at auction in June. Arsenal, Surrey CC, Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Vivien Leigh to name but a few. One item I've still got is the 1956 Australian Cricket team, incl. Richie Benaud on a miniature Gunn & Moore bat. Australia played Singapore in an exhibition match whilst they were on their way to India to play a Test Series (AUS won 2-0, 1 matched drawn).

Starter for 10 would be Fortune Town by Rama 9 metro station. 4 Story mall dedicated to IT, Mobiles and Cameras.