JamesPhuket10

I like to take a few minutes break from my programming now and then and have a look at this blog as I come across many people I would never meet in real life, as a lot of them seem to be negative types of people, but they do surprise me now and then. There seems to be an adverse objection to using credit as far as I can see in this topic, a lot of people are showing off it seems as if they have no credit then it is a good thing. It depends on the type of credit/debt. There is nothing wrong with using healthy credit if it is going to produce a profit for both the bank and the individual, without mutual credit schemes we would all still be living in a cave. A simple example, I took out a mortgage to buy a house many years ago, it was £175k (multiply that by 1.32 for the $), I sold it two years ago for £750k, I bought two houses with it generating £28,600 a year in rents so that added to my other pension products give me a nice easy life in Thailand especially as the house/car here is paid off. I wonder how many negative frowns I will get for this comment as was the case with my comment above. 😄 This article was about credit and this is my honest reply to the article.

That all sounds sensible to me. There was a very famous footballer from Ireland, he played for Manchester United, called Geroge Best, he said. "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. 🤣

I was thinking, Great! as I read it until I saw the word "month". 😄

They do as every time you buy something they get about 1.5% of your purchase from the seller.😁

Plus if you buy something and it breaks even if you only paid for it partly on your credit card the credit card company has to guarantee it.

How would the world run without credit? I have £135,000 credit limit on my UK credit cards, I currently only owe £30,000 on them. That money is on deposit in banks paying me 5.2%, it costs me 2% every two years to transfer the money to other cards at 0% over the two years, hence a profit, it is not a lot but it is like a little hobby. I bought a car in Thailand using a 5-year loan at 1.5% interest fixed term, the cash I would have paid to buy it is also in a bank in the UK earning 5%. I have taken many short-term loans when I was developing property to sell, the interest rate was 8%, and the profit when sold was 30%. I agree it is totally stupid to buy loads of designer rubbish for example on a credit card, holidays, etc as that is just money down the drain. But without credit, the world would not operate. Of course, borrowing for a house in the UK for example long term is a good and healthy way to make a huge profit. Rent it out, use the rent as part of your pension and life is nice and easy here in Thailand.

I think that might include a bar, a girl, and a wallet full of money, we would have to find a willing male volunteer though. 😄

In that case if so, then according to SAFETYFIRST, we are both complainers, I am scratching my head now trying to think what to moan about. 😁

That sounds like a serious complaint to me, are you a FOREIGNER? 🤣 I am a farang and I never complain on this forum.

Luckily, I am the boss of myself, my "job" is safe, and I am happy to give myself skive-time. 😁

I never think about smoking in the mornings, afternoons, or evenings on a day-to-day basis. But when now and then I am out in a pub/bar with friends, a few cigarettes during the evening is a pleasure, and the next day I carry on as usual. When leaving the bar I normally give my cigarettes to the closest smoker to me as they would have gone off by the next time I smoke one. If I have a beer at home a cigarette does not cross my mind. So I suppose I can say I am a part-time smoker by choice. Full-time smoking is a no-no.

Re the next progression from giving up sex, chopping off your right hand? 😁

He needed two bikes, one for himself and one for his other self. 😁

We can buy property but not the land it sits on, hence Farangs can buy condos. I know there is a way to set up a company that buys a house and land but this is not strictly cosha as if you are investigated you will be found out, it is not intended for individuals to buy a house to live in. Companies set up to buy multiple properties for business is legal but farangs can only own 49% of the company, this is where your half-Thai, half-farang kids come to be useful (for a change😄).

I agree, In all the countries I have ever worked in people were all the same when it came to commenting on the weather. Right, that is it I have had my break with my last few comments, time for me to stop skiving and get back to "work". 😄

I have to laugh, outdoors? I worked in Arlington Texas for five months in 1991, as a software engineer, it was hot, and I saw no people living the outdoor life, the only people outside were Mexicans etc working in gardens in the blistering heat. Most Texans were in their aircon cars, going to aircon restaurants or shopping malls etc. I decided to walk the half mile to work one day and was stopped by the police, they wondered why I was walking, but once they found out I was a Brit they were OK about it. One of the times in a shopping mall with a few Texans we decided to get in the car to go to a restaurant, we started off and after 100 yards parked again, I said I thought we were going to a restaurant, it is here was the reply, they couldn't be bothered to walk 100 yards. A bit like Thailand really, I suppose it is different in the sticks though where the poor people live. I remember taking a drive to Dallas and parked downtown, I ate at a restaurant and asked the waiter if I could leave my car in the car park for an hour or two while I had a walk around the area, it was 8 pm. He said here in Dallas, you drive your car, park where you need to be, and do not walk the streets. As I drove around I noticed gangs of mostly black guys hanging around at street intersections wearing banditos and colors. Maybe it has all changed now but I did not feel any freedom as was the case when I worked in New Jersey for a year. By contrast, I had another contract in Amsterdam, Holland, the two Texans and a few other Americans I was working with could not believe how we could wander about at 2 am without any feel of threat of any kind, they told me they could not do this in major cities back home.

Phew! I started to sweat when I read that. 😄

It is probably a condo 🤣

I have heard many Thais over the last thirty years as they open the door of their house or car and instantly say, "oooo, ron mark", everyone mentions it as far as I can see. But as I am sitting here writing software in my aircon home office in Phuket I do not care what it is doing outside. But in any case, it has been non-stop raining for the last few days, with high winds, etc, I saw on a video, that some small areas in Phuket are flooded, I did not read anything about the majority of the island not being flooded. 😄

I assumed having an Elite Visa meant you had 5, 10, or 20 years of visa-free activity, if that is the case then what is the point of getting one and wasting all of that money? It only takes me one hour at the immigration office in Phuket, to submit my documents, for my non-0, spend five minutes with the immigration officer, and then pick up the passport and extension of stay the next day, I suppose it would take that much time with the Elite Visa?

@Mike Teavee No need to reply, I saw your earlier reply to your comment, oh is is horrible getting older, all sorts of strange happens to us. 🤪 🤣

I need a bit of information from you if you do not mind. You said, "I've no choice this year as I've recently done my annual extension (am good to 25/12/25) but would happily pay more to only have to jump through the hoops once every 5 years..." Just a question, it is now September 2024, how did you manage to extend your visa to December 2025. I have the visa extension based on retirement plus 800k baht in the bank, my next visa extension is due on the 22nd Feb 2025. So is there a way to extend the visa a few months in advance or do you have a different type of visa?

It is a guy who never tries to justify or give examples of what a "Real Man" is, as is the case with GG. I was doing my standard three-mile walk a few days ago in Phuket, and two huge guys passed me, for some reason I thought what would I do if they decided to be a bit nasty with me, my answer was to hope I could run away faster than they could catch me. When I was a student in London many decades ago I was walking home at 2 am, four guys spread out across the pavement in front of me blocking my path, two of them had bottles in their hands, and one said 'Let's get him'. It was lucky as I had been doing three hours of Karate twice a week, I had become very fit and it enabled me to turn and run as fast as I could, they had no chance of catching me, but they did try.

Ey up love, ow a thee. (Yorkshire dialect, N. England) RR talks of being a miner in t'North of England. In those days, 1970's and before it was standard for men especially coal miners to call each other love, now how 'real men' is that? 😃 Another thing they would say to each other is "ow are thee cock", I am not making this up. I know as I have heard it first hand myself as I was born in Yorkshire (but I managed to escape when I was 15 years old). Guys who go on about being "real men" just have a chip on their shoulder, maybe it is down to a lack of success, etc.