mikebell

I am the 2nd happiest person I know. (The 1st is my TGF.) I live in a lovely 3 bed/3 bath house on a secure & well appointed estate with superb gym/pool. Despite being 80 I play table tennis to a decent standard 3 days a week + visit the gym at least another couple of times. My son has a successful restaurant in BKK a mere 100 minutes drive away. 'focussing on scenarios you are unlikely to personally encounter' I don't understand this reference; my pension is frozen; Chiang Mai is polluted (I once spent an unfortunate weekend there;) I have holidayed in Samui & Phuket & experienced the taxi mafias personally; I have lived 18 years in Pattaya so know what I am talking about. My positive outlook on life has meant I have been a local and popular Quizmaster in the Pattaya league; played Pool for a number of bar teams with plenty of buddies in these areas. Despite my age I will be seeing my UK family in 3 weeks; next year I am planning to take my GF to my daughter's wedding + a holiday in Spain. Do you still feel sorry for me? Oh, by the way I have written & published four books since coming here; two of them are Thai-centric. The royalties make up the deficit in my pension.

I don't live in Chiang Mai and will never visit it as I value my health too much. I had a holiday in Samui in January where a simple short journey to the airport of under 3 kilometres cost 300 baht. I will not return; ditto Phuket. My post was a simple warning to avoid these pitfalls and to express disbelief that Thailand is at no 4. I live in Pattaya which has no police force to enforce the use of meters in Taximeters. Your simplistic solution of moving ignores the ties I have made over 18 years.

Thank you. I have this already but last time I tried I ran into a bewildering (for my age) array of choices. Despite this being patently their error I found I was expected to do lots of work.

Thank you. More evidence of Broken Britain.

How did you go about it? As my pension has been frozen for 15 years it seems probable that I have been overpaying every year! How far back might I expect a refund? What number? Whenever I've tried I am in a queue! I have photo-copied sundry Income tax documents & bank statements & sent them via Thai Post. I got a pink slip and was charged 300 baht. After hearing nothing, I went back to the same Post office to find it had been shut down. I suspect the girl booked a one-way ticket to Dubai. I gave the same papers to my daughter with a Power of Attorney document to act for me. She lives in UK but has not received as much as an acknowledgement. Will be back in Blighty three weeks tomorrow. Any suggestions?

They add up all your income & the State pension is considered as part of it. This may put you in a higher tax bracket. In my case I am suffering from the OP situation. When I retired I drew my State Pension immediately (aged 65 in the good old days!) It was about 90 odd a week or roughly 360 a month. I have never checked the coding until this year & see my State Pension listed under 'Income from other sources' as 10,109 UKP! I am 80 and my pension has been frozen for 15 YEARS & has never varied. Returning in three weeks for family visit & will be seeking an explanation.

and failing to pay this month's protection money.

No one; it was a foreigner who was killed.

Tried to cross 2nd road yesterday on a pedestrian crossing. Waited for my green light; vehicles in near side lane dutifully stopped whereupon I was nearly run down by SIX vehicles who went through the red light.

caused by ignoring packs of ownerless diseased dogs urinating/defecating on every soi in Thailand's Hub of Health. The number of road traffic accidents caused by strays is alarming but nothing will be done until a bus swerves to avoid a wild dog and runs into a queue of children.

All the other Inactive Post Centres are full. Next they'll be opening one in Myanmar.

Thailand is in a kind of Bermuda Triangle where inexplicable outages occur in all sorts of electronic equipment like: speed cameras; taximeters (100% in Pattaya all day/every day); body-cams at highway road-blocks erected by Bandits-in-Brown; traffic lights.

4th! These people, like me, haven't done their homework. This perfect place to retire freezes your State pension (mine hasn't moved in 15YEARS!) Chiang Mai is the Lung Cancer Capital of the World. Koh Samui's strong sense of community means their taxi mafia now rivals Phuket/Pattaya.

90+% of Thai politicians (who are mainly male) have the genetic self-important trait of over-weening presumption and richer-than-thou trait.

On both of the long flights there was insufficient room in the overhead lockers. I had to travel with my carry-on between my legs - aged 80, this gave me excruciating cramp. The cabin crew shrugged their shoulders, too busy SELLING alcohol at Vintage Champagne prices! Take-off from Manchester was delayed by over two hours despite there being only a 2 hour gap before my final flight from Helsinki. Despite my complaints I was merely offered points in a flying club that I will never ever use with that airline. I was totally vindicated by an email received two weeks ago in which tight controls on carry-on luggage were announced by Finnair.

mainly due to Electioneering vans grinding traffic to a standstill whilst they broadcast a message that no one can hear.

All of which get attacked by the local Taxi Mafia for venturing on to their turf.

its efficacy.

anything. He obviously didn't offer the going rate.

Agreed IF it is made widely available. We must wait to see if Anutin can make any money out of it 1st.

The Thai idea of drainage is a number of chambers which overflow into the next & so on down the line. For nine months of the year they are part full of stagnant water providing perfect breeding grounds for the 400 eggs each female can lay.

To where? The Inactive Post building is full. a couple of months down the line all will be forgotten by the Senior Goldfish of RTP.

Suspect it was the latter skill that enabled her multiple promotions.

Job opportunities abound for those with: no Maths skills; a fertile imagination; sleight of hand when juggling money; their own pair of rose-coloured glasses.

Must have A/C; places to hide away from doing any work; opportunities to scorn potential customers; no English required except 'No have'.