Guderian

I'm so glad to see my White Privilege bringing me so many benefits while I continue to oppress the poor locals, lol.

Given how little rain we've had this year, I should have thought any extra brought by Doksuri would be more than welcome. Yes, I'd say there's not much doubt about that, here's the predicted storm path:

Aha! So there actually are some positive aspects to the hoop-jumping we have to go through every year for the retirement extensions, lol.

Looking at the location on Google maps, I'd guess that it's opening in the filling station on Suk by Chaiyapruek 2. There's already a Texas Fried Chicken place there, and I think it has some other fast food outlets too, so it seems to be aimed at motorists.

Now that's a strange hobby! Collecting expensive wristwatches I can understand, but suitcases?

Just waiting for the U-Tapao Departure Lounge-a-gogo to open on Walking Street, lol.

I seem to recall that the last time this happened it was because the milk producers wanted to hike their prices by a large amount. The supermarket and convenience store owners (often the same people) weren't happy about it, though, so they boycotted fresh milk altogether. Hence all the 7-elevens, Big C's and Makros had no Meiji, but small independent places like Foodmart and Friendship in Pattaya still had it, though at high prices (115 Baht in Friendship, I think I saw, for a 2 litre bottle of Meiji full fat). They must have worked something out as a few weeks later it was back on sale at 95 Baht for 2 litres, a relatively small price hike. maybe the producers have tried to jack up their prices again and the shops have reacted in the same way? Let's hope it gets sorted out soon, anyway.

The whole thing's just a smoke and mirrors show so that everyone will end up so fed up of the whole charade they'll be begging Prayut to come back as PM, lol.

Not much sign of any monsoon this afternoon, though it looks like it might be a bit damp down Samui way.

He shouldn't have eaten the Tom Yum Jingjok the night before, lol.

No, it's not that they're going to start sending the bills out on time, lol. I've had TOT fibre-optic broadband for 7 or 8 years and have been quite happy with it. It was the basic 150/50 Mbps package, but that's usually enough for my needs. Anyway, I got a call saying that they wanted to come and install a new router. My Buddha, active preventive maintenance, what is Thailand coming to? I agreed that they could come this morning and a couple of technicians spent around 15 minutes installing the new router and, as a special offer, the connection was upgraded to 1000/1000 Mbps for the same monthly fee. They checked my phone and tablet and both the TV's and made sure it was all tickety boo, and there was no fee. So a good job, TOT/NT, I'm a happy customer at the moment. Here's the speed test, though it's only showing 600 Mbps upload speed...

A few years on a diet of brown rice and water will do him the world of good, he'll lose that beer belly for sure.

Meanwhile, probably every third or fourth car has one of these...

The same way you fall off a condo balcony, I guess?

Looking out at the vast, arid Pattaya desert, we could use anything wet that the weather wants to throw at us.

OK, here's some positive news from the IPC. I sent an e-mail to my helpful contact there and she passed it on to her manager to ask what to do about it, and this is the reply she just sent me: "After talking with my manager he did advise me that we have a contract with a postal company which may send post through other countries to minimize cost and to protect tax payers funds. I understand that 18 weeks is not satisfactory at all and the mail should arrive within 8 weeks, this is going to be looked into. If your pension does stop you can telephone our department on +1912187777 and confirm your identity over the telephone and payments will be restarted immediately. Please feel free to pass this information on, also if you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do my upmost to help."

Yes, or else they will fine you 200 Baht for late payment.

I was just doing some shopping in Mega Home in Pattaya and they have these travellators to get up and down to the first floor where most of the interesting stuff is. I noticed a couple of employees pushing a trolley loaded with heavy tiles, even with wheels they were having difficulty pushing it onto the escalator. I wonder if these machines are specifically designed for such heavy loads, which are far more than the average person with a bag of shopping or a suitcase? If not, then they're just an accident waiting to happen, I think I'll take the lift in future, lol.

You could try Bank Gold in Soi Rungland, by the Magna Carta law office in South Pattaya, but don't expect a great exchange rate.

Meanwhile, the reality of the "ongoing thunderstorms and heavy rain" as shown by the TMD weather radar at 15:00 this afternoon... <whistling>

That's her, though I'm not sure about her having been bought off. It would be interesting to hear her views on the APPG report on Frozen British Pensions.

Don't tell Pattaya City council or they'll send someone up there to chop it down pronto, lol.

Don't be too hard on the Thais, the climate here is much more prone to extremes than, say, the UK, yet the English water companies seem incapable of storing enough rain, or processing effluent adequately to prevent raw sewage from entering the rivers and ending upon the beaches. Plus they allow, even encourage, building new homes on flood plains with the predictable results. I'd say that for a relatively poor country which, every rainy season, has to manage the delicate balance between storing too much water and causing floods, or not storing enough to avoid flooding but then causing a drought if the rains aren't heavy enough, Thailand actually does a reasonably good job. One thing I don't understand is that so many of their reservoirs are simply natural depressions or hollows that they block off with a small dam, yet because of their limited depth they hold relatively small volumes of water. Lake Mabprachan in Pattaya is a good example, why didn't they originally excavate it, say, another 50 ft or more in depth and thereby double or triple its storage capacity? And it's the same thing in many areas, just flood a minor hollow in the ground, never bother deepening it first.

Another possibility if you don't get any satisfaction is to try contacting Baroness Altmann. You may remember her as an effective pensions campaigner who was Pensions Minister under Cameron. She's been elevated to the Lords but is still very active on the pensions front. Contact details are here, be sure to use the correct form of address for a peer: https://members.parliament.uk/member/4533/contact

First I heard of this from SCB was over the weekend when I opened the SCB app on my phone and was taken straight to a screen saying that if I wanted to transfer more than 50K Baht or raise my withdrawal limit then I'd have to use the facial recognition feature. I'm not sure it's worth bothering with, as I've never transferred that much online in any case. For buying expensive electrical goods like a TV, or a bike or a car, I've always used cash, and for the house it was a banker's draft. Is it really worth it?