Guderian

Meanwhile, in Pattaya....

Well, his time doing porridge didn't last very long, lol! You just knew there would be a get out of jail free card.

Always look on thw bright side, with any luck, they'll have to cancel Songkran next year as the water will be close to running out, lol.

Here's the TMD risk map of heavy to very heavy rain today. It's hardly a nationwide alert. http://www.model.tmd.go.th/static/Data/forecast/2023082212/RRM/Riskmap_20230823.0000Z.png

The rainfall radar at 12:45 - Biblical it is not! Or maybe in the sense that the Bible has a lot of desert in it, lol.

Go on, let's settle this the old way, I want to see Khun Chaiwat in a cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg, lol!

Many years ago, I used to use the SCB ATM's anywhere in Pattaya. Then I was informed by SCB that my ATM card had been suspended as it had been hacked when I used it at an SCB ATM outside a 7-eleven on Second Road Soi 17. Some might think it's the bank's fault for not providing better anti-phishing security on their ATM's, but no, as usual nowadays, the customer is always wrong and it was my fault and I had to pay for a new card. Since then I only use ATM's at SCB branches or inside shopping malls, never anything outside a convenience store, so as far as I'm concerned they can close the lot of them if they don't have adequate security to prevent phishing.

Not very likely if Thaksin is back running the show, even if he's just pulling the strings from behind the curtains, too many people will remember horrors like Tak Bai.

Thaksin may be a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them. He must have a cunning plan (m'lord) to get out of jail free, because i don't see him as the martyr type.

Yes, that's one of my drivers too. I don't want to slump down into the car seat like I do now, or climb up via a running board as you do on the big SUV's and trucks. These compact SUV's are perfect for me from that viewpoint, just slide in and out with minimal bending or effort.

In the course of a 10 or 15 minute test drive there's not much you can really try out, I immediately felt comfortable in both cars and they handled fine. I was impressed by the acceleration in the GR Sport, though the engine was a bit noisy when you put your foot down. There are three different drive options, though, as with the HRV, so I think it will be a question of finding out which one works best for the situation. I saw the USB slot in the infotainment screen simply as somewhere to put a USB stick if I wanted my own entertainment, so I'm not sure why you think that's dangerous. The usual 12V DC charger is between the front seats and that's what I'd use to charge the phone, I think. Of course, the RS has a wireless phone recharger if your phone supports that, mine doesn't so it's not something I'll miss. For me, the deal breaker with the Honda HRV RS was simply the front sunroof. You can block off the rear part of the roof but they only have that pathetic roll-up gauze cloth thing to cover the front sunroof, and it's useless. I'm a swimmer and spent too many hours in the sea and pool under the tropical sun without UV protection in my early years, and now I have to get pre-cancers burned off my skin and scalp every year. No matter what they claim about the roof glass, I'm not paying good money to have the sun shining down on my head. The deal maker, OTOH, on the GR Sport was the camera system. I've only seen that on the high-end full-size SUV's, I'm sure the front camera will be very useful but less certain about the 360° one, though I've never had that feature in a car before. The Honda has a wider range of colours, at least by the somewhat Spartan Thai car colour selection standards. Both the RS and GR Sport have 18-inch alloys and electric driver seat controls, I don't think in terms of interior and exterior finish there's much to differentiate them, though obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And the oomph I felt in the GR Sport when I touched the throttle seemed far more responsive than the RS, though again in the context of a short test drive it's impossible to say anything conclusive.

Phew, that's a relief! For a minute there I was worried it might be Thai Friendly, lol.

Mossies like water and wet weather, they don;t like very hot, dry weather, so there's not much chance of them unleashing a biblical plague of dengue or anything else here in the Rub al Pattaya desert.

Thanks for the feedback! I mentioned an extra USB port to the saleslady and she pointed to where it would go, so I'm sure i can get that added at a later date. I already ordered the English language manual. I went for the white with black trim option, so it sounds like mudflaps will be needed. Feeble horn, noted, not something I had time to try out during the test drive. I'm in Pattaya and, in my experience, there's not much chance of getting any cash off or a lot of freebies from the dealers here, so I was quite glad to get the dashcams for free.

I booked a test drive of the Toyota Corolla Cross and the test vehicle was the GR Sport, which wasn't even in the catalogue I had. It's the top-of-the-range, so has everything, including a wretched sunroof. At least it's just a normal sunroof with a solid partition you can use to completely block it off, not an entire glass roof as with the HRV RS. To avoid a sunroof you have to go two models down, and so lose a lot of the nice bits and pieces that come with the top model. I was impressed by the performance, anyway, just touch the throttle and it's off. Another nice feature lacking on the Honda is front and rear view cameras, plus a 360° camera. The only option on the Honda was a rear view camera. The Toyota saleslady also agreed to install a front and rear dashcam free of charge, Honda wanted 4,100 Baht just for a front dashcam, with no rear option. I'd also looked at the Subaru's, but they really don't fit my needs at all. At the end, then, it was an easy choice, and I've ordered the Corolla Cross GR Sport. Here's a couple of links to it: https://www.facebook.com/toyotamotor.th/videos/2178236809006130/ https://www.toyotalibra.co.th/Corolla_Und_Cross_Und_GR_Und_Sport

Nice if you can afford it... ...but if things don't pan out the way he wants, then he's a serious flight risk. He's probably got so many passports that the only way to ensure he stays in Thailand is to lock him up until the legal process is over, one way or the other.

Blimey, if I'm ever in need of help and first aid, I hope I don't get these bozos, lol!

Meanwhile, in Bangkok....

Safety, what is this place coming to? Normally, a line of small traffic cones giving the workers about 2 ft of space, with traffic passing at 50 mph, is more than adequate, lol.

Some showers across the far north, but not much else, and nowt worth talking about over Bangkok or the Eastern Seaboard. Here's the TMD composite radar image for 2:30 this afternoon...

No rain worth talking about in South Pattaya this year, I've been watering the garden almost every day since late last October. A month or so ago we had 2 or 3 inches, which I reckoned was more than we'd had in the rest of 2023 put together. Still, even if I was generous and said that in total we've had 6 inches so far this year, it's pathetic as, on average, June and July alone should have delivered around 20 inches.

Maybe they should rejig the vehicle rental business and only allow Arabs to hire camels? ????

And some public toilets like they've got along Dongtan Beach.

I'm no expert in city finances or budgeting but, for a city as big as Pattaya, ฿1.9 billion, or $60 million/£40 million, doesn't seem like an awful lot.

Have they changed the airport name yet to Phuketgrad International Airport?