msg362

By coincidence I've just been sent this clip, used by pilots to scan for other aircraft/hazards. It suggests that if you keep your eyes fixed on one spot, you suffer from 'motion induced blindness' and can miss things in your peripheral vision. Now I'm certain all those who travel at 260 kph knew this already. Try it, interesting

Smedly:

You are generalising

My judgement is sound, you notice the word "highway" no other motorbikes infact no access at all, clear road in front no other cars and going from 140kmph to 260kph can be done in a very short distance and time, I judged it no danger to me or other road users and I know this road very well indeed...................you can think what you like - get out more

I get out and see them. Whatever you may think the braking distance at that speed will not be sufficient if an idiot pulls out in front of you expecting you to be travelling at 100 kph. It's not a matter of thinking, a matter of physics and reaction times. Well sooner or later you will join the Darwin awards. Have fun in the meantime, I just hope you don't take some innocent with you

guys this thread is not about me, if you want to take it to a personal level then you could try a PM

On topic - it's quite ironic that "some" people from west hate western police because they enforce the law then they come here and complain about the Thai police not enforcing it, and BTW there are many things in western law enforcement I strongly disagree with e.g. speed cameras but lets not go there this thread is about thailand and wearing helmets and road safety here.

shit, five-o...hide the weed...lol

about cameras, there's actually a member here that has sold a camera system to the thai police. Google PIPS camera thailand to figure out who it is.

a cop tried to get me with it well he wasn't quick enough lol at 260kmph, further down the highway there was a road block and I hot stopped, I asked him for the evidence on the camera for me doing a claimed 200kmph and after several frustrating radio calls he said - no have

And you think 260 kph on Thai roads is clever?. There are locals who drift out, idiots that U turn and you think it's fun? Darwin at work again

Get over it guys. there are millions of people riding in Thailand without a helmet everyday and yes sometmes there are accidents. What are the stats of people dying or getting serious injury in Thailand everyday because they didn't wear a helmet? A few hundred? maybe a thousand or 2? Still the odds are very small for the odd trip to the local shop. many of us farangs are willing to take the risk and some are not. Up to the individual. Noone is saying that a helmet doesn't help.

I read on here people talking about not being the first away from a red light. How many times in Thailand does a light change from red to green on any given day in Thailand? It must be tens of millions, and how many accidents happened because of that? Some sure, but what are the odds? The best advice is just to bloody look if you are first away from the lights. It's not rocket science.

I think many people living here like the fact laws are not enforced as much as they are in our own countries, and i for one hope that never happens. Yes one day something may happen to me that the laws in my own country could have altered, but i accept that because i choose to live here for those reasons.

The fact that there are so many bike riders here compared to our countries probably makes it safer to ride a bike as other road users are far more aware.

At the end of the day if it shocks and horrifies you so much then go home and take your PC ideas with you.

The problem is. one mistake ( not necessarily yours) without a helmet could be your last. Yes you can play the 'it's a small risk' game, but the CONSEQUENCES are total. I've no problem if you don't wear a helmet when riding, it's Darwin at work!. Most of the fatalities here are to young motorcyclists who don't wear helmets.

Wonderful thread, keep it coming!!

An update:

After phone call No ?5? I was promised a return call from an IT man. Well last night at about 8.00 pm I got a call. The gist was 'I don't know why your money has been stopped, I don't know when you might get it' This was a full rate call from the UK.

You might imagine, I asked him how he expected me to eat, of course he did not know. He said someone would call me again today, to which my succinct ( and slightly irate) reply was sort of' 'I don't want phone calls , I want the money'. But joy of joys!! at 3.00 pm our time ( 8.00 am UK time) when I phoned yet again I am told I am no longer 'pending ' as I have been for about 3 weeks ( don't try it-shortens your life!!) and am now 'issued'. Which they tell me means the money will appear 'soon'( 3-5 working days)

I now want all TV readers to hold their breath!

Hopefully just one more post from me when I am 'sabaai sabaai'

Excellent news.........

I've never seen a graph from anyone showing the amount of difference it would make to someone's income if the pension freeze was ended.

Does anyone have the figures? I'm not interested in the cost to the government, I'm interested in the actual financial difference to individuals.

At a guess, theblether, I'd suggest it's probably similar to a graph showing the impact of inflation . . .

Incidentally, while it appears to be good news that the government is looking into this, it's curious that the impact of exchange rates hasn't been mentioned once in this entire thread. We have 13 pages of people moaning that UK pensioners in Thailand are not getting an inflation linked increase every year, but the reality is that the most important factor in a Brit living on a state pension in LOS is probably exchange rate movements.

Er I did in the OP

I ride without a helmet every day, simply cause I like it

I do not believe these horror pics/movies work, just as I do not think the ones on cigarette packs make smokers quit

In a country where we as foreigners have no right to free hospital care, my riding without a helmet is my problem only, and i will continue to enjoy it.

On the other hand I do not smoke, so my survival chance is higher than a smokers

One serious mistake and you are for the next world, well before smoking could get you. Head injury is acute, sudden and frequently lethal ( or maybe worse, brain deadening). Smoking takes it's time to kill you and you die slowly. It's not a matter of either or, riding on roads here in Thailand without a helmet is plain stupid

Wonderful thread, keep it coming!!

An update:

After phone call No ?5? I was promised a return call from an IT man. Well last night at about 8.00 pm I got a call. The gist was 'I don't know why your money has been stopped, I don't know when you might get it' This was a full rate call from the UK.

You might imagine, I asked him how he expected me to eat, of course he did not know. He said someone would call me again today, to which my succinct ( and slightly irate) reply was sort of' 'I don't want phone calls , I want the money'. But joy of joys!! at 3.00 pm our time ( 8.00 am UK time) when I phoned yet again I am told I am no longer 'pending ' as I have been for about 3 weeks ( don't try it-shortens your life!!) and am now 'issued'. Which they tell me means the money will appear 'soon'( 3-5 working days)

I now want all TV readers to hold their breath!

Hopefully just one more post from me when I am 'sabaai sabaai'

bendix, on Yesterday, 15:14 , said:

There are absolutely no inherent rights to any kind of payment simply because NI contributions have been paid, in the same way that pay-outs from private insurance companies are pretty much at the whim or discretion of the insurance provider.

This may be ( and I don't know) why the European Court ruled in favour of the UK government when when the 'not paying inflation' case was brought. For some reason totally inexplicable to me , pensions were ruled as a 'benefit in kind' not a right, so no inflation proofing here .( I think it was brought by an expat living in South Africa or Australia, not sure).

stoneyboy

It's an excellent system, although perhaps constipated by bureaucracy at times.

The British Welfare State has been the envy of the World and has been imitated by many countries to a greater or lesser extent.

Neither, in my opinion, is the lack of inflation proofing for ex-pat's pensions unfair.

The UK pensioner who remains in the UK spends his pension to the benefit of the local economy and further contributes to the national coffers by way of such things as VAT.

The ex-pat, by choice, contributes to the economy of another country.

OOPS

Expats do not use the NHS, have free bus passes/ cold winter allowance but ( as I do) still pay income tax on their UK derived income( to the UK state, in my case I think about £4K a year from which I derive no benefit) I contribute to the UK . If it's unfair, why is it allowed in some countries but not in others?

When is Easter? I now just anticipate ( with trepidation) Songkran!

Back to the OP. Phone call 5, still no money. No return phone call. Now told to expect a call from Pensions IT on Monday to tell my why. Be reassured I was told, this does not happen very often! "" I don't want a phone call, I don't care why, please just pay me" was my reply.

Do you expect someone else to put food on your table? As bendix said earlier make your own provisions. Grown adults expecting someone else to look after them. Govt pension is a nice addition but look after yourself, do not expect someone else to do it

If this is addressed to me I don't understand it. As an employee I was obliged to pay 'National Insurance' which was for a pension

The NI is not SOLELY for a pension. It covers a range of various 'insurances' including insurance against illhealth, insurance against unemployment etc etc. The insurance against old age is a tiny part of it.

NIC payments were NOT your pension fund.

Why then if you don't pay it for ?? 40 years? do you get a reduced pension?. Of course it's for a pension. I had no choice but to pay it, including some 'graduated '. Ok some is for other things, but it's that way employees in the Uk contribute to their pension. In return, as I paid for 40 years I naively expected the State to keep to it's side of the bargain.

Travelman:

No problem. I think the inflation freezing is something to do with 'reciprocal agreements' If the foreign state inflation proof it's expats, the the UK will do the same, So I may be wrong. but NZ does and Australia doesn't, so if you live in NZ you get the UK inflation rise, Aus, no. EU countries are inflation proofed and for ,I suppose this reason, the Phillippines is.

I'm trying to raise the issue of communication, the UK Pensions system is not fine if it can't pass information from one office to another. If they freeze my pension why can't they also freeze the exchange rate as they claim it's a 'benefit in kind' ( This question is a joke!!)

Good lets hope they stay that way when i am here permanently, I like incompetence it helps me keep one step ahead. Id steal form any govt beacsue lets face it they will screw you over without a care in the world.

I don;'t see why you elected them, if you trust the government so little. I get fed up with people who come up with any trumped-up excuse to justify their own dishonesty. I have found the UK tax authorities to be fair; its not the taxman's fault that other government departments spend profligately and set him unreasonable targets of revenue; nor does the revenue-man set the tax-bands; that is the exchequer that your elected government appoints. Unfortunately, people forget that the bread and circuses that were in the election manifestoes have to be paid for out of the other pocket. Remember that a corporation never got to vote, and a bribe never elected a politician. The only people you can blame for your choice of government is yourselves. SC

It's no the tax people, it's pensions ( Department of work and pensions), a separate department. The freezing of inflation proofing is a consistent policy whichever political party is in power, which means votes don't help. ( BTW way both departments are reasonable to deal with, it's just that nothing is happening!

Well I had a bit of a shock yesterday! Went to check my company pension and found that there was a reduction. Looking further into it I found that those jolly japes at the HMRC and decided to put me on a tax code of 430! Previously it had been 747 although according to their own website I should have been on 994. My daughter said the same thing has happened to her at the same time and out of the blue, maybe you all should just check it out.

This might be because you have started to draw your stat pension. For some inexplicable reason ,the pensions lot cannot deduct 20% tax at source like my pensions, so they tell your primary pension people to lower your tax code to collect the tax that way. Mine is around 300 i think

Do you expect someone else to put food on your table? As bendix said earlier make your own provisions. Grown adults expecting someone else to look after them. Govt pension is a nice addition but look after yourself, do not expect someone else to do it

If this is addressed to me I don't understand it. As an employee I was obliged to pay 'National Insurance' which was for a pension There was no choice.. It was in some ways linked to my salary although whenever I could I opted out. I also paid into private pensions. They, as per contract, are indexed linked, while the state pension is not for those living in Thailand, but is elsewhere. That's what is putting food on the table this month!

My whinge is that the State has simply stopped paying me because I told them of a change of address! Since then, after several weeks they are still showing incompetence.

Third phone call, still no money 8 days after the first call. A 'Glen' said : 'Oh yes you should have your money but we have a problem with the computer. I'll get someone to phone you'

Now what help is a phone call? money would be nice!!! strikes me in Thailand they ( civil servants) just have a different set of excuses

Try again tomorrow!

just to add, here are two extracts from an advert for one of these machines, the first claims all sorts of potential benefits, the second denies any claims! all on the same page!! ( I can't somehow I can't paste a jpg file it won't let me, just watch the You Tube video)

I've also added a link to a test of one of these machines demonstrating the scam

Let me get this right? you stick a patch on your foot and it somehow detoxifies you? I thought that's what the liver was for, not feet. How does it work? osmosis/ selective absorption/ electroosmosis/suction? fascinating!!!! a breakthrough in scientific medicine. Please let me know how it works and what references you have

Just to update to the OP, No pension still after ?8 days. Phoned again on Monday 27th. Kind lady said' Oh the button wasn't pressed and no payment was made, very sorry. I've pressed the button now and the payment is "pending"'

No transfer in two days, I'm holding my breath until Friday ( I think 3 working days is enough even for the slowest electronic transfer systems?) Soon time for my next payment ( 16th March). I hope I don't have to go through this again!

Unwind!!!!! it's suddenly gone slow!! A 1100 MB file is predicted to take 8 hours.!! Can anyone explain?

OK I use iMac/ Safari,/get iplayer automator, sometimes use 'hide VPN' to download from BBC iPlayer. Using the TOT ( only provider here) it is very slow.

Have been using Google DNS but I'm told it logs all my activity and I'm not happy. Then used Open DNS, but today found a Google test programme called 'Namebench'

Ran it ( it took about 20 minutes) and came up with a DNS called 'Internal ( 202.44.52.1 /203.121.130.40) I loaded that and then ,at 1.30 pm out in the sticks, I'm downloading a 450 MB file in about 10 minutes!!! The fastest I've ever managed. ( normally, with big downloads, I run overnight).

Anyone else with similar experience?

I think 'namebench' is wonderful!!!

Thought I'd add the print out

I too have problems, Chrome/iMac Google DNS. Flash fails to work sometimes and on You Tube I can get video but often the sound disappears quite randomly. I've gone back to FF on You tube with no problems.

The first thing that the Thai Authorities should do is to ban all Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Afghans, Somalians and Africans from coming to this country and then followed by vetting all Muslims who are entering the country. This also should be follwed by vetting all Britains, Americans and also Australians and Germans . Swedish and only provide visas to those wth decent educational backgrounds and also financial resources as they are also a lot of trash whites in the kingdom these days indulging in sinister activities like running online gambling stuff, porn sites and also running bars and brothels along with money laundering activities.

This is a joke isn't it? ( PS Britain is a country,,I don't think it's coming here anytime soon. Britons are British)