thaibeachlovers

Is it now a requirement to have one of those phones that can have all the spyware installed on it and track us constantly ( I don't have one of those and never will if I can avoid it )? What happens if I turn up in Thailand without a phone at all? Will they even let me in? Could I use a tablet instead of a phone? What if I turn off my phone after loading the app, and remove the battery?

Don't get me started on the "no smacking" insanity that's IMO making monsters out of children! Sure, it went too far back in my youth- teachers caning because a pupil got the answer wrong etc, but brats behaving badly because they know they can't be punished at all isn't making the world a better place.

Excellent post. Some on here think children are wonderful, but my recollection of other children when I was one is that some are just horrible, and most are just getting through childhood as best they can. I think that some people when they have kids lose their capacity to see that their children are not perfect. Is there such a thing as the "art of parenting"? Far as I can see most parents don't have a clue, and just muddle through as best they can. If very lucky their kids are nice. Most of the kids that people I know have are spoiled in some way, either by being given too much or too little emotional care. Quote 5. I think kids are generally over rated. End quote. I couldn't have said it better. IMO nothing is more tiresome than a parent that lets a child rule their life. I had friends that I stopped visiting because their children were so revolting, but they were oblivious to how obnoxious their kids were, or perhaps they were, but unwilling to rectify the situation. The two children of the woman I lived with were ruined by the time I met their mother by living with an abusive father till she left him. I knew nothing about parenting, so regret to say that I didn't make things better, but their mother didn't help either as she preferred her career to being with her children. One of the reasons I left her in the end was because she was just using me as a baby sitter. When I was training as a nurse the children's ward was an eye opener about sick children and their parents. Of course people care about their children, but some become so obsessed with the sick child that they neglect the healthy ones with long lasting psychological effects. For sure there are too many people on the planet. The best thing we can do to "save" the planet is to have less or no children. I have too many regrets in a life lived to the fullest I was capable of having, but not having kids is thankfully not one of them.

You were lucky then.

Rubbish. I lived with a woman that had a couple for a few years. Long enough to KNOW that I didn't want any of my own. I also know that having kids doesn't automatically make one love them. Plenty of bad parents in the world. Some neglect them or even beat them to death. Be happy that your parenting experience is positive, but understand that for many it isn't. My own parents were not good parents and it's just as well I didn't have any kids as I might have also been a bad parent, like them.

IMO most people have children too early and don't know enough. They don't come with instructions. Bad parents raise bad kids that raise bad kids etc etc etc.

IMO complete BS. More and more people are starting to realise that kids are not some sort of essential appendage to themselves and having perfectly good lives without any. In some countries women are even realising that having a man around isn't essential either.

Isn't that the sort of thing to be sorted BEFORE getting married?

My father didn't wait till I finished my education. He had me into boarding school at 11. I never really knew my family after that, as I used to either spend holidays on a friend's farm or working. When I had actually finished and got a job he moved the family to another country. So much for love of family.

Had my life been more stable I might have considered adopting a child in my 40s, but the western world being what it is I imagine that would have been next to impossible. A solo woman can have as many kids as she wants and the taxpayer has to support her, but a single man adopting...........................................! Anyway, with so few kids up for adoption I'd have been at the back of a very long q.

I convinced myself that I was different, but I was just another sucker in the end.

Want unconditional love- get a dog.

My experience with a woman with kids was the opposite. Had no opinions till then, and after resolutely opposed to having any. The best thing we can do to save the planet for humanity is to have less children. Given the IMO stupidity around child raising now ( no smacking, no loser culture, indoctrination at school, addiction to social media ) I'm a million % happy I never had any.

If he's not Ukrainian and is captured, it's likely that John will not be a happy chappie. I doubt he will have Geneva Convention cover either.

Why on earth would Putin negotiate when he's winning in Mariupol? There was a time for negotiation, before the Russians crossed the border. Unfortunately that option was rejected.

The ones I remember the most were the ones that got away, because someone else got to pop the question before me, or I was broke at the time. I do remember a couple in particular that were spectacular the first time, but because of errors on my part I missed out on seconds. If only I could ask the good Doctor to return me to 1996!

I wasn't referring to Ukrainians.

More like Afghanistan under the Russians IMO. Send them enough weapons to keep the Russians tied down.

That is the elephant in the room.

but, it's not in NATO. NATO has no business fighting in non NATO countries. If countries want to create an army to fight in Ukraine they can do so, but it can't be NATO.

All of us being dead would certainly stop Putin.

Is it not true that if US or British military units launch missiles against Russia in the Ukraine they will become legitimate targets? IMO they would. As I see it if they get involved Putin has to respond, and so it goes to WW3 and nuclear winter where we all die.

I've asked before, but how many western bodies are acceptable to to stop Putin in Ukraine? All of them have families to grieve. WW3 will, IMO, happen regardless of Ukraine, and is more likely to involve a different country than Russia. IMO it's always been going to happen, but as to when I have no idea at present.

What about those that take all the vaccines EXCEPT for the covid ones? I know a guy that had a severe reaction to Pfizer jab. I don't know anyone that had a severe reaction to any non covid vaccine.

Pattaya in the 90s was the best place on the planet for a single western guy. Since Thaksin it's gone downhill a lot. Got too greedy.