StreetCowboy

I would imagine a paragraph highlighting the reasons why she will be returning to Thailand after her visit (with reference to evidence provided) would be helpful.

SC

So I'm listening to the Hull KR v St Helens game; 8 tries in the first half, with Rovers leading by two conversions, but St Helens score twice in the first few minutes of the new half.

And the tries keep coming - Hull KR go back in front with their 6th try - 36-30 (also 6 tries)

SC

And St Helens score with 6 minutes to go... and the ball comes off the cross-bar to leave Hull KR ahead by two minutes... and with the last kick of the game - after the hooter, "from 30 metres out, Jamie Foster, ten metres out from the left upright - now then, Jamie Foster has he got his kicking boots on, and the flags - they're up! and we're all square!"

Hull KR 36 - 36 St Helens

and I've got work in the morning...

Just think what it was like for us kr fans

I'm not surprised you've been speechless for a week...

I'll be listening to the Hull KR - Warrington game on Sunday; I hope Radio Merseyside give it their full attention...

Good luck with the re-application, by the way!

SC

Two cracking upsets for the books last night, and all the time I was safe and peacefully tucked up in bed.

St Helens 32-34 Catalan Dragons

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17106976

Salford 24-22 Hull FC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/17106733

That's the last time I sleep on a Friday night...

SC

...

Dead right - post-count is irrelevant, it is quality that counts..........................................................

Oh no! Now you tell me...

SC

EDIT: Poor chap - the OP - he asks a perfectly innocent question; no doubt something that has been bothering him for some time, and certainly not a provocative and argumentative troll question intended to elicit negative or cynical responses, and we're not taking him seriously... Now he'll have to take himself doubly seriously to compensate.

I'm finding myself temporarily speechless..........

?

It is a delaying tactic, designed to push up one's post-count.

Typing "?"

or repeating other people's posts has the same effect !

I was tempted to write "oh, if only...";alas, the moment is lost.

I really wanted to write nothing at all, but I couldn't find the 'Spock's quizzically raised eyebrow" smiley.

SC

Edit: I really wanted to highlight the irony. Had he written nothing, then I might have concluded he was speechless....

To answer the question - I'm a little embarrassed about my post count, which reveals the fact that I am a sad no-lifer with nothing better to do than bicker here on the internet of an evening. Anyway, work tomorrow, so time for me to retire (ha - I should be so lucky!)

SC

Never really a problem if you follow the advice above, move away from the area a few hundred yards and you'll get a taxi no problem. I love them bars

This pretty much always solves any taxi problem in Bangkok tourist areas. In Patpong for instance it is impossible to get a meter taxi directly in front of soi. The waiting touts obviously won't, and the taxis coming up the street have all the way to the end of the road to find a chump so usually won't either. But just across the road in front of McDonalds there will be a dozen waiting taxis and they'll all use the meter. So easy but you still see tons of tourists going with the tuk tuk and taxi touts in front of Patpong

I've found, pretty much everywhere I've been, you've got more chance of the meter with a moving taxi, or, in Singapore, a taxi at an official taxi rank - though generally the queue of people there means a far longer wait than elsewhere...

SC

I'm finding myself temporarily speechless..........

?

I have to agree with the OP here, Thaivisa (news and general forums at least) create huge amounts of cynical comments.

Yes, I admit that corruption is endemic in the country and holds it back in vital areas like education and infrastructure development among others.

But how many of the negative posters have stopped to take a long hard look at their own birth countries? As a Brit, I reckon the major difference between the UK and Thailand is the great subtlety regarding corruption in the UK. Just because it's not out in the open like it is in Thailand, don't kid yourselves that Western countries are shining examples of democracy and good governance; they are not.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is equally true all over the world.

Now, I have a problem, my post also sounds a tad negative, but at least I aimed at a different target from the usual poor bl**dy Thais.

Edited for spelling

But, can we just confirm,......... you are not - surely - suggesting that Thailand IS a bastion of democracy and good governance. How far it is behind the UK doesn't really matter as long as corruption remains an endemic part of Thailand's culture.

Just because you only give a copper 200 Baht for exceeding a (ridiculously low) speed limit, rather than put GBP 60 into the UK's public coffers, does not make it right.

The endemic corruption (that you rightly acknowledge) not only holds back the areas you describe - it prevents the country gaining any credibility in the moral fortitude stakes.

This is not a negative post, it is simply attempting to quantify some the differences in corruption between Thailand and the West.

In my opinion the most cynical people are those that say "It's the same everywhere, and Thailand is no more corrupt than Switzerland or wherever". But then, I'm just a naive simpleton. I find it better that way.

SC

Its all the people who won't let me form my opinion that make me cynical, telling me what I should think, what kind of opinion I can have. I'd be quite happy if I could just be my usual sardonic, cynical self. Surely that's all that we all want?

I get a bit fed up with people asking so many stupid questions, as well. You're not bloody Magnus Magnusson, and you never will be. Anyway, I'm not a mastermind, so I think I'll pass on this question...

And another thing. Look at these shoes. They cost me six times what I paid for the last pair, so they'd better last more than a few months. Anyway, you can't go wrong with shoes from Nottingham, even if they were made in Vietnam

SC

Surely cobblers in Northampton would be better ?

You're quite right, but as I found out, they're from Somerset in any case.

Read - Learn - Post is better than

Post - Learn - Edit...

SC

Edit: Just goes to show - I don't know cobblers...

Whilst we're talking cobblers, as I was following up the research on my previous post, I happened to notice that Dr Martens are made in Thailand, and that they have also resumed production in Northampton, for all the cynics that say British manufacturing is dead... and that made me pine wistfully for my ten-hole cherry reds that I wore when I was much younger than I am today. Used to take longer to lace them up than to cycle down to the paper shop, except in the winter when I would fall off my bike on the ice at the cross-roads at the foot of the hill. The joys of being up before the gritters...

Its all the people who won't let me form my opinion that make me cynical, telling me what I should think, what kind of opinion I can have. I'd be quite happy if I could just be my usual sardonic, cynical self. Surely that's all that we all want?

I get a bit fed up with people asking so many stupid questions, as well. You're not bloody Magnus Magnusson, and you never will be. Anyway, I'm not a mastermind, so I think I'll pass on this question...

And another thing. Look at these shoes. They cost me six times what I paid for the last pair, so they'd better last more than a few months. Anyway, you can't go wrong with shoes from Nottingham, even if they were made in Vietnam

SC

Edit: turns out its a Somerset company and they were made in China. See what happens when you don't check your facts first?

.........I object to every thread being hijacked.

And taken to Cuba, or we'll shoot the craw...

SC

You see.......this forum is being over-run by disgruntled British ex-pats, it's getting to the point that every other thread is being hijacked with people like you that can't just celebrate your life in Thailand, you have too look over your shoulder and sneer.

Ummm you do realize you are replying to the OP who in fact did make a nice OP on why he celebrates his life in Thailand?

You will have noticed that the OP wasn't content to just sing the praises of Thailand.......he had to poison the Well by looking over his shoulder and sneering.

Your not daft Flying.......I'm right and it is right below your nose.

Although the OP started off noting that he liked Thailand, he then went on to denigrate his "own" country; personally, if its his country, he's let it get into a poor state, which doesn't say much about the man, and he doesn't seem to be taking much action to fix it...

Instead, he asks:

"Anyone else got any good reasons why they are glad they are not in their 'own' country? (Political asylum seekers need not reply)".

although the thread title refers to country of birth, rather than country of nationality or domicile. As the third generation in a four-generation family of expats, I am conscious of the difference... (to be fair, that (four generations) depends on which leg of the tree you go up...).

I'm not sure why he thinks the opinions of political asylum seekers lack merit, but it may be for their predictability - "I am seeking political asylum, and I am glad to be here because the weather in Iran is dreadful. Oh - no it's not, it's because I am a victim of political persecution"

SC

Every time I take a cab in Bangkok, the back seats have the strap but no buckle. I feel for it in the gap of the seats and it's like they have been removed. Ridiculous.

Not every time. I always make a point of commending the seat belts and specifically tipping for them, whenever there are seat belts there. Normally, they are tucked down below the seat. I don't know why.

SC

I lived there 7 years ago, then wised up and moved to Rawai. I rarely if ever go there now.

Wised up,wasn't someone murdered there recently.

No.

Top denial. You stick to that. No-one saw you. And if they did, it was a coincidence. They can't pin anything on you. And besides, you don't even know what night in question they mean.

SC

comparing hitler to thaksin is nothing but an insult to the many millions who suffered by hitlers actions

Agreed. A few names fit with Hitler in the big picture, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot come to mind,

but Thaksin is not in that infamous league... yet.

Elections are by nature yes or no questions for the country.

If it is evenly divided 50 /50 with slight variations periodically,

there will always be half the electorate the other half thinks

makes a mistake for any number of reasons.

Calling it such is not arrogant, but looking at it as fact.

In this case the obvious manipulations and outright lies

used to win the election show as errors.

As to stating opinions.

Every one has one. I have mine.

I need not add an IMHO every time I make a statement of what I have observed and analyzed.

I have stated many good reasons why I have come to my conclusions,

if you don't agree that's your problem not mine.

If you think me arrogant that is also your problem not mine.

Yet is right, his red shirts are wearing Mao shirts. The worst is yet to be.

I suppose the trouble is that we don't know the names of many second-rate tinpot demagogic dictators.

I often think that Hitler is a good exemplar of the most extreme of such.

Perhaps we could use Arthur Scargill in preference, but he was more parochial and less widely known internationally.

Could anyone propose another dictator that rose to power through demagogary that will not arouse such passions?

SC

Tell me....in which country in the world, do women not go angling for wealthy men?

However I do agree with the OP that some subjects are done to death here.

Maybe we should have a done to death forum.

Ianforbes is our resident expert on taking Thai girls angling.

SC

Tell me....in which country in the world, do women not go angling for wealthy men?

However I do agree with the OP that some subjects are done to death here.

Maybe we should have a done to death forum.

Tell me....in which country in the world, do women not go angling for wealthy men?

However I do agree with the OP that some subjects are done to death here.

Maybe we should have a done to death forum.

Yeah, and I'm getting bored to death with the 'Western women are all as greedy as Thai bar tarts'. If I had 100 baht for every time I've heard 'My wife back 'ome took me for everthin' I 'ad', whilst his new Thai tee ruk smiles simperingly on plotting to divest her latest ATM of everything he has left.

"If I had 100 baht for every ... " - then your tirak would be a happy lady!

"If I had 100 baht for every..." my wife would take it off me and fritter it away on school fees or some such

SC

Right at the beginning of this thread, CardHolder, for reasons best known to himself, started talking about transvestites. Always being one who tries to please, I latched onto the first TV name I could find in the thread (TV=transvestite, not ThaiVisa). Tutsi, Tootsie.... tout ca change, tout c'est la meme chose (sorry, no accents or cedillas on my keyboard).

Yes, Tootsie was a great film... but I prefer my boys to stay boys!

look out there, birder...this is an english language website and urbane pretentions are frowned upon...an' I can speak french too: 'ou est le gare du nord?...'

We've had our knuckles rapped before for this sort of thing. English is the only acceptable language on this forum

kenwhitameenanatjimmy?

Unless you want your knuckles wrapped for a square go with the mods...

SC

I think only Tootsie admits to having read Pride and Prejudice (and then goes on to show us how much more he's read). But then, in a sort of tough guy jargon which is meant to be I don't know what, he expects every detail to match. Not so... the comparison was a general one, not a suggestion that the whole of Austen's story is played out in detail. Mutatis mutandis, Tootsie, mutatis mutandis.

For those lacking a classical education or years nit-picking with contractors, mutatis mutandis means "same same only different" and is best thought of as a gap large enough to drive a cart and horses through

SC

Ha, so whats your opinion that l did all that's necessary but lost most cos my wife wanted to tour the world with another guy and took most of my financial and home building in the settlement.

Some here are blind to individual cases. fuc_k, l get angry with some snotty nosed do gooders.

I see three mistakes here.

1. Choosing the wrong wife

2. Having made mistake number 1compounding it by choosing the wrong lawyer

3. Having made mistake numbers 1 and 2 resorting to the argument that your problems are caused by other people

Well, GuestHouse, in fairness, not sure how having a good lawyer would be have made much difference in this case. I don't know if you know much about British divorce law, but my understanding is that if he was married to the wife for 20 years, no matter even if he had Rumpole of the Bailey as his lawyer, she is going to get a good chunk off him.

This isn't a woman bashing point, by the way, just a point of information. I actually find it interesting how posters in threads like this always seem surprised that the wife gets a lot of the assets (there seems to be an awful lot of men in the western world who find a wife divorces them after 20-30 years of marriage who like whinging on the internet). But the wronged husbands rarely tell the whole story. I know a guy in real life, was married for 25 years with three children. Last one was mildly mentally handicapped, wife stayed at home with kids for all the years. They split up and she got the house, and a small enough maintenance payment. Later one found out he was on a message board (not this one) and i looked at some of his threads. He went into several threads about divorces whining about the fact that he had been robbed in his divorce - nothing about the fact that the wife had devoted her life to minding the house and kids. He even had the cheek to say that the wife "never bothered getting a job even when the kids were grown" without adding the fact that one of the kids had the mind of a child even when he had reached adulthood.

I

Its difficult to get a decent job when you've been out of your career for say ten years, and you'r priorities and mental attitude change. That's one of the reasons why people who take maternity leave, and whose lives revolve around their children (predominantly women) don't progress so well as other people who are not so bothered about family life and socialise (i.e. brown-nose / politically maneuvre) with work colleagues at the expense of time with wife and kids. However, we still claim that the kids are ours as much as our wife's, and therefore presumably our careers and our salaries are our wife's as much as our own

SC

Well, GuestHouse, in fairness, not sure how having a good lawyer would be have made much difference in this case. I don't know if you know much about British divorce law, but my understanding is that if he was married to the wife for 20 years, no matter even if he had Rumpole of the Bailey as his lawyer, she is going to get a good chunk off him.

This isn't a woman bashing point, by the way, just a point of information. I actually find it interesting how posters in threads like this always seem surprised that the wife gets a lot of the assets (there seems to be an awful lot of men in the western world who find a wife divorces them after 20-30 years of marriage who like whinging on the internet). But the wronged husbands rarely tell the whole story. I know a guy in real life, was married for 25 years with three children. Last one was mildly mentally handicapped, wife stayed at home with kids for all the years. They split up and she got the house, and a small enough maintenance payment. Later one found out he was on a message board (not this one) and i looked at some of his threads. He went into several threads about divorces whining about the fact that he had been robbed in his divorce - nothing about the fact that the wife had devoted her life to minding the house and kids. He even had the cheek to say that the wife "never bothered getting a job even when the kids were grown" without adding the fact that one of the kids had the mind of a child even when he had reached adulthood.

I agree entirely with everything you said, though I disagree with the attitude "She's going to get/Did get and chunk of him"

As the example you give indicates there are other issues - what actually happens is a sharing of the family wealth and an assignment of on going responsibility.

Thereafter the point made a few posts up that this could happen to anyone is irrelevant.

It is not what happens to us, it is what we do about it.

If life leaves you broke, but still able to work then it is what you do for yourself that matters.

We know that Thailand attracts a proportion of guys straight out of the divorce courts, we know that it is virtually impossible to find well paid employment here but very easy to find an outlet for grief and cash in our wallets. So it is not a surprise that Thailand and Thailand forums get so many post divorce, anti western women views.

But it is right at the centre of all these discussions about pensions, life after divorce and choosing your own life.

If you want your own life, take responsibility for your own life.

I don't think I've ever heard people who have taken responsibility for their own life whinging. And please, not all of those are loaded with cash and pensions.

You'll here me whinging often enough about having to work till I'm 70, but I hope at least the rest of you can maintain a sense of humour about it and have a little chuckle,

SC

...have you priced doors lately?

We've decided to use excel instead, because doors is too expensive

SC

Many of the above responses are pretty unhelpful. In my opinion you had a reasonable application, and the grounds for refusal are fairly weak. I am currently dealing with a couple of similar refusals. In one of those cases I have had the decision overturned. In the other, I have made written representations to the Visa section at the British Embassy, and I am waiting for their response. In those two cases the same ECO was involved. I am wondering if the ECO who refused your partner's application is the same one. If you would like to PM me the initials of the refusing ECO on the refusal form (GV51), I will let you know if it is the same ECO. Alternatively, it will be fairly easy to overcome those refusal reasons, but that means paying for another application !

I agree the decision is pretty harsh. A quick phone call from the ECO asking for a little more information would have saved a lot of hassle.

It will be easy to correct in a further application but I would suggest a letter of complaint is in order. If time is pressing put in a further application (and fee!) but don't leave it at that.

The applicant has shown plenty of reason to return, funds availability etc so this refusal seems out of line. Some pointless posts/rants, very unhelpful IMO. This is a visit visa for a specific event, not someone trying to sneak into the UK to live illegally.

We only have the OP's word for that, and if he, as an honest and upstanding Crown Citizen had said as much in a covering letter to the embassy, according to our nation's servant there, the visa could have been issued.

I can understand the frustration at the rejection, rather than a request for more information, right enough.

SC

...IF may memory is correct, I supplied on the application form, my contact details,why din't they ring me.

Spoke with two friends earlier today,who informed me that when the visited the UK with their g/f, they did not submitt supporting letters, applications approved.

Just spoken with a chap,who came to Thailand for the first time last October, met a girl in a bar before Xmas and now because he's quickly running out of money has decided to return to the UK, hopefully get work on the building sites. Wishing to take the new love of his life back with him, he submitted a visa application on her behalf, along with a short letter saying he would support her. He was quite open and honest about it to me, he does't have two pennies to rub together, application approved.

Working yourself into a jealous frenzy and whinging about the unfairness of it all won't help.

Presenting an easy-to-read, well-formatted letter that leads the immigration officer through the various criteria that they have, showing how your evidence satisfies each criterion, will help.

Or you could rely on luck. Two out of three ain't bad; its a pity yours was the third one, but better luck next time...

SC

Oh if only the girls back home were so traditional, but oh no, they want to have their own lives...

SC