wackysleet

Dante99.

I have no doubts that Teak oil and Weld wood powered glue is widely available in some places but does not appear to be available here in Lampang from the three big stores I previously mentioned so could you be a little more specific and post the name of some shops that stock it. Would be appreciated.

Kiniyeow.

It's the boiled Linseed oil I'm looking for too, here in Lampang but would settle for Teak oil, Tung oil? or Danish oil but Thais seem to prefer surfaces to have a mirror finish.

Just a thought but would it be possible/effective to buy from that store near you and boil it yourself. Depending on cost it might be worth a try.

I use Global several times a week and it is a strange place to find anything in there. Wood screws for instance at different ends of the store. 5/8" threaded rod they have, but no nuts that size. Thai Wasadu sell 5/8" but no threaded rod.

Just bought a Pillar drill {drill press} from Global but the don't sell the drill vise.

Home Pro has some better quality tools than the other two big outlets and does sell a very good yellow wood glue called Elmers {American?} but made under licence in China.

Has anyone seen Linseed oil around, I have been to countless places without luck.

I was wondering if any posters have had dealings with Express Visa and if they have, what is their opinion of the company?

There is probably a lot of things that do throb at night in Patong but not so sure it's the entertainment.

I'm still having problems with Y/T and other sites where I keep getting the message that the web page will not load, even on Microsoft stuff, wondered if it is a problem with Internet Explorer but hope a more knowledgeable poster can offer advice.

I have tried system restore backwards and forwards with no success.

OK, so I'm going to ask those with the knowledge on here something that is causing me problems.

In a previous post I made I pointed out that I had a new ATM card from Barclays bank that works perfectly well when I purchase goods from Big C, Tescos, Global House, Thai Wasadu etc but fails completely to work in any known ATM here.

My bank says it's to do with the lack of the latest security measures for the card on their ATMs, if this is indeed true and supposing the banks do upgrade to Win 8 is that likely to resolve the issue as I am tired of having to get a free monthly cash transfer from Barclays to my Bangkok bank account.

I'm in Lampang and having the same loading problems but if I go back to whatever I had on the screen previously then forward to you tube it loads ok.

I change all oils every month on my Yamaha Nuovo irrespective of the mileage covered and get the bike checked over, plug, brakes etc at the same time and apart from tyres and the odd puncture never missed a beat in 4 years, oil and service is cheap enough.

54321.

Strange that in the poll I read and customers stated the bank tells lies all the time but I could not understand why they would lie, one either has money or one doesn't have but then of course they sell all sorts of services which they have lied about and of course I have been lied to so many times I have simply lost count, the last lie was that my card was tracked to reach me on the 18th December by DHL but arrived on the 2nd January delivered by the Royal Mail and posted 21st December so why lie.

By the way, on several occasions transfers have taken a week always been told on making a call that Bangkok bank were sitting on my money, the last time it happened I went into Bangkok bank and they checked and said the transfer had indeed been returned 3 times to Barclays who had failed to complete the transfer properly.

SheungWan.

I agree about changing banks but living abroad and trying to change with all the attendant direct debits and standing orders is certainly not a walk in the park if dealing with Barclays and would likely cause other problems like missed payments although I do understand these should now be automatically transferred from bank to bank. Ever heard the expression "AND PIGS MIGHT FLY" No way Pedro but next visit to the UK will be a probable.

As a further update to my problem, I went to the local Tescos store and again checked out the row of ATMs with the same results but thought to go and buy a few items and try to use my card, well I only spent a couple of hundred baht, offered my new Barclays debit card and it was accepted with no problems, but on trying ATMs on the way out still a big NO NO.

Obviously if Tescos or Big C offered cashback like supermarkets in the UK then I could obviously get around the problem but it seems that perhaps there is a possibility that ATMs here cannot read Barclays latest card so in the meantime I will continue with my free transfers of cash from England.

By the way, I do have other accounts here in Thailand, in fact two separate accounts with Bangkok bank and one with Kasikorn bank these are all fed by my Barclays account to maintain my money for my retirement visa spread over the three accounts as a safeguard.

Somtamnication.

Barclays also demanded a bank letter confirming my identity, I refused and instead sent a copy of my passport and a bill from 3bb showing my address.

The bank has admitted there is a problem by making two ex gratia payments of 400 pounds in total but still a nuisance without a card but I have also got the Ombudsmans dept involved, takes them weeks and weeks to kick start themselves but a young woman there seems to have done her best but nothing resolved yet.

A query and hopefully a solution to my problem with Barclays bank in England. the 31st of March saw my debit card expire without a replacement being sent so on contact with Barclays helpline on the 2nd April I managed to get transferred to England, no sir, we have not sent a card as we have no Thai address for you, this despite receiving a monthly bank statement from them for years but they insisted that I would need to contact a lawyer here to verify my identity to which I replied, why are you discussing my personal account details with me then, well sir you have answered the security questions correctly so from there things went downhill fast.

After numerous calls, emails and letters Barclays Serious Complaints dept began a monthly transfer of cash while the problem was being sorted but still no card, in the middle of September a new debit card arrived but on attempting to use my account all ATMs here either said invalid pin number or allowed me into my account on screen but any request was greeted with, contact the issuing bank well I rang Barclays and told them, their reply was that the Thai ATMs were probably not able to read new security details on their cards and continued sending monthly transfers with promises that a new card was indeed on it's way via DHL well October still no card more weekly calls and a further promise of a card via DHL. November and December came and went but no monthly transfer but on January 2nd a new card courtesy of Royal Mail registered delivery posted on the 23rd December so straight off to the local bank of ATMs with exactly the same results as Septembers card had so now waiting for a response and cash from Barclays who were recently voted the worst High st bank in the UK with only 4% of satisfied customers so have any other Brits living here experienced these problems and if so have you resolved them.

I have two Bangkok bank B1st visa cards with accounts from Bangkok and Lampang but useless for purchasing tickets online from Air Asia who told me they do not accept cards from Bangkok bank.

What is exactly Fernandos true nature other than your opinion of him, but perhaps you know the full details of his Maclaren contract and know the man personally.

People in the public eye, be it sports people, actors, models or singers, they all get judged by the public from the way they behave and the things they do. Sometimes the public may form an unfair and an incorrect opinion of a person, perhaps thanks to some shoddy journalism, and sometimes they may form an opinion that is dead on. Either way, being judged by the public is part and parcel of being famous. So i think to chasten Loptr for having an opinion on Alonso's character, simply because he doesn't know the man personally, is a bit daft... and indeed hypocritical... unless you are seriously claiming to have never formed an opinion of someone you didn't know deeply and on a personal level.

Like picking our noses, we all do it i'm afraid.

It's always a good idea to take in and absorb all relevant news info regarding drivers and attempt to sort the wheat from the chaff and realize that in his own country Fernando is the one that gets good publicity and in England it's the medias little darling Lewis who can do no wrong but in fact there's not a lot of difference in their attitudes and that is what probably makes them so competitive.

Point one, i think it's a bit unfair to simply presume that Loptr's opinion hasn't been formed from a broad and wide intake of sources, as yours has. Perhaps it has, but perhaps he has simply ended up with different conclusions from you.

Point two, besides the BBC, my own intake of English based media sources is extremely limited, but in those that i have come across, i have never seen anything that has portrayed Hamilton as "a little darling who can do no wrong".

You haven't been sneaking on to hamiltonisalittledarling dot com again have you?

For one thing I did not chasten anyone, only asked if his opinion of Fernando was based on fact or what he had read and the part I referred to about knowing his contract details could well have explained justifiably why Alonso acted in the way he did and there have been many times where I have passed comment on his behavior, perhaps because I am a fan of F1 first and foremost and not just a Lewis fan.

My dislike of this forum is based on the premise that so many posters are more content to kiss the arse of Lewis than make an observation on the racing and to all intents and purposes most of the Hamilton fans are more concerned with complaining about Alonsos faults while totally ignoring Hamiltons and for those of you that choose not to read and inwardly digest and admit to his faults are deluding yourselves, perhaps because the medias little darling has dropped somewhat down the pecking order of the top few drivers.

I have of course in the past and probably will do so in the future made PERSONAL evaluations on people I have met but never voiced a negative view unless I have actually met the person and not formed an opinion based on what I read unless it correlates with what I know.

I have always endeavoured to be polite and respectful with my posts avoiding personal remarks that I may deem possibly offensive and although I may be all sorts of things I am not a hippocrite, a remark along with your piss poor attempt at witticism re; Hamiltons website I find deeply offensive as it seems your views are the only valid ones allowed.

Why in recent posts you have thought it acceptable to base your replies in the way you do I find it strange but perhaps that is really how you are, sarcastic, but rest assured this will be my last post on this forum, I'm done with wasting my time.

The Tifosi will be scratching their heads next year trying to figure out who to support, Fernando or Kimi.

We all know Fernando does not take kindly to being on equal footing with a teammate as his stint at McLaren with Lewis as evidence. Fernando will revert to his true nature and Kimi will take advantage. It should be quite interesting.

What is exactly Fernandos true nature other than your opinion of him, but perhaps you know the full details of his Maclaren contract and know the man personally.

It's always a good idea to take in and absorb all relevant news info regarding drivers and attempt to sort the wheat from the chaff and realize that in his own country Fernando is the one that gets good publicity and in England it's the medias little darling Lewis who can do no wrong but in fact there's not a lot of difference in their attitudes and that is what probably makes them so competitive.

Believe me, they both have an unpleasant side to their character.

David.

rixalex.

As a driver I have a high regard for Fernando and he seems a genuinely nice man to chat to but I would never try to defend the indefensible, for me bad manners and talking down to people in ones team is a definite no go and is something I really hate to hear, civility costs nothing and while I disagree with a lot of views I endeavor to remain polite, with one exception about 3 seasons ago where I did get a bit peeved with a poster and told him so.

What has been a big disappointment to me recently is the lack of posts, good or bad about the actual races, nothing, why? I have tried to stimulate a bit of interest even if it's somewhat controversial in my opinions of drivers/events but perhaps we are all finding the racing boring, I use the term loosely because of the apparent ease Seb appears to be running away with the silverware again this year.

David.

rixalex.

I guess you misunderstood my meaning concerning the comment I made about Seb and Marks spat, that occasion in my opinion when they raced was the best, most competitive piece of racing in that whole charade, 4 drivers and only Mark thought team orders were acceptable, certainly Lewis to his credit didn't and Nico was well peeved about it but the point intended was that Seb is a better racer than many give him credit for and that was only once instance of his skill because Mark gave no quarter and our relevant stances on team orders are a personal thing that has had the life flogged out of it, you agree and I don't.

I accept what you say forms your own opinion about a driver and that you don't listen to tittle tattle/Facebook or any other media outlet but I do read Lewis twitter page and for the record, did you know that when he had a big argument with the team he posted a diagram on his twitter account of the telemetry of his car and only removed it when the team had a go at him and if that is not a show of throwing his toys out of the pram then I don't know what is and by the way that is public knowledge available to any person knowing where to find it and I do not read social gossip only sport related stuff, a bit like you reading/watching BBC that and ones track performance causes me to form an opinion of a driver and yet you have frequently castigated Fernando over articles in the press concerning his alleged prima donna attitudes, an opinion I also share but most of the top drivers are like that.

Your correct up to a point with regards to Nico and his publicity but even when he had won 2 races and Lewis had won nothing it was still the Mercedes machine pumping out all the news about Lewis and even this weekend with Nico scoring well and Lewis way down the field it was still all about good old Lewis with hardly a mention of Nico but as you rightly say, we are all entitled to our personal views and opinions.

David.

Massa vs. Hulkenberg, not an easy choice technically.

Do you think Massa is over-the-hill at 32?

Hulkengerg seems to be here one minute and gone the next but I believe Fillepe still has a lot to offer if he could only throw off the cloak of always being in someone elses shadow, it must have dented his confidence a lot and I would love to see the man do well and go to Lotus.

At Ferrari he has just been used as cannon fodder apart from the year he almost won the WDC.

So it now appears Kimi has signed for Ferrari, not really a surprise but I would have liked to see him remain at Lotus if they could have given him the guarantees he wanted but will be interesting with possible sparks flying next season.

David.

my own view which I'm sure will be disputed is that there is not much to choose between Seb, Kimi and Fernando, based on their performances/results,

David.

Alonso is some margin ahead of anyone on the grid currently. His ability to consistently put the Ferrari's he's been given over the last few season's on the podium has been outstanding. In addition, in spite of often fighting race performances and in contrast to his rivals, he very rarely gets involved in scrapes that put him out of the race.

Vettel is undeniably a top talent but he's been lucky to have had the luxury of the best car on the grid for a few seasons now. Up until this season he was prone to errors, and last season he fell well behind Alonso recovering only in the last part of the season when the Red Bull proved so dominant. This season he's matured and has made a lot fewer mistakes.

Kimi has driven sublimely since his return, as consistent as Alonso and with real raw pace. However, his form in the season and a half before he left to go rallying leaves some questions unanswered. I hope he's a real contender next season whichever team he's with.

I agree with what you say about Button I think he's as underrated as Hamilton is overrated. It'll be great when he get's Honda engines again but I guess next year Mclaren may struggle in the shadow of the Mercedes factory team.

I never thought Hamilton was 'that' good, he had easily the most well prepared entry to F1 in the best car on the grid in the history of F1 and was hailed as the second messiah. He is still very much the BBC's 'darling' (in contrast to Button) and in spite of some very shaky performances. On his day he's spectacular but he has also often failed to impress, then shown a weak temperament. In fairness he seems to have matured in this regard this season.

Really pleased Ricciardo got the Red Bull drive, think he could be one to watch fro the future and I'd love to see Bianchi get the second seat at Ferrari but that won't happen for now.

Really looking forward to next season, the all new cars will hopefully shake things up a bit.

Again these are my views and I hope that's controversial enough for you David.......feel free to shoot me down ?

b19bry.

Bugger, not so controversial Bry but I'm sure you will have pissed off the Lewis fans somewhat although I do tend to agree "too inconsistent" and not mentally strong enough in my view to realize his undoubted raw talent and your comment about being the medias darling is certainly true, a topic that I have frequently broached on with regards to Mercedes and Nico and all the publicity he gets.

I think most people only see Lewis in a certain light and perhaps miss the darker side of his character but they should read his tweets especially about his team mate Jenson and his engineers and the team in general, even comments he's made about Ron but then of course people do not want to hear that their driver is less than perfect as a human being and as I have chatted with him on numerous occasions I have my own opinion of what his character is like, judged by my standards and no one elses.

With regards to Seb and his occasional accidents {usually of his own making}I put that down to too much enthusiasm and lack of experience and his total desire like Fernando to win although as you say he has matured and now ranks at or very near to the top with Fernando and like you, I appreciate Kimis skill but also remember his last year with Ferrari and a tendency to be rather aloof and

in my view is not a team player so I hope he stays at Lotus as I cannot see him being happy playing 2nd fiddle to Fernando.

P.S. Could'nt shoot you down, ran out of ammo.

David.

Why do the police need to seek an arrest warrant, the man has committed a criminal offence. I don't understand that at all.

I have always been a fan of Sebs long before he won at Monsa in the Torro Rosso but unfortunately since joining the all conquering Red Bull team it's really impossible to judge just how good he actually is, my own view which I'm sure will be disputed is that there is not much to choose between Seb, Kimi and Fernando, based on their performances/results, what about Lewis I hear posters shout, well in my opinion Lewis shows signs of brilliance AT TIMES but is not consistant as he seems to be affected by outside influences {personal?} as an example, was Maclarens car really only good enough for him to get 4th and 5th places in the last 3yrs of his contract with the team whilst Jenson was 2nd one yr and one place behind Lewis the other 2 yrs and accumulated a higher number of points, I believe Lewis is a faster driver than Jenson but lacks the technical skills of Jenson.

I have to say that the "I would like another car" attributed on Fernandos birthday when asked what present he would like, while probably under the circumstances not very prudent certainly was not as scathing as Montezumas personal attacks especially when he appears to accept no responsibility for an under performing car. Perhaps that's why Fillipe is still the driver, difficult to sack a driver who is not performing so well in a car incapable of winning, perhaps Ferrari should sack Montezuma.

rixalex, I am sure your right about the chaos/panic behind the scenes at Ferrari with the kind of investment they're making and no championship so people are apportioning blame to everyone but themselves although ultimately the buck has to stop with Montezuma.

This post of course is my personal view and is intended {hopefully} to stimulate some reaction to debate as this topic aka Formula 1 seems to be lacking in input this season even more so than other years and is in danger of disappearing all together, hence a possible controversial post. Here's hoping.

David.

A good post David that i actually didn't think was that controversial.

With regards your comments about best drivers, i think the only thing that is indisputable, is who is the most successful... and with regards that, Seb is well on his way to being twice as successful as anyone else on the grid, with four Championships to his name.

Determining who is "the best" is a whole lot more subjective. For me, Alonso is the best in terms of all round racing package. He isn't without weaknesses however, and for me, his biggest weakness is prima-dona tendencies; a need for whatever team he is in to be totally focused on him. When the team is focused in that way, he excels, as he has done at Ferrari. And that is great for him personally and for his goal of winning the driver's championship, but not so great for the team in its own quest of winning the constructor's championship.

Seb as i say, is undeniably the most successful. Again though, not without weakness. He excels at leading from the front and has at times come up short when battling from further back. How exactly he would fair in a car that wasn't as good as the Red Bull has been for most of the last four seasons, we have yet to find out.

Kimi since he has come back has been fantastic. For me though there is a question mark concerning his commitment, which seemed to disappear totally before he took his sabbatical. I also wonder about his team working skills. All very well coming out with things like "leave me alone" on the car to pit radio, when he is driving well, but how would teams tolerate that sort of attitude when things aren't going so well. I know one thing for sure, if either Hamilton or Alonso said something like that, they would have been crucified by the media. Kimi seems to get away with it... for the time being...

Finally, with regards Lewis, i do agree with you that an emotional tendency, wearing his heart on his sleeve, and blurting soon to be regretted things out when things don't go his way, is his achilles heel. I think it's more of an achilles heel however in terms of his media image. I don't think it tends to negatively impact on his driving, in fact i think in the same way as someone like Rooney needs to have that feisty side to his character to play his best football, Lewis needs that precocious side to him, in order to drive as well as we know he can.

And with regards your often cited comments about how he faired racing alongside Jenson, i'm reminded of comments you made a couple of weeks ago when you were bemoaning how Rosberg was being somewhat overlooked in terms of the job he was doing for Mercedes. You made the point that if you look beyond simply how many points they had accrued, and analysed things race by race, and take into account things which have been beyond Nico's control... take into account some bad luck he has had, he is actually doing much better than some people seem to think. I think you were right in saying that, and that simply comparing points doesn't always tell the complete story. In the same way, i think if you analysed those seasons that Lewis and Jenson raced together, on a race to race basis, and took into account factors that were beyond the driver's control, you'd see that in fact Lewis did do quite a bit better than Jenson in most races, but didn't always get rewarded. That's racing of course, and people will, at the end of the day, often simply focus on success.

rixalex.

at least we seem to have similar views on drivers if not 100%.

My reference to Lewis v Jenson was in respect of the season Jenson was WDC runner up and Lewis did not perform at all well, the reason I believe was his public split with Nicole which I felt impacted on his head somewhat and that maybe a problem he has to overcome, disappointment.

Your right about it being difficult assessing just how good Seb is although having followed his career I have always been an admirer {finger and all lol}and think after his little spat with Mark when he raced against team orders for me along with other incidences proves he is a racer.

With Fernando it's much easier to quantify his ability and my guess is that he really is the best of the bunch he has had good results in cars that were not always the best.

Kimi, I think has a great talent but is not a team player and that's why I don't think he will go to Ferrari and with the attitude he has shown at Lotus would not go down too well with Ferrari.

With regards to Nico, I have always rated him highly and as you said, points do not tell the complete story but I just wish he got as much publicity as Mercedes appear to be giving Lewis, I'm sure it would boost his confidence somewhat.

David.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108731

Honda for 2015 to power Maclaren

Thank you, an interesting article and some good questions on the Q.and A part.

Nest year 1.6 Turbo..........with Ferrari that sounds funny together ? In the Group is there a Fiat 1.6 Turbo ?

1.6 Turbo and Renault sure used for years, just maybe Kimi would be better off staying put..

Mercedes, Ferari, Renault and Honda for sure, little known PURE has also developed an engine but do not see any interested teams opting in for it.

Never heard of Pure before but Hondas engine will not be available until 2015 season and for next season Maclaren will be using Mercedes engine.

Would like some more info on the Pure engine if you have it or a link but as you said probably not a lot of interest and Cosworth don't appear to be doing any development work either.

David.

Had some out of date info about Honda and see Mercedes will power Maclaren. Right you are.

Did some research and PURE is out of money it appears from March 2012 but is/was headed up by Craig Pollock and Gilles Simon. They still have a website http://www.purecorp.org/ and expect if they can get the funding, may see interest. Two guys have talent.

I was also really hoping to see Cosworth offer an engine.

I think after Bernie allowed some teams in and insisted that they used Cosworth engines made the development work a viable proposition for Cosworth at the time but then old Bernie allowed some to swap engine suppliers thus not worth Cosworths time and money and I suspect they caught a cold on the deal.

Will check out that Pure company out of interest, thanks for the info.

David.