Tropicalevo

10 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

Understand but a bit different between a newspaper and the Tessabarn 

One would hope so.

The newspaper in question was supposedly the top newspaper in the UK.

The bottom line with a direct debit is that the payer cannot cancel it. Only the payee can.

2 hours ago, Expat68 said:

I believe you can set up a direct debit with them. When they sent my bill, they also sent a form for direct debit payments 

I think that most direct debits are difficult to cancel if the payee does not want to stop them.

I am very wary of paying by this method after a newspaper that I subscribed to this way refused to cancel the transaction. After 15 months of arguing with the newspaper, I had to resort to tell the bank that my debit card had been stolen.

4 hours ago, pedro01 said:

OK - so just to confirm - this is an English International School - not a Thai school. All teachers and headmaster are Western. The admin board is Thai. As I understand it, the owner is Indian - I could be wrong about that. 

 

My daughter came back yesterday. She's distraught. She is putting on a brave face. She does not want to go back to school for a couple of reasons. First - because she fears the friends of the boys that attacked her. Second because she fears one particular boy. This is her choice and I would not force her to go back. We are just spending time with her and spoiling her. 

 

My daughter is 14 and so are the boys. And we all know about the age of criminal responsibility here. Still - there are Juvenile courts here and I have spent time in them. I have seen errant kids up in front of those judges and it sure helped wipe the smiles off a lot of faces. 

 

The boys parents had to collect them from the school trip the day after it occurred. We spent a lot of time on the phone with our daughter, who insisted on staying the additional night of the school trip to spend time with friends. She's 14 - her choice. She did regret that. The friends of the boys sent home were passively-aggressively hostile towards her after she reported the event. And therein lies one issue with the school in my opinion. For kids to blame a victim en-masse for reporting an assault to me seems to imply a culture. Surely the other boys should have been revolted by their friends behavior?

 

None of the boys will be expelled. One boy (on the schools football team) has now assaulted my daughter 3 times. He has assaulted other girls who have not come forward and reported it as they are scared of the repercussions. He is not being expelled, he is being suspended. As far as I know - he will still be on the football team and be rewarded with trips around Thailand and to neighboring countries to play matches. I cannot absolutely confirm this - but it is what the teachers told my daughter - so it's second hand. The school has not informed me of any punishments. The boy that has committed the most assaults has been told he must distance himself 2 meters from my daughter at all times - but considering he feels it's ok to sexually assault a girl, why would he follow this rule?

 

On the other hand - my daughter (who was honor student last year), loves her teachers, she loves her friends, she is doing amazingly academically - and I LOVE the school for that. My son went there and is now in year 3 of University and sitting on a GPA of 4.0 - and he has learning difficulties. Why should she have to leave?

 

4 parents are Thai and one is foreign. I am not sure who is richer than who at the school - nor do I really care. We don't sit at the school gates swinging our d**** around. 

 

I have lodged a formal complaint with the school - which according to their complaints procedure - will bring in teachers and a headmaster from another international school to make a decision. The school has confirmed that the complaints procedure has started. Two teachers were in the room when my daughter was attacked at the "disco", teachers were also supervising when she was assaulted in the pool. 

 

The headmaster at the school has also agreed to a sit down in the week with their lawyer and one of the Thai members of the school board. This is a part of the complaints procedure (well, them bringing a lawyer and a member of the admin board isn't) - so I am sure I have the schools attention. Note also that the school has never tried to hide or deny any of the attacks. They are on school records and I have numerous emails. 

 

I contacted two of the fathers already - I can't say anything about that at this point. Other than neither of them are going to shoot me.

 

As for bringing in influential people. It's a possibility - friends of the wife - but you don't call on favors like that in anything but extreme cases. My brother in law was arrested recently. He drives a van and got pulled over on the usual fake charges. He was taking a group of Germans to golf and one got out the car and started taking video of the cop accepting a bribe and threatened to put the video on the internet to expose him. All over 200 Baht. The cops then arrested the German and my Brother in law.  It took one phone call for the police to not only release everybody but to leave them with an apology. No money changed hands. My brother in law offered to still pay the fine but they were too scared to accept it. That is the only single instance my wife has used this contact. This has not escalated to the point where this is required and we are not going to make that escalation ourselves at this point. We also want to be seen as taking care of our own problems as much as possible. You keep a card like that in your back-pocket for REAL emergencies.

 

The boys have sent texts to my daughter - she has not read them and she doesn't want to. We know they are apologies because they then asked Zoe's friends to tell her to read the messages. 

 

We have a meeting booked with our lawyer on Monday. I am not sure when I'll meet with the school as I want my lawyer present for that - and she's normally pretty busy.

Just to say that I am sorry  to hear about your daughter's problems.

You seem to be level headed and in control.

Good luck to you and especially good luck to your daughter.

We look after a number of villas where the developers pay one PEA bill for the development and then charge the individual owners separately.

Individual costs range from 7 baht to 10 baht per unit depending on the developer.

About 15 years ago, a new development near me was charging 25 baht per unit, but that did lead to a gunfight and the developer ended up in gaol.

53 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

It's pretty dark going through the tunnel. I switch car lights on for safety. MB's running through there with no lights on is dangerous for all concerned.

Don't most motorbikes automatically switch on lights when the ignition is turned on?

Mine does as well as all of those that I see on the roads.

The only bikes that I see with no lights are those ridden by the 'cool dudes' who remove the light bulb from the rear light.

(This is so that the police cannot see them at night when they go racing and other activities.)

Apologies to OneMoreFarang - you beat me to it.

To answer the original question -

Quote

Despite Christine’s intense desire to return to the UK, local doctors have yet to grant her a fit-to-fly certificate, anchoring her in Thailand.

(From another article on AN today)

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Boeing 737-Max,

I am surprised that they all arrived safely.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai activist

AKA a paid flunky who is told what to do by a rich moron pulling strings behind the scenes.

1 hour ago, AllanA said:

I think if they really want more tourists on the island they need to make the airfares to get there more affordable. Most people don’t go to Samui as if the over priced airfares, make them affordable and the business on the island will be making far more than they do currently. 

To re-quote what someone wrote a while back - 'the fares keeps the riff-raff away'.

I think that your comment is very true for domestic tourists, but International tourists do not always see the price of the Samui leg. They just see the price for the whole trip.

Most of our guests are International tourists.

The original airport was a tad more rustic, but could not handle today's passenger count.

From 2006 (Yes, it's a stock photo.)

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

Maybe lock him up somewhere?  If he isn't going to get any treatment at all, the best thing for everyone else is for him to be locked away so he cannot hurt anyone.  Not the best thing for him, but better than letting him roam around attacking people.

The problem is that the prisons are all overcrowded.

That is why many folk that are guilty are given bail or let out early. (Except anti government students and S. 112 people who are accused.)

This could be a good project for the PM before he resigns???

"We need more prisons for all of the bad folk"

5 hours ago, brianthainess said:

3 years to fit an engine ?.................

They have to work out how to copy it first.

33 minutes ago, Hakuna Matata said:

 

OMG, those perky Brits once again in Thailand? 

How do you know that he was perky?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

We're currently in the third quarter of the procurement process. We expect the new pumps to be installed by the fourth quarter

The solution is always tomorrow.

As I explain to staff - tomorrow never comes.

3 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

Thai politics, it's a shifty business 

I think that you typed an f instead of a t.

28 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Yet Thai people put up with it, or they're just too lethargic to protest... I guess they deserve what they get

Not lethargic. Sensible.

They go to gaol if they protest.

Which option would you take if you were Thai?

Plenty of examples in the last few years.

And that is where Thaksin will end up again.

A lot of the 'crimes' against him and his family are political. Same as section 112.

Same for Pita (and others).

Same for anyone who stands for the Thai people.

You have to be very brave (and wealthy) to take on the really corrupt folk here - the ultra rich and the military.

2 minutes ago, ignore it said:

"You just call out my name
And you know, wherever I am
I'll come runnin'
To see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there
You've got a friend."

Damm. That has put an earworm in my head today.

With thanks to Carole King.

1 hour ago, The Theory said:

It has already begun by farang income tax plan. 

10 minutes ago, The Theory said:

Rubbish🤔
aimed who ever got enough to pay tax,
Thai & farang. 
 

 

 

It was already in the place long before Thaksin returned.

It is aimed at rich Thais who were hiding their 'earnings' overseas and then getting around the tax with a delay of a one year.

They just removed the free from tax after one year rule.

1 hour ago, stoner said:

On 5/28/2024 at 3:42 PM, khunPer said:

Garbage – not only incinerator problems, but as well the visual bad looking and smelly garbage deposits on main roads

 

this is a country wide issue. need fixing fast or a real turning point is coming in the next 5 to 10 years. 

On Samui, the Tessabaan removed the garbage bins.

The reason was simple - no one was paying the garbage tax.

Most Thais burn their garbage.

Most foreigners just dump it.

On the development where I am, there are at least 90 properties.

To my knowledge, 20 or less are paying the tax. Most have refused to pay it.

Probably similar all over Thailand but it is the tourist areas that are more badly hit.