GinBoy2

Isn't that called Home Hospice? I suspect employing a home carer ultimately turns out to be a lot cheaper than marrying said 'carer' who inherits everything you've got

They are actually the same age. My first marriage failure was due to too much time away from home with work, nothing to do with looks or age. Luckily everyone gets on; my American daughters, Thai son, my ex, her bf and my wife. Weird though it may sound we even all go vacation together

It's funny how we all see things differently. Me and MrsG have been together over 20 years at this point Neither of us have the bodies we did back then, but I 'think' because we actually have a spiritual or whatever you might call it relationship, I think she's sexier now in her 50's than she ever was. I can see a pretty girl in the street, and think, Yep she's pretty, but wouldn't ever trade MrsG for a TikToc obsessed pretty face, with whom I would have nothing in common? I don't think so!

That is a somewhat disturbing tale!

DNA has a weird way of raising it's head as we get older. I'm an only child, of an only child Mom, yet my second cousin looks like my twin, and like my Dad. We have had some discussions about that!

And you know none of us are dumb enough to post pictures on here!

Well my ex wife is dealing very well with her toy boy boyfriend, doesn't seem to worry them. But again, he is I 'think' about 10 years younger than her

Two things affect the aging male brain; a desire for sex, and a sense of familiarity. Many guys in Thailand gravitate there for the former, easy sex with young women who in their home country would probably vomit at the thought of sex with them. Then you get to familiarity. We all like sex, but being with someone roughly your own age brings that sense of common ideals. You sorta like the same music, movies have lived through the same history so you actually have things to talk about, rather than a relationship just based around sex. So I'd say a 10 year age gap is about the limit And for full disclosure me and Mrs G are exactly 10 years apart

So if I'm right, and this might interest me as an American, am I right in saying that if I wanted to travel to Europe with my Thai wife, I should simply apply in a Schengen country with the lowest rejection rate? Now my wife is a US Permanent Resident, so I think that helps a lot, but we have wanted to visit Iceland for a long time, then we could visit with her cousin in Sweden. So apply in Iceland and we're off to the races! Is that how this works?

Maybe I'm just kinda old fashioned, but I do always pay the bill when we go out. It really is irrelevant since me and MrsG have joint finances, but maybe it's part of my dinosaur brain, and hers too, that I get out the credit card when we dine out. Don't know why, and I'm sure someone will tell me why it's wrong, and it makes no real sense but it makes us for whatever reason feel good

I'm an American so doesn't affect me, but thought for the Europeans this might be an interesting factoid.

I shipped our cat, several years ago it must be said, to the US, and to be honest I gave up trying to fathom it myself and just coughed up the cash to a shipping agent. The paperwork alone was horrendous, and it mostly appeared to be for the Thai authorities shipping it out. Entry to the US was pretty easy. Ass backwards I know, but it is Thailand!

Wiki is your friend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_marshal

Well I totally agree about BSG remake. Gritty, edgy totally loved it. Still one of my goto shows when I want to watch something where I can just drop in on an episode I've watched multiple times and still be thoroughly entertained

Maybe I'm just too lazy nowadays to even bother with simplified. I can read to an adequate level in traditional, enough that I can read a Taiwanese newspaper. I'm not really interested in reading much from the mainland anymore, because it basically propaganda, so simplified doesn't really interest me now. As for your comment about reading Thai, that baffles me. Reading Thai is easy compared to Mandarin, it's a cipher not dissimilar to western languages

Did you learn simplified or traditional? I learnt Mandarin while I was living in Taiwan, so went down the traditional route. With hindsight I wish I had tried simplified, although having said that I now find comprehending simplified text much harder due to the lack of characters. It becomes a little guessing game more often than not

The answer to that is no. The bags have never left the sterile area so they would be fine. What we do when a passenger is removed, their bags fly and they will be forwarded back at some point by the end station. Not going to put the rampers through the Hell of trying to search a stacked cargo bin for some jackass' bag

So if you ever wonder how this whole process works, it's very simple. Once the cabin crew determine they have an issue with a passenger, they inform the Capt. and he/she decides what to do. If he determines it's a safety issue to the flight, he/she will send an ACARS message to Dispatch informing them that he will return to the gate, or if in the air to the nearest diversion airport they have in the flight release. Dispatch will then contact the GSC(Ground Security Coordinator) on shift at the receiving airport They will contact the LEO(Law Enforcement Officer) who will greet the aircraft with a nice pair of shiny bracelets. Moral of the story, don't get blind drunk on a plane or be a disruptive jerk. I've done my fair share of dealing with people who seem to lose their frikkin mind as soon as they enter an airport Just remember you can be a jerk at home, be a jerk on an airplane, it will ruin your day!

As an official American Anglophile, I love most UK drama, although sometimes I do wish they could pick up the pace a little. Recent standout the final season of Endeavor But, British comedy is always where I've had trouble liking a lot of it. Most of it seems totally idiotic, at least what PBS likes to import. I didn't like Blackadder, except for the amazing final season set in WW1 Out on a limb here, but never really liked Monty Python, save for a few stand out sketches Keeping Up Appearances, and all that ilk I just don't get. When I was a kid I totally enthralled by anything British. Today I'm a lot more picky, and the offerings we now get from HBO and all the streaming services are for the most just as good, if not better. Hard to imagine the UK producing Succession, Game of Thrones, Yellowstone, Deadwood, and just because i'm a SciFi guy all of the Star Trek incarnation's, excluding Enterprise of course, which was a howler

Actually the Capt. doesn't really care about how 'happy' a passenger is. What he cares about is the safety of the flight, thats his job, and thats exactly what the Capt. did in returning to the gate, nothing to do with keeping some numbnut 'happy'

Just the fuel burn alone to taxi back to the gate is in the thousands of $. Depending on how long this incident lasted they would have had to get the fueler back, no small deal. Then factor in the disruption the crew and aircraft scheduling it's huge. The cost of these kind of things is huge, and all for a bag, which would have been forwarded on the next flight!

Oh you would be amazed how common this is. I work for Delta, and I can't tell you how many times we have passengers leaving bags, phones, wallets in the gate area. Then on the flip side so many gate checked bags passengers forget to collect at their destination! In this case, in US at least and I think most Western countries, upon arrival back at the gate the passenger would have been greeted by law enforcement, reunited with his bag followed by a trip to the local jail.

When I first wrote this, I was primarily talking about physical appearance as we age. As with many of you I don't think I resemble my Dad in my mental state in the slightest. My Dad was a down to earth kinda guy, worked in the fields all his life. It was my Mom who nurtured and encouraged me to go on to be the first in my family to go to college. So in many ways my Mom made my mind, but sure as Hell my Dad made how I look physically today

I was talking to some of the kids at work, and I happened to say, enjoy your hair while you have it. It may not last, look at your Dad. It got me thinking, how many of us now look in the mirror, and think "My God I've turned into my Dad" My Dad, as I suspect for most on here, is long dead, but sure as sh**t every morning I look in that mirror and I see him staring right back at me

I just listened to Funky Moped. That must be a ethnic special