Embassy

[autan]

The British Embassies abroad in particular Thailand are there to provide a diplomatic representation in matters between the two countries, in addition handle visa, lost passports etc.

It is not there for tourist who visit Thailand on an Enlightened Mission, goes to Pattaya and shag everything with a pulse, get robbed and Yaba'rd and then wakes up at a Wat on the Choa Phraya River wandering what day it is and how he got there.

An neither is it there to bail people out at the UK taxpayers expense, a free fare home, I dont think so.

[theblether]

Sometimes I wish our embassy provided a quicker, more complete, cheaper service, but I look around whenever I am there, and I also think to myself "I wish they had a better public to deal with", and there, at least, I can do a little to help things along and try to apply for things in a timely fashion, turn up with the relevant documentation, polite, well-dressed and so forth.

Ha - ha; reminds me of the last time that I had to go to our embassy in Bangkok. I had fallen foul of the ridiculous pettifogging bureaucratic unnecessary futile obstructive regulations that our government has found it necessary to impose on those of us wishing to invest our savings in the economy, and urgently needed to get someone to confirm that a copy of my passport was a copy of my passport, in order to release some of my savings, as part of the global fight against money laundering and cleaning up the banking system.

As it happened, I was fortunate that the day after I discovered I needed this, I was to have a day off work in Bangkok - specifically, a Friday, from about noon onwards. So I headed down to WIreless Road to get the relevant signatures on the relevant photocopies, only to discover that our embassy is closed of a Friday afternoon - well obviously I was moved to mutterings better muttered outwith the embassy than on crown premises. Visions of being unable to get access to my hard-earned savings, the impoverishment of my contractor, collapse of my property and ultimately, the dereliction of whole of the East end of Glasgow flashed before my eyes. I was still refreshing the eff and bee sections of my vocabulary when I got to Nana BTS, where I was delighted to find on the concourse level in one of the little concessionnaire's boxes an itinerant notary public. Within minutes he had noted what a notary should note, down to the post office below the station, and all's well that ends well, the noted documents were received with due noteriety, the savings were released, the contractor saved from penury, the property from collapse and Glasgow's east end saved from a a fate comparable to the Blitz. I say all's well that ends well, but its not over yet, though I hope we're on to the final chapter...

SC

Having a home in the East End of Glasgow, ( as I do ) I would like to thank you for your quick wittedness and timely action.

ps The new developments in the East End in connection with the Commonwealth Games are coming along well, the M74 extension opened early and on budget ( shock development ) and the road functions as it should. ( remarkable development ).

[lazygourmet]

The British Embassies abroad in particular Thailand are there to provide a diplomatic representation in matters between the two countries, in addition handle visa, lost passports etc.

A bit out of topic...

I was living in Jakarta during May '98 riots.

My Brits and U.S. colleagues being sent for safety reason to Singapore, by their respective embassies: I called mine -Belgium- to know what to do.

There was only one Indonesian employee remaining who told me that all the diplomatic corps has been already evacuated to Singapore.

I ended up in Bali...

[jamescollister]

Sometimes you have to wonder what it is really all about. I was here in the tsunami, phoned home at the first chance to say I was ok. Family then phoned the emgency contact number that the Oz government was putting out on the TV, to tell them that I was Ok and take me off the list of possible missing. Guess what they had no list, all the bits of departure paper are for stats not people. Jim

[theblether]

The British Embassies abroad in particular Thailand are there to provide a diplomatic representation in matters between the two countries, in addition handle visa, lost passports etc.

A bit out of topic...

I was living in Jakarta during May '98 riots.

My Brits and U.S. colleagues being sent for safety reason to Singapore, by their respective embassies: I called mine -Belgium- to know what to do.

There was only one Indonesian employee remaining who told me that all the diplomatic corps has been already evacuated to Singapore.

I ended up in Bali...

It was interesting to see the amount of fellow Brits that ignored the initial evacuation orders from Libya last year, they wanted to stay and chase the money rather than go home. Once things got too sticky we got the usual "terrifying escape from the hands of the enemy" stories. Yawn, if they hadnt been so selfish and ignorant in the first place they wouldnt have put themselves in that danger.

[parmo1]

The British Embassies abroad in particular Thailand are there to provide a diplomatic representation in matters between the two countries, in addition handle visa, lost passports etc.

A bit out of topic...

I was living in Jakarta during May '98 riots.

My Brits and U.S. colleagues being sent for safety reason to Singapore, by their respective embassies: I called mine -Belgium- to know what to do.

There was only one Indonesian employee remaining who told me that all the diplomatic corps has been already evacuated to Singapore.

I ended up in Bali...

It was interesting to see the amount of fellow Brits that ignored the initial evacuation orders from Libya last year, they wanted to stay and chase the money rather than go home. Once things got too sticky we got the usual "terrifying escape from the hands of the enemy" stories. Yawn, if they hadnt been so selfish and ignorant in the first place they wouldnt have put themselves in that danger.

I have read several of your posts "blether", you seem to be one the biggest "haters" on this site.