and I always remember my time in Wisbech in terms of 'A season in the congo' by Aimee Cesare recounting the death of Patrice Lumumba but transposed to appear 'A season in the Fenlands' and tutsi's bewilderment...

that area is below sea level and there is a system of locks and flood gates (designed by the dutch a couple hundred years ago) so that certain areas are flooded certain times of the year...and here's tutsi, driving calmly towards Cambridge on the main road to get the train home to Brighton and the road was blocked!...flooded...and I panicked; 'trapped!'....but Wisbech just remained in the background...no panic, no nothin'...

with Wisbech there ain't no use in resisting fate...and I'm surprised that there ain't one of them 'new age communities' near Wisbech raising huge cabbages like in Findhorn in northern Scotland...the place certainly has 'the vibes'...

I believe ya tutsi. Every sordid sex fueled filthy part of it.

Just hope never get to hear it in person.

Many people are sceptable because everyone has ran into a frarang, that from stories of what they have done, and countries lived in, etc, they would have to be at least 150 years old

Not me. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention...

I'm always surprised at how sensitive our fellow posters are. If they don't exclaim "<deleted>! We don't believe you!" I would never suspect. But then, I am fortunate to have led a sheltered life of mundane and banal tedium

SC

People disbelieve I'm still alive.

I'm not surprised.

I believe ya tutsi. Every sordid sex fueled filthy part of it.

Just hope never get to hear it in person.

Many people are sceptable because everyone has ran into a frarang, that from stories of what they have done, and countries lived in, etc, they would have to be at least 150 years old

Not me. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention...

I'm always surprised at how sensitive our fellow posters are. If they don't exclaim "<deleted>! We don't believe you!" I would never suspect. But then, I am fortunate to have led a sheltered life of mundane and banal tedium

SC

I am both more mundane and exciting than all of you put together. Hell will fly over before any of you dare question me either.

I believe ya tutsi. Every sordid sex fueled filthy part of it.

Just hope never get to hear it in person.

Many people are sceptable because everyone has ran into a frarang, that from stories of what they have done, and countries lived in, etc, they would have to be at least 150 years old

Not me. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention...

I'm always surprised at how sensitive our fellow posters are. If they don't exclaim "<deleted>! We don't believe you!" I would never suspect. But then, I am fortunate to have led a sheltered life of mundane and banal tedium

SC

I am both more mundane and exciting than all of you put together. Hell will fly over before any of you dare question me either.

there is wisdom and virtue in a mundane existence, treading lightly upon the planet and etc...and that's why I like staying at home and goin' down the market with my nieces and buying vegetables, etc...the entire universe exists in a blade of grass and etc...

but young folks need to do what they gotta do with regard to experience and self-realization but then they later embrace the mundane when they see that it suits them...like raising kids in a stable environment and etc...

I've been wandering about for the past 25 years...'whichever way the wind blows' but now I'm old and am grateful fer the (mundane) stability that I've got but the young folks ye can't tell them nothing...but they usually learn when it's in their best interests...

when I was in my thirties younger folks would come up and say admiringly: 'you sure have been around and have done lots of things...' and I tried to explain that I was not an adventurer and that most things are simply a matter of circumstances when one tries to mind one's own business but no one wants to believe you...they prefer the romance and tales of outrageous fortune...hence the 'disbelief' in the title of this thread...

I suspect though that there are many on this thread who would believe how happy I am.

In spite of the trials and misfortunes which sometimes befall us Tutsi...we are all very fortunate.

Edit: I suppose what I'm getting at is we need some balance here in the replies. If only Harcourt were still around!

I miss his tales of island life as well.

yeah...Harcourt always had some good stories to tell...with a flourish and with good entertainment value...

I don't try to do the 'reality' thing much with foreign expats or tourists here. It just doesn't work for them. 'What, you're dating a Thai guy with a normal job and he's not asking you for money? IMPOSSIBLE.'

That's about the level of it with a lot of people even for something that simple. Never mind what I do at work, or what I've been up to in the past. I just don't go there because it isn't rewarding when dealing with most people. Too much projection, jealousy, self-hatred. And that's just attempting to make small talk; I don't need anyone's approval for what I do- the approval of people actually involved in my life is quite enough.

I know what you mean, the assumption that you're an ATM, the assumption that your partner worked in the sex industry, the assumption is that it's about the pursuit of much younger sexual partners...

I think we've all been there.

I know what you mean, the assumption that you're an ATM, the assumption that your partner worked in the sex industry, the assumption is that it's about the pursuit of much younger sexual partners...

I think we've all been there.

Not me.

Congratulations on the quality of your acquaintances, regardless of how distant they may be.

I had an unsolicited private message tonight questioning my life and everything I had written over my 2000 posts here! It made me really really angry, and I know that is stupid, but when your integrity is questioned by some anonymous <deleted>, it does not feel good, even though it should be ignored. I like to think I am have done nothing to be taunted but tonight showed me I am not. Why do these people do it?

People disbelieve my life all the time, most particularly my wife, but let's not go there. I remember once describing a particularly horrific automobile accident I'd been in to a co-worker. After describing the before part that I could remember and the after part, his only question was "did ya die"?

Now let's not go on a witch hunt of nationalities and the stupidty related to each. While this took place in the US, the person had previously described to me his Cajun Coonass (or was it French Canadian, I forget. [same same, really] ) background and his belief that his momma was a witch. So take it for what you will.

People cannot believe I used to catch the bus to work.

People cannot believe I used to catch the bus to work.

yeah...folks useta have the same disbelief when at SF State when I commuted from Richmond in the East Bay, about a 1hr30min journey...but I tried to indicate that driving was a bitch and that there was nowhere to park but having yer own private transportation was a primary consideration with most idiots...

and that you could get a tall bud in a paper bag and could look at yer school work during the journey and then have a nap sometimes but ye had to be careful about missing yer stop and end up at the end of the line in Richmond in frightening circumstances with murderous negroes...'say, man...we makin' yew nervous?'

I had an unsolicited private message tonight questioning my life and everything I had written over my 2000 posts here! It made me really really angry, and I know that is stupid, but when your integrity is questioned by some anonymous <deleted>, it does not feel good, even though it should be ignored. I like to think I am have done nothing to be taunted but tonight showed me I am not. Why do these people do it?

That's the price you pay for brilliance Jim

I read a lot of your posts and wonder, how did you know that? You have a grip on many of the day by day aspects of living in Thailand which is a cut above. What then happens is rather than learn and admire, people go on the attack, so when your attacked like that, it's by someone that can't hold a candle to you intellectually.

So...........it's a form of praise, so what are you moaning about?