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As one who lives north of the 60th parallel, I have no desire to spend another whole winter in that part of the world and as long as I am financially and physically able to do so, I will be absent for at least the months of December and January, and Xmas be damned....it's not so much the cold, which in my part of the north is rather dry and not nearly as bone-chilling at moderate temperatures as that experienced by those living in more humid climates - such as the UK and our own coastal areas in Canada - but it's the dark AND the cold that really gets to me - it's having to commute in that dark and the cold with the nervous drivers amongst us holding up everyone else because they are scared shitless as soon as the first snowflake falls; it's having things break on your vehicle in the cold just when you least need to deal with something like that; it's going out every day for seemingly days on end to clear snow off your walks and driveways; and it's also having to live in a virtual police state in the "holiday" season when the local Gestapo have check stops all over the place to make sure we don't have too much fun...nah, you can have the "white winters", I am heartily sick of them and am happy to be back in Pattaya again for the duration of this one....

Field Marshall Lord Bramall KG GCB OBE MC has died aged 95 Was accused by fantasist 'Nick' of being a paedophile by an obsessed Met police force looking to believe any accusers without proof. Man was a war hero and no police have been disciplined over it, its a fucking disgrace. Rip to a great man.

Saw some classy Tshirts yesterday in Kuta... Really, who is gonna wear this ?

More Chinese cooking from the Wife. The amazing beef and tomato. I ate it very quick.

LOL Well,,,, After a long search I found a place. MBK Center. I think it was the 3rd floor. A little jewelry repair shop. The guy was brilliant. Fixed it perfectly. Only charged 100 baht. Huge relief !

Did you think Steelers was being serious ? lol

I would do her, but she'll have to keep that outfit on ! Just lower the shorts and assault "a la hussard" ...😜😜😜

Liver bacon onions veg gravy food of the gods,especially with some nice Oz red....

I'd help ya mate, you do know how 3 blokes keep a secret? you kill the other two regards grayray

Not a fan of winter in the UK, although I do enjoy a bit of Christmas, mainly a few seasonal activities/ events and get togethers plus the food. That said, it’s not sufficient in several years to come to prevent me from escaping the cold to warmer climes. in an ideal world I’d love to live overseas ( Asia/ sunny Europe) from mid October until mid March and the remaining months play it by ear and be flexible with my residence. I do like UK in the summer but would be happy to flit over those 4/5 months in Europe / Asia.

What was the occassion for these types of outfits on WS? Interesting..

Yeah my Rams are a big disaster this year, offensive line has tanked, alot of injuries there and 2 more just this week. No running game where 2 years ago, they were great with Gurley....Goff is just average and still does not get the feeling when the pocket is collapsing, to do something other then taking a sack. His passes are horrible at times and he cannot scramble at all. I need a "Prozac" LOL!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50397069?fbclid=IwAR0PTRK4nr57JtxJgww94tkDRer3TCE7IjAGRErLXYfCkFAk1VgRU7y-jnc

I used to get under 30 seconds from my Oz bank to SCB. Then SCB must have put Somchai back in charge of checking TT remittances 'cause it went to 2 - 4 hours. Then my Oz bank altered the times for submitting transfers to Thailand closing the overlap window when both banks were open and it went to overnight. And that's how computers make things faster.

4 minutes. From hitting the send button, logging on to my UK bank, agreeing the terms, to the money arriving in Kasikorn a/c 4 minutes!

New trainers? New everything? Off to work?

from now until prob end feb, the thai "winter" is amazing. cool nights, medium days not muggy either. its the best time to be here. by may i am running from ac to ac, but this time of the year is heaven

I have to say Mike i don't get on with it too well but its "Hobsons Choice" for me lol, Spain's climate was perfect but alas that is now a distant memory.

Shes got 2 coats on today for a blustery walk around the marine drive at Scarborough. I reluctantly agree to go in the hope it keeps her out of the shops. The white shopping bag is evidense that that didn,t work. :) Sent from my SM-J610F using Tapatalk

Tonight at about 18.30 hrs downtown Patts time........

Home cooking by me.

We left the Costa Del Sol 2 weeks ago. It was warm sunny with a blue sky. Drove north and it got cooler and cloudier; and wetter as we got to Rouen. Now back in Scarborough, cold, raining and miserable. Spains the best. Just got my O visa for Thailand, will winter there. Sent from my SM-J610F using Tapatalk

Don't like the cold but I'd take it over milder and wet. Miss riding my bike like I can in summer as you have to be more wary of the conditions.

i guess thailand is my home country now. and the evenings are amazing now, i actually sleep outside on the porch inside screens and its perfect. ( my choice).. Feb mymother will be 90 and I will fly yo my mother country, not lookin forward to that. above all else, she set the thermostat at 15 and thinks thats hot. may need animal skins and alcohol to keep warm

Report from my retirement extension today, though at Maptaphut not Jomtien. A sign was posted on their wall that after Oct 31 O-A visa holders had to present proof of insurance to get the extension. When I retired here, it was off an O visa, so insurance wasn't even mentioned. And a shout out to Maptaphut immigration. I came with my TM7 and TM47 pre-filled, bank letter, and copies of passport and bank book made and signed. I had to fill out the one additional form advising of penalties for overstay. I arrived at 10:47 and at 11:03 I was walking out with my extension and updated 90 day report. Having dealt with immigration in 3 other locations, the folks at Maptaphut are the best.

You know my view on this.....

Years ago I used to visit Pantip Plaza alot and I noticed a Top Charoen Optical store near Ratchathewi BTS. I thought I'd drop in and get the prescription checked on the zillion dollar tough as nails, light as a feather titanium frame with the triple coated Hoya lens spectacles I'd bought when I first noticed that my arms were no longer long enough to be able to read. On entering I was greeted by the smoking hot female in the tight fitting white uniform. Despite her best efforts to sell me some new spectacles I finally convinced her that I was only interested in some new lenses at best so I was led out back where a young fellow, also in a white coat but nowhere near as attractive, was stationed with all his Canon eye testing equipment just like in Australia. So he checked my eyes and yes, the prescription was off a bit. So after calculating a new prescription I was asked if I wanted the 600 baht cheap charlie lenses or the triple coated Hoya lenses like the ones I already had for 1800 baht. I opted for the Hoya lenses. Deal done, I was expecting to be asked to come back some time in the future like in Perth where the Hoya lenses are cut in Sydney and take two weeks. But no, I was ushered into a lounge area and invited to help myself to ice water, coffee etc. After about 30 minutes the ubiquitous M/C taxi rider appeared handing over a small package. After a few minutes I was again invited out back and offered my spectacles to try while the young fellow held up a card for me to read. The look of disappointment on his face when I uttered not a word. Then the smoking hot female in the tight fitting uniform suggested he turn the card over so I could read the English instead of the Thai and all was good. I don't know if it was my original zillion dollar tough as nails, light as a feather titanium frames or the triple coated Hoya lenses instead of the cheap charlie lenses or that the guy took the time to properly fit the lenses to the frames but those glasses lasted me several years without any problems until I had my cataracts removed. After my cataracts were removed I, of course, needed a new prescription which the ophthalmologist gave me although he said that as my eyes were now perfectly matched I could probably just use cheap reading magnifiers. I got the new prescribed lenses, triple coated Hoya which still took 2 weeks to come from Sydney as well as buying a boat load of cheap x2 magnifiers which I still use to this day. I just dug out the zillion dollar ... with the Hoya ... spectacles and compared them to the cheap as chips magnifiers and from a visual acuity point of view I can't tell the difference. And now, the vision of this video is slightly fuzzy, It's not your eyes. A sharper version f***d up the punch line.

Absolutely! Only 6 months to wait.

39.00 on XE at the moment, so a bit over 38.80 at TT. I was watching Sky News last night when they announced that Farage was standing his men down in all the constituencies the Conservatives won in 2017. Good news for an orderly Brexit, one would think, as well as minimising the risk of ending up with a Corbyn government. The Sky Fx ticker showed the pound up by almost a percentage point against the USD on the news, and 0.7% or 0.8% against the EUR. Yet the pound barely seemed to budge against the THB, and this morning it's up by maybe 15 satangs, or 0.4%. It was the same thing yesterday, the economy grew by 0.4% in Q3 so avoided a technical recession. Great news, but did it boost the pound against the Baht? Not a chance. Yet even a whispered rumour of a recession a few months ago was enough to send Sterling tumbling. It's going to take an awful lot of very good news indeed if the pound is ever going to get back above 40 Baht.

What, no Prince Andrew in that poster, lmao?

I presently live in a place where the person I know the longest I've known for exactly a year, and he's a coworker who I don't socialize with. I'm starting to meet people, and some may eventually work out to be friends, but right now there are a bunch of people I know for varying lengths of time and have various degrees of relationship with (i.e. we run into each other at the bar, we plan to meet someplace sometimes, we're planning an offshore fishing trip together, etc.). A few of these folks I could ask favors of, and would do favors for if asked. A friend is more than that, more like a hybrid between that and family. A person you care about whether you offend them, and about whether or not you see them again, a person whose problems you care about. I have people who could potentially end up friends, including a mad Aussie, a drunk Londoner, and some Irish lads, as well as some actual American coonts. But no real friends here yet, although I can't speak for how they think of me.

Actually, as I said, I did need treatment from time to time. I had major orthopedic surgery there, and a few months before that I had a mysterious blood infection that had me in hospital for nearly a week. Also had other minor treatments, including for illnesses and getting growths removed from my skin. Paid for it all out of pocket, no need to give the money to an intermediary who might or might not give it back when I needed it. I don't want to disparage your friend, but part of my calculus included having the money to cover fairly serious medical issues, and knowing I had family to fall back on in extreme conditions. Also, I demonstrably knew when it was time to come home, which was when that same calculus determined that my financial situation would not support me staying there, including because I couldn't afford to pay for health care if I needed it. It's not that I wasn't insured. I always had insurance. I just didn't buy it from a company. And, when I decided that I no longer had that self-insurance, I came back to the US.

Are you trying to cover up your semi with that manbag?.

Quick trip yesterday to a Thai festival here locally, you know Loy Krathong etc. Food was free by the temple and a few nice looking local Thai gals.....had to be on my best behavior LOL! These young girls were adorable, they told me they would help me with my Thai language skills.

Just said my final goodbye to my mate of over 30 years. He wasn't comprehensive but good to say goodbye and then I shed a few tears with his wife and son. I couldn't have asked for a better mate.

Some wild turkeys running along the road. There's 18 of them in thos little group. Although you can only see a few here..

That sick bugger who inspired the film Wolf Creek, Ivan Milat, died in jail at 74. That movie convinced me to never do a road trip in rural Australia