Butch

Your bold area is interesting, along with others I also made sure we had an adequate supply of emergency kit, enough for 1 week. In fact, so much so I went on a stores run after work hours to the local Tesco which was open at 0600 and filled 2 trollies of supplies, then separately stored 500 litres of water. I know that Echelon was working overtime as well, my mate at RAF Menwith Hill was called in along with every other analyst or Lingsi specialist to man the consoles. They thought it was kicking off big time and even the Royals were put on evac alert here in the UK.

Ahhh...I was in the UK, but neither of us had put the TV on until around mid day when the news was , well news to me lol.

You heard 9/11 was happening?. The News reported Lady Diana had died? Queen Elizabeth had passed away?. 1) I'd just arrived at work, we had the newsfeed on in the mess room, people were standing around aghast and some actually thought it was a movie to begin with. 2) Mowing the lawn when my girlfriend at the time called me in to see the News. 3 ) Walking along Soi LK Metro - my Mrs Texted me the news, I told the guy who was walking alongside me (didn't know him) - he was shocked as I was, we both went into Scooters for a condolence beer and remain in contact to this day. Feel free to add your own.

They've recovered the "black boxes" according to SKY news, that will hopefully shed more light on things. Too early for anyone to speculate, even POTUS. It's a tragic event that arguably could have and should have been avoided, and pointing the finger of blame at a group or groups of people is extremely insensitive and ignorant. I really don't think that any of us here want this thread shuffled over to politics, but at the same time I think we're all decent guys here and can all agree, Trump's comments were on a level that were beyond disgusting. Won't say anything else political about it.

In the UK they had a bus fare cap of £2, now £3. Last month I took a 16 mile journey for £2, Bus had Wifi, comfy seats, online updates displayed on screen as to the upcoming stops, and saved me £22 over the Cab fare. All they need now are heated bus stops. Best thing was, for a mid day bus, it was busy, so these policies definitely have a positive effect.

Fixed a bit of spelling mate. Hope you don't mind.

Mate worst case you could have called Mike and he'd have helped you out I'm sure. good that you've found somewhere though. Hope the rest of the trip turns out OK, this is just a hiccup which has been sorted hopefully, and @Bazle is on the money, once Chinese NY is over you'll be fine. Even some of the shop doorways you've stayed in before will come available again, should you wish to adjust your budget.

Safe trip mate. ping me when you're there..

As luck would have it, I don't get completely eaten by mossies, but when I do it's around the lower leg. When I was cutting down a friends garden area for him a couple of trips ago, my arms were red raw due to ants biting me while I picked up the foliage etc. cnuts. It is mossies that really piss me off the most though. I do always apply insecticide spray etc, but it's the bites getting infected that give me a bit of a worry. I tend to buy a small bottle of iodine and apply that at night.

Just for @Nightcrawler (Although I meant to post it yesterday lol)

I can't for the life of me understand why someone would put themselves at such a risk in a place where traffic laws are "advisory". Even wearing a helmet and pads might be an idea.

my mate at work gave me half his Cheese and Onion toastie the other month, Red Leicester , marmite and half an onion. effing out of this world delicious, although my farts were pretty offensive for the following 12 hours. I'm now a serious fan of Red Leicester and marmite. Apologies for those who think I'm a heathen.

You're a much braver man than I am!! While I enjoy cycling here in the UK (during the summer months) our traffic laws are pretty well in favour of the cyclist, although I try to do most of my stuff off road anyway. The average baht bus driver won't be checking his nearside mirror when he cuts across a lane or two of traffic! David cycles at night as well, which is even more dicey I expect, and his route is along the busiest parts of town.

When the drain covers are wet, they can get pretty lethal if you're on a bike - Do you deliberately avoid riding over them anyway?. I've watched David Strachan a few times, the bloke's head is on a swivel when he's on second road. Nobody seems to have the slightest respect or thoughts about cyclists in town.

Hargreaves Lansdown are slightly more expensive and probably better for the occasional rather than regular trader. I've got all my holdings with them, and stuff life Bed and ISA's are done very quickly, the whole platform is easy to navigate and there's good info. They're active savings set up isn't too shabby either. They've lost a chunk of support though, because of their hard sell of Neil Woodford products which later became worthless. T212 seems to be a good platform overall. I've just checked my Quadrise shares which I got in at about at 1 1/2pence per share. done well on those, plus they're held in an ISA with HL.