Toy Boy

Gentlemen may prefer blondes, but their range is limited.

Man, that's crackers! lol

You're right there, the big new condos I've seen advertising prices tend nowadays to want 4 to 5 million Baht for the most basic unit, which is usually smaller than 30 sqm. I mean, over £100K or $150K for a 27 sqm room, people may think that's a bargain on London or New York, but in Pattaya?

All busy on the condo construction front in Jomtien, too. This is a view of the 55-storey Copacabana condo which was completed a couple of years ago on the right, with the new Arom condo on the left which has just been topped out at 45 floors. Jomtien Night Market is between them and, in the background, is the huge Copacanaba Coral Reef on Second Road almost next door to the Rompho bar complex. That one will be 55 stories too when it's completed in 2027 or 2028. Further south, there's some major construction going on in front of and next to the old Jomtien Beach Condo. I'm sure the building in front is on JBC land so it must be an extension to the S1/S2 building, I guess. No idea what's being built at the side. Any JBC residents on here who'd care to enlighten us? They're clearing a plot of beachfront land by what used to be the Jomtien Garden Hotel, but it doesn't look big enough for a major condo. No pictures, but almost next door to Immigration on Soi 5 they've started the Lucean Skypark, which will be built in two phases. The first will be two towers, one with 60 floors and the second with 30, while the second phase will build another 60-storey tower. And at the top of Thappraya Road, between Jomtien and South Pattaya, I think the Grand Solaire has been topped out at 67 stories, the highest building in Pattaya, even taller than Pattaya Park Tower.

You can be sure that it will be neither cheap nor pretty... it's why I've always been honest and open with HMRC and the DWP, in spite of being non-resident for almost 22 years now. Here's what Google's AI summary says: HMRC recovers overseas tax debt by leveraging international tax treaties and mutual assistance agreements (like MARD/OECD MAC) to ask the tax authority in the country where the person lives to collect the debt on their behalf, using their local laws; they can also use <</Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties for criminal cases or simply use UK debt collection agencies, though direct enforcement abroad is limited. Methods HMRC Uses Mutual Assistance for Recovery (MARD/OECD MAC): This is a primary tool where HMRC requests another country's tax authority to collect UK tax debt, treating it as their own local debt. This relies on agreements between the UK and other nations, allowing for cross-border debt recovery. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs): Used for more serious cases, including potential criminal investigations. MLATs allow HMRC to gather evidence and get assistance from foreign bodies for tax-related crimes. International Debt Collection Agencies: HMRC may use private agencies that specialize in international debt recovery to pursue the taxpayer. Direct Contact & Warnings: HMRC will first try to contact the individual via letters, texts, or even visits to their last known address in the UK. They warn that failing to pay can lead to criminal proceedings and will use data from international exchanges to identify non-compliant expats. What Happens if You Don't Pay? Cooperation with Foreign Authorities: The foreign tax office acts under its own laws to collect the debt. Criminal Proceedings: Deliberate avoidance of tax while overseas can be classified as a criminal offence. Asset Freezing/Seizure (Limited): While direct UK enforcement isn't possible abroad, cooperation through treaties can lead to local asset seizure. Key Takeaway: Leaving the UK doesn't erase your tax liability; HMRC actively works with international partners to track and recover unpaid taxes from overseas residents.

I watched this one last night: Some great scenery, an interesting story (I never knew about Brando's private life), and Billy Zane is perfect in the role. Sadly, it's let down by the way it's been told here, sometimes good and interesting and sometimes not, it's very uneven. Well worth watching, anyway, especially if you didn't know interesting details (like me!) about things like Sacheen Littlefeather declining Brando's Oscar for The Godfather for him at the Academy Awards back in 1973.

My grandniece in South Wales started doing A-levels that would eventually allow her to go to university and study to be an architect. She didn't like any of it, though, and became very depressed suffering from bulimia at 16 years old. The family was frantic about her future but she found an unpaid part-time job looking after the dairy herd on a local farm. https://tytanglwystdairy.com/ She's very happy doing that and now had a paid job there and is working more shifts. The money's not brilliant but more than enough for a live-at-home teenager. The plan now is to try and support her to get wider experience in farming and maybe a qualification, though it will be left entirely to her to decide what, when and where. We're all just happy that the bulimia has stopped and she's content with her lot.

Male body hair...

Since when was topless sunbathing generally acceptable in Thailand? the local media and its 'netizens' seems to get very worked up whenever something like that happens.

Going back to the changes last year in UK IHT for people living overseas for a long time, Lionel Shriver wrote a column in The Spectator a while back about how ridiculous and outdated the UK tax code is. After living in the UK for 30-odd years (she's American by birth) she left to live in Portugal in 2023, fed up with much about the UK (I know the feeling). She concluded her column with a bit about how the changes last April will now affect her, calling the UK the 'Roach Motel' now, at least for IHT purposes. This is the relevant bit: I explained the new system and the 10-year rule previously, look up that post if you don't follow the snippet. As an aside, she's described in previous columns how complicated it is to actually settle full-time in Portugal, how much paperwork there is and how obstructive the authorities can be. We may moan about visa extensions and TM30's and 90-day reports here in Thailand, but it's actually all pretty simple compared with moving to live in Lisbon. Portugal was one of the places I considered moving when I retired back in 2004, but the Algarve was already largely ruined by over-development and although I fancied the idea of the Azores it seemed to remote and small, worse than a village in Isaan. In the end, I still think I made the right choice moving to Pattaya.

Here's a useful update to my previous post...

Weird. I've never noticed it before but, in the right context, a camel toe can look just like a fish's mouth... lol