Knuckles

Essential part of the Christmas platter. Over or undercooked a big no-no though, and got to be gravy available to bathe them in. A few years ago, farmers developed a modified strain that was significantly less sour than what was standard in the past, so supermarkets now sell a sweeter product which wins over the hesitant diners.

They will revolt, total disconnect between the youth who expect everything to be handed to them and the older population who grafted for what they got. Going to be a rough ride the next decade or two.

FLB?

No, that was Peter. I think Amazon was Aussie owned, their previous bar was 69ers on Soi 7 which folded a few months ago.

Looks like the R Con Blue Ocean bar complex, aka Blue Rahtree, near Action Street...next to where the old Rehab GoGo was. It's been totally abandoned for a couple of years, had half a dozen bars hanging on for dear life, paying 100 baht a day rent, now occupied by the homeless. http://www.r-conblueocean.com/rahtree.php

No, just aware of whats going on and the gobshites I share the planet with.

I'm dreading it too. The young 'uns don't give a damn and won't take precautions, and then there's the huge chunks of UK society who think the rules (any rules) don't apply to them. Word is the virus loves cold weather, so when temperatures drop, schools are compulsory again and the furlough is over we could be in the deep stuff and the last few months was just a rehearsal of what is to come. Dangerous days ahead.

Well done, of course there are success stories but many businesses also refuse to open and others are limping along in hope of an eventual upturn in visitor numbers. Staff no longer on salaries and even managers working without pay is what's happening in the wider picture. While what you have written is true, it's obviously not representative of the city or nightlife industry as a whole. Plenty of go-gos and bars around Walking Street haven't opened their doors and a few had a go but packed it in soon after. They can't be spoken of as doing well or making a profit.

Opening night at MiT looks like a financial disaster for the bars, with the exception of the popular Danny sports bar. Did MiT bars really expect to attract the few residents still in town? It's a zero-sum game, a limited amount of customers and an ever expanding number of competing bars so it's clearly survival of the fittest, and the fittest aren't the ones in the photos above. Treetown dead, New Plaza dead, Made in Thailand dead, the Thirteens dead, Soi 7 dead, Soi 8 dead, Walking Street asleep or gasping for breath, Soi 6 floundering. How long will these bars keep the lights on when nobody is dropping in? Got to be wholesale closures soon.

Steve Hickmott was the supplier of the Dogs Bollocks array of t-shirts and regularly popped over from the Philippines to replenish the stock ( I think the best seller was the "Lager Louts Welcome" one). He stays at the Ritz just down the road and becomes the centre of attention within seconds as he regales everyone with his tales of Headhunting back in the day, having a few pints for his breakfast as is his wont. He's probably mellowed now he's knocking on for 60 but still has that aura of menace about him. Now the Dogs has folded he has lost his main reason for visiting Pattaya so might not be seen around town anymore but he was certainly recognised and greeted by many the last time I saw him which was sometime last autumn.

You don't have a clue.

I've been a frequent visitor to the Dogs Bollocks for the last ten years. Loads of soccer hooligan memorabilia on the walls, but that was diminishing with every passing year and being replaced with boozy party-style photos of patrons. Roger, the owner, was/is a pussycat, the UK nationalist/UVF stuff was a theme he continued with, the place wasn't a meeting point for white nationalists or sectarian football fans, (all that was in the distant past when Chris Henderson and Steve Hickmott set up shop there), in the last few years it was just a soi boozer with a colourful historic reputation. Rogers wife,seen in the Pattaya Mail article, is properly connected to the police and so very well protected. A police uniform used to hang behind the bar as a warning not to play up. A couple of years ago Roger bought a rottweiler and chained it up in the bar, it was ok with farang customers but lost the plot if a Thai male ever set foot in the bar.The dog was like that when he bought it, it wasn't trained by him to respond to locals as some suggested. He brought his geriatric father over from London a couple of years ago, and recently put the bar up for sale. Covid obviously put the mockers on that, hence the transformation to a restaurant. The Dogs Bollocks hasn't been edgy for more than a decade, it was a time capsule for another age, all the stuff on the walls was a reminder of how it used to be, a theme- no more,no less. A black bloke from London had the laundry next door until he sold it and it became a massage parlour..if it was a racist den, there wouldn't have been a coloured bloke boozing in there every day.

There's a strong belief from early testing that even if it doesn't work as a vaccine, it will be effective as a treatment/theraputic to alleviate severe outcomes, which would be very useful to say the least.

Where is that happening, and on what scale?

Yes, it's very noticeable! Maybe it gives them a moment to gather their thoughts and sequence what they will say next. I find it mildly irritating too. Another new habit is when a question is asked of an "expert" on tv, the person replies with "That is a great question!" when it's a bog standard obvious one.