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Getting used to Life back in the UK


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3 hours ago, Jambo said:

It would appear that other than the first time one uses a new card you never stick the card into a terminal or sign or enter a pin number.

If it is like mine, you will find that you are asked to enter your PIN every now and then as an anti-fraud measure.

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23 hours ago, Bazle said:

If it is like mine, you will find that you are asked to enter your PIN every now and then as an anti-fraud measure.

Here in Ireland if you swipe your card more than 3 times in the same day on the 4 th purchase it will ask for a pin code .Also if the purchase is over 50 Euro .

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On 7/8/2021 at 2:28 PM, Jambo said:

It has been just over 4 weeks since I returned to the UK being an extended stay close to my family near to Edinburgh.

It has turned out to be quite a learning curve for me coming to terms with all the changes since I last spent any real time back in the UK.

The most positive difference occurred by 10:30am on the first morning after I had completed my 10 nights self isolation when I left a walk-in vaccination center having been given my first covid vaccination injection. I stood outside the center almost in disbelief at how easy it had been to complete that exercise.

Hardly anyone seems to use cash anymore.

All bills whether in a Supermarket, a restaurant, a bar or even on a bus are invariably paid for by waving a credit/debit card over a reader. It would appear that other than the first time one uses a new card you never stick the card into a terminal or sign or enter a pin number. Now that does take a bit of getting used to for me.

Everything where I have needed to apply for something or register for something is done on line.  Difficult for me as I have a temporary "BT HotSpot" internet connection which goes in and out. I have a permanent  arrangement scheduled with "Talk Talk" but they have just postponed installation to the 21st July.

My UK driving license is the old paper version and it ran out three years ago. So I applied for a new one completing a longish application on line which was rejected right at the end because the "system" did not recognize my UK passport. Might be something to do with renewing it in Thailand? So it instructs me to go to a Post Office and obtain form D46p and  send it to them after completion. So I take a bus to the main Post Office in Livingston (using my Old Farts free bus pass) only to be told that they no longer hold supplies of ANY paper application forms!!  Well that is Catch 22 in action.

I have no warm clothes whatsoever but as it is 18c -21c being summer time in Scotland I am finding it so refreshing to be able to walk around without the usual sweating and dehydration. On the other hand Thailand is generally flat and Scotland is generally the opposite so I realized very quickly how totally out of practice I had been with just walking. I used to do a lot of cycling but one uses very different muscles etc when walking and I realize how unfit I had become in the last year or so.

Prices of most things are a shock but it is more to do with the fact that expats get used to just thinking in terms of prices in baht and we have not totally realized how much the cost of living has gone up in Thailand. Nevertheless, 3.30 for a pint of heavy is still a shock but not as much as 4.90 for a cappuccino which included an additional 40 pence for them waiving chocolate dust over the top. 🤣

I may follow up at a later date.

 

 

Edinburgh sounds expensive  like Dublin .A Coffee here though is usually 3 euros and a few cents .For cheap pints go to Wetherspoons . As far as the needle craft goes ? over my dead body .(forgive the pun ) ,I will never take it .

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On 7/8/2021 at 2:28 PM, Jambo said:

 On the other hand Thailand is generally flat and Scotland is generally the opposite so I realized very quickly how totally out of practice I had been with just walking. I used to do a lot of cycling but one uses very different muscles etc when walking and I realize how unfit I had become in the last year or so.

 Nevertheless, 3.30 for a pint of heavy is still a shock

Get yourself one of them Escooters Danny ....sure you could balance nicely on one .... actually I've seen you fall of your bike in Thailand maybe not wise idea.

£3.30 would barely get you a bag of artisan crisps and a glass of tap water in your old haunt The Archway Tavern these days down in London. Stay safe among the tartan army ..... and get yer arse down here.

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On 7/8/2021 at 4:25 PM, Lemondropkid said:

Nice report, £4.90 a cappuccino is insane, was that in some tourist hot spot in Edinburgh? Lovely part of the world.

I did ask for a large one without checking the cost and be fair it came out in a cup the size of a bucket.

At the time I was actually in Bathgate which is roughly the same distance from Edinburgh as Bangsaray is to Pattaya.

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15 hours ago, nampla69 said:

Get yourself one of them Escooters Danny ....sure you could balance nicely on one .... actually I've seen you fall of your bike in Thailand maybe not wise idea.

£3.30 would barely get you a bag of artisan crisps and a glass of tap water in your old haunt The Archway Tavern these days down in London. Stay safe among the tartan army ..... and get yer arse down here.

If I fell off one in Scotland it would not cost 150K to put me back together again like it did at BPH. Mind you, they would probably charge 500K baht these days.

When you live in Thailand you get used to seeing everything priced in baht. It is only now when I am converting sterling into baht in my head that I realise how much the cost of living has gone up in Thailand.

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14 minutes ago, Jambo said:

When you live in Thailand you get used to seeing everything priced in baht. It is only now when I am converting sterling into baht in my head that I realise how much the cost of living has gone up in Thailand.

Totally agree, and it works both ways of course.

I know what I like and I know what I dislike. There is no way I'd like to sit and drink a frothy coffee no matter where I am in the world. Just a plain old nescafe redcup in the morning does me for the day.

We all live different lives, living different experiences. I still go to my favourite 20 baht Thai food place. Where in in UK can you get Thai food for less than 50p?

If you live a farang life in Pattaya (why the hell not if that is what you like) then yes it is bloody expensive but if I were to transpose my existing lifestyle into UK terms then that would be bloody expensive too....Unless you know of any two bedroom rentals at 50 quid a month of course...

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2 hours ago, Jambo said:

If I fell off one in Scotland it would not cost 150K to put me back together again like it did at BPH. Mind you, they would probably charge 500K baht these days.

When you live in Thailand you get used to seeing everything priced in baht. It is only now when I am converting sterling into baht in my head that I realise how much the cost of living has gone up in Thailand.

Also realize how cheap some things here are.

🙂

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46 minutes ago, davethailand said:

Also realize how cheap some things here are.

🙂

Indeed Dave.

My last contract in UK was about 5 years ago. .. 450 quid a day for 3 months......walked away with next to bugger all after tax, accommodation, travel and food.

EDIT = And parking !!!

EDIT2 = and congestion charges!!!

Edited by Derek Dangleberries
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This "contactless payment" lark is slightly annoying, as convenient as it might be, it gets to a point now where if you do actually pay in cash, the Cashier looks at you as if you're some kind of social outcast.

Anyway, good to see you're settling in Jambo. It took me a while when we returned from the Philippines, not least me waiting at the petrol station for the assistant to come out and fill my car up for me.

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Personally I don’t have an issue with contactless or for that matter card payment.  When working I paid cash for a sandwich at lunch time and found over the week that I accumulated an amount of coins and loose change.  Recently I found that the only times I would use cash was at some stalls in a local market and the window cleaner.  I pay for most things either direct debit for utilities and Apple Pay on a credit card from which I get a small cash back.  The credit card is taken from my bank by direct debit every month, so no interest charges.

@Jambo I think you will find summer OK, possibly a bit noisy during the school holidays, but I think you will find winter in UK cold and damp unpleasant.  Snow will also be a shock, although in reality in my part of the country I think there are probably less than seven days a year where snow makes travel problematic.

I just hope I can get out to Thailand again for November and the subsequent few months.

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16 hours ago, Butch said:

This "contactless payment" lark is slightly annoying, as convenient as it might be, it gets to a point now where if you do actually pay in cash, the Cashier looks at you as if you're some kind of social outcast.

Anyway, good to see you're settling in Jambo. It took me a while when we returned from the Philippines, not least me waiting at the petrol station for the assistant to come out and fill my car up for me.

The Cashier in Asda actually said to me "nobody pays by cash anymore" when I apologized for holding up the queue. :default_biggrin:

 She was laughing at the time.

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1 minute ago, Yesitisdakid said:

won't be long that you will be happier there than here in Pattaya

He will be when he comes down to see me in London and visits where he grew up.

I hope the new Consultancy in Matrix Brawn in Angeles works out for you too.

Lovely bar I seem to recall ...... you stay strong Bitch ..... did you hear the one about Bill Cosby, Michelle Obama and Oprah ...??  Bill says ladies anyone fancy a cocktail .....

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2 minutes ago, nampla69 said:

He will be when he comes down to see me in London and visits where he grew up.

I hope the new Consultancy in Matrix Brawn in Angeles works out for you too.

Lovely bar I seem to recall ...... you stay strong Bitch ..... did you hear the one about Bill Cosby, Michelle Obama and Oprah ...??  Bill says ladies anyone fancy a cocktail .....

Haaa funny that !

Nothing to do with Matrix Brawn and the deal will really be more of a paid vacation every couple of months than work. 

Bill was wrongly accused well so he says 

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3 hours ago, Yesitisdakid said:

won't be long that you will be happier there than here in Pattaya

That very much depends on what makes you happy, judging by the look of Pattaya at the mo, the only thing missing is the tumbleweed !!!

But Pattaya will be back in all its former glory, its just a case of when.......my humble opinion.

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18 hours ago, Yesitisdakid said:

won't be long that you will be happier there than here in Pattaya

Bar bar......beer beer.....boom boom!

And that was just Monday.

I doubt if I will ever be happier than I once was in Pattaya.

Unfortunately for a number of reasons those days are gone and they are not going to return.

FLB, Bouche, Catz, Living Dolls 2, Secrets ................and that was just Tuesday. :default_biggrin:

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 "contactless payment" by waving the card something I use in Thailand also, yesterday 2 times used, at restaurant and in 7-eleven, some staff even don't know that they have the option, but this is slowly improving

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It still comes as a shock to me to realize just how much prices have gone up in the UK since I last visited.

 

Coffee cake.jpg

 

I had to pay by waving my bank card over the reader as although they were very busy they did not have cash change for a twenty pound note. 🤣

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4 minutes ago, Jambo said:

It still comes as a shock to me to realize just how much prices have gone up in the UK since I last visited.

 

Coffee cake.jpg

 

I had to pay by waving my bank card over the reader as although they were very busy they did not have cash change for a twenty pound note. 🤣

It’s Far easier than faffing about with actual money, struggle to see it as anything but a positive…..

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1 hour ago, Jambo said:

It still comes as a shock to me to realize just how much prices have gone up in the UK since I last visited.

 

Coffee cake.jpg

 

I had to pay by waving my bank card over the reader as although they were very busy they did not have cash change for a twenty pound note. 🤣

It is a shocker and you have my sympathy, some aspects of life in the UK can be relatively reasonable (healthcare) but others not so much. Don't go to a Fish and Chip shop, the price of cod will knock you sideways!.

One question though Jambo, if, for example some one has been living in Thailand since, say 2005, and getting their state pension paid but not the yearly increments (fixed at the amount it was at 05), when they return to the UK do you know if it then gets re assessed so when they return to Thailand the pension is then at the current rate?.

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