nidnoyham

Arrived in Hua Hin after dark. I won't go into why, it's a Thai thing. It was Saturday night and it was heaving with people. Tried to get to the beach area but all the sois are tiny, like between Beach and 2nd road. finally ended up in a dead end that had a hotel. The guard told us it was full. An old bloke wearing a plastic crash helmet with a towel underneath -foreign Legion style, told us he knew a hotel for 1000 bht, but we had to give him 50bht for showing us where it was. After 7hours of driving and half an hour around Hua Hin, I agreed. I expected him to get in our pick up, but he

Didn't the trades description act, stop them printing " Made from iron girders " on the bottles ?

Another reminder to those about to retire to LOS. Some things you can't plan for, are the exchange rates of your domestic currency to the Baht.

If you are paying the bill, don't use your UK sim card. It would be cheaper to buy an old Nokia 3100 or such. I got one here for £20. when you buy it tell them you want it unlocked. Go to LOS, you can get a sim for 50-90 bht. it will save a fortune. If you have mates with a Thai phone, they will not appreciate you calling them with a UK card in yours, it will drain their credit.

Yes it was new, Si bought it at Pitchet, up north. Its a pretty basic model- 2 doors etc. When we swap over driving, the seat, steering, wing mirrors, all adjust in seconds. The one thing I don't like is the dark side windows. Great in daylight, but turning right or left in total darkness is a bit scary. the large wing mirrors do block your view a bit too.

Toyota for me. They have service stations all over the place. Took ours Hilux into the Hua Hin one for it's 20,000k service. Just drove in. Pull into the car park. Someone comes to you as you get out, takes your service card and details. Wait about an hour in a AC room with free internet computer, tea, coffee, toilets, comfy chairs.... You can sit and watch the car being serviced in the workshop. Compare that to service in the UK- " Swhhhh- Well Guv', we got a lot on this week, fit you in next Friday at 9 ? " They must be good Pickups, there are thousands of 'em on the roa

I thought they were for hosing the pan down after you had pebble dashed it. They do seem bit viscious for the bum and balls area.

We'll miss you monkey.

I can't remember the exact rule on our scheme. I believe it was a 50% reduction of benefits for a wife 15 years younger or more. The little girl has gone to live in Pitchet. Had a couple of days on the beach with her and she enjoyed ordering me about in English. She will likely lose the language, as only my lady and her mum speak it. Si ( my lady ) has promised to speak to her as much as she can in English, when there. Loaded the pick up with his oxygen bottle + mask (10,000 bht ) don't know what she will do with it, sell it most likely. But in true Thai fashion, the wife was to

I was in Pattaya when the letter arrived for his wife. I had the pleasure of translation for her. No mention was made of his daughters right to claim. Another company deals with his insurance. This should be O.k for a claim- providing he did the right thing when she was born, by making her the benifacter. Gentlemen, sort these things while you can. You can't when you can't.

Just found out that the deceased was not married long enough for his wife to qualify for a pension. The Trustees have made a rule, that requires at least 12 months marriage for the spouse to get pension. This to prevent terminally ill members marrying someone to get money from pension scheme.

I agree with Owen' Early retirement is a privilege, not a right. It is at the employers discretion. In the UK there has been talk of raising the normal retirement age to 68, to make life fair between the sex's. Women of my wifes age will now retire at 65 instead of 60, to be on par with men. My company encouraged early retirement for the top earners. New employees are so badly paid now, many can't afford to contribute 6 or 7% of their wages to a company pension scheme. This means a drop in contributions, plus the present slide in equities , have put a strain on funds. I wat

My mate gave me this hotel, but they are not taking bookings online.

Thanks for that chaps. I did the usual search of the place and the hotels did seem a bit pang. Thanks for the link monty. NNH

My mate in Rayong had the same idea. He had the hole dug for peanuts. When he inquired about having a pool installed, the price was fantastically high. He too now has a fish pond. I have a feeling that swimming pools are a Ferang thing and are priced accordingly.

Will be staying in Hua Hin area in a weeks time. Any nice hotels that are not at Japanese tourist prices ? Will only be for a few days, but I like value for money. Thnx NNH

If you're looking for a way to force the issue of early retirement and get an answer that tells you how to do it. That will cause a stampede. Put up the rent in Pattaya too.

Err- why don't you make a phone call to your Personnel department and ask if you can retire ? My company had a Final Salary pension scheme that required your age and service to add up to 80, with a minimum age of 55. This was reduced to a combined figure of 70, when they were keen for long term employees on maximum wages to leave. How do you know your pension figures, if you don't know if you can retire ? Do you get an annual forcast from the company ? Basically, retirement is made easy or hard, depending on what suits the Company. Mine was in the throws of going broke,

Si and I saw the first arrival at LHR- 2 years ago ? All the plane spotters were on 28 R where the other planes were landing. Darned if ATC didn't direct it down on 27. They would have got a better look from Tesco's carpark at Dukes Green. Funny thing, from a distance, it didn't look any bigger than a 747. Just fatter. I'm off on the TG 911 Wed' morning, be in Patts following week.

I would like to patent hemp based material for aircraft parts. It' strong, light, cheap to produce and the plane gets higher quicker.

He didn't have 160,000 either.

What if someone calls you Dave, but you are really a Rod- knee ?

I think an emergency NI, will attract an emergency tax number, making tax higher. i don't know what the company will do.

Didn't Howard Hughes have a similar project ?

Well to conclude, the funeral went very well. Over a hundred attended, mostly from work. His ashes are to be sent to LOS for the wife to do with as she wishes. I hope this episode has people thinking about the 'other side' of retirement, minus the 'rose coloured glasses'.