nidnoyham

There is misery and joy in supporting a football team that you consider 'yours'. I have always admired the fans of the smaller London, Manchester and Liverpool clubs from the lower divisions. These people are passionate about their home team, not the big money ones. In the past I have not liked Leeds, in the 60's they were boring. I can however sympathise with the fans of a club 'on the down'. My local team Brentford are like that now. It is a rollercoaster ride in the lower divisions. We aren't worried about how we are going to do in Europe or against Man U. We just want a win. As we go through the turnstile, we never know how we will feel in 90 minutes time. Perhaps that is the attraction.

I read recently that Thailand is the most dangerous destination for British tourist. It has the highest incident of murder, rape, passport loss etc. This could affect the price of flights, will have to wait and see.

Kev If they cleaned up the beach at Pattaya, the economy of Koh Larn, would collapse.

Nah, I think my handle on it is better - Lonely Old Sods !

Diving near an outlet, is so popular in Pattaya too !

A sewage pipe, heading towards the beach ? Hmmmm

What's the average time before you go bareback with a live in ? I think, it is the dodgiest area for STD's

Will you still be able to get a beer on the beach from the 'chair people' ?

Gus My opinion ? If you can only 'just manage it' today with the present exchange/ interest / inflation rates and Bank charges. Don't do it. If the baht goes from 70- 63 to GPB, it's like a 10% pay cut. If you have had heart problems no one will insure you......................

See you at Bognor then.

My mate has been married to a Thai for 27 years, the only thing he can get in LOS is a Thai driving licence with his O visa. His wife owns the land his house is built on. Their 25 year old daughter, born in U.K has only last year, applied for a Thai passport, so that if her mum dies, the land can be passed on to her. Otherwise it goes to her Thai family.My mate would get nothing he could call his own.

Are there options with o/line banking with say SCB, to change your card pin number ? I may have money going into a Thai bank account from a local source, in baht of course. I was planning to make that money available to my mate who lives in LOS via my GF having an ATM card for withdrawal. He could then transfer the equivalent amount in GBP, from his Barclays account, into my Barclays account in U.K. That way we could use the Thai exchange rate as a bench mark. He would be getting a better rate than he gets from his U.K account, when he acsseses it from an ATM in LOS, and I would benifit too. ( His pension is paid into Barclays ) If I had o/line banking facility to change my PIN from home, it would give me a bit more control. I know, I know- risky as fudge, but I wan't the money available to me here in U.K. O.K I'm open to suggestions and a few flames too.

Thanks Tom. My GF won't mind the stop over traveling with others, who have done it before. They are coming over in April. It will save a few bob on the direct price.

If a Thai with visa just for the U.K travells via DXB, BKK to LHR on Emirates, do they need a transit visa for the stop over ?

I don't have a good word for Barclays, but if you have a Platinum acc', foreign transfers are free and the first £200 of o/draft is interest free. I never knew this acc' existed, but my local branch lady told me about it.

I think the postcode is the clincher all over the world now. At home we got a letter with just the house number, street and postcode- no town or county. even addresses 'up country' have a postcode, perhaps that's how they get around the language barrier.

It ain't the size of the man in the fight it's the size of the fight in the man.

You just have to accept that insurers are not in exsitance to help you in time of need, they are there to make money. They won't insure you for flooding, if you live near a river, they won't insure you for rockfall near a mountain. If you are doing anything risky, you have to pay a huge amount, to get any cover. Like Banks, they don't produce a thing, no goods- nothing. You can't walk around their store to see if their product is better than the one down the road, you have to take their word for it- bloody crooks.

In a similar vein, does anyone know of a company that offers cover that doesn't exclude existing health complaints - e.g. high blood pressure? Alan Oh come on Alan, you beat the French and are top of your group, the pressure must be less now than when that nice german man was in charge ?

The other consideration, is the exchange rate of the currency you are transfering to LOS to live on. When the GBP/Baht went from 70+ to low 60's my mate had a pension cut. You do get used to living at one rate, which becomes a problem if it changes at the wrong time.

Will this deal affect the Welsh Pound/ Baht exchange rate ?

Nidnoy you should get together with MIGHTYONE , hes a Brentford lad, as a Reading fan I used to really enjoy visiting Griffin park in our lower league days, one of the few grounds in the UK with a pub on each corner Met him last year at Cherry Bar. Yep we have a few pubs here. The Griffin, is featured in the film Green Street Hooligans. The American lad Elijha Wood, had the odd pint of Pride in there between filming.

I took my son to that game but couldn't get in. The Cardiff fans were queing all around Breama Road. It was like the battle scene from Braveheart. Flags, banners and half naked youths. I have never seen so many Coppers at a match. Gave up and went to pub, then waited for a bus home. A bunch of Cardiff lads came along past us. I had to smile as one said to his mate. " You f###ing Prick! You nearlly got us arrested there.What were you thinking of man ?" I will never know what he did, should have asked I suppose. I still think you have more than the average amount of nutters though. Our mate from Hartlepool, always came with us into the Brentford end when they played down here, no one got the hump when he cheered their goals. He wasn't happy untill we chanted " You dirty northen bastards " at some point in the game. But when we went to see them play up north, he came into the Brentford end with us wearing his Sunderland shirt. He didn't think we would be welcome in the home stand.