Eneukman

A further thought for those like me who are planning on making a permanent move to LOS. It is cheaper to buy a fixed date return ticket than a one way ticket (at least it is with BA). So looks as though I'll be buying a return ticket and simply not turning up for the return flight Alan

If you fly long haul with BA on a regular basis - especially in first or club class - and own a certain number of shares in your own name (either 200 or 250) you get a voucher that entitles you to a 10% discount on flights. 250 shares at preent would cost you about £600, which would be recouped quite quickly. Incidentally, with my shareholder discount I can fly club class to Bangkok from Heathrow for £2,318 including taxes. You are pretty much tied to your chosen dates - though you can change the return date for £200 (at least that's what the cost was on economy and economy plus) BA's economy plus would cost me £961 (plus the cost of getting down to London from Edinburgh). The seat pitch in this cabin is 38 inches which is vast improvement on their cattle class Alan

Checking with the Thai embassy in Washington is probably the safest course of action. Do the US have quarantine restrictions on animals being brought into the country? Something else to check up on. I would think that arranging a flight for your cat would be the simplest bit to organise. Alan

Brian, I suspect that most of the tailors will make shirts for you. A couple of guys offered to make shirts for me in just 3 hours. I didn't take up their offer. Alan

Leemo, I hope you find a solution to your problems. They are a bit disconcerting though as I'm looking at becoming one of your neighbours within the next 7 months or so. Alan

One further thought on BA's economy plus is that you are allowed double the amount of cabin baggage than in cattle class. Alan

Growler, it works out around £300 or so more expensive (but as a shareholder I get a 10% discount). I would try Eva Air myself but their schedules just don't suit me as I have to get back up to Edinburgh. Alan

Not a hope in Hell of getting 3 seats together never mind 4 between Bangkok and London with BA. The flight is usually pretty well damn full. In fact, last night's flight (end of another 2 week's fun :crying ) was carrying pretty much the maximum payload for a 747-400. This trip, i decided to pay a bit extra and go for the extra leg room in BA's economy plus. OK, the food is the same shit as they serve in economy but I found the trip far more comfortable. Only downside was that almost immediately behind me were all the screaming babies The flight up to Edinburgh was also full - partly due to a group of Japanese! One of the stupid Japanese bitches switched her mobile phone on during the flight and had to be told no less than 6 (yes, SIX) times by the stewardess to switch the fucking thing off! Alan

Ca anyone let me know what the score was? I can see from the league table that Rangers won. Thanks, Alan PS The weather in Pattaya is shite just now. Cool and raining!

Chiang Mai is (I think ) Thailand's 2nd largest city so it must be either Korat? Alan

I got this info from Ib at the RG within the last few days - "There are 3 different taxi companies located in the arrival hall. Turn left after costums clearing. Thai limousine charges 4,500 Baht and uses new Mercedes E 220 CDI The second charges 2,250 Baht, and uses an older model Mercedes Benz The last charges 1,800 Baht and uses Toyota Camrys" NB - If arriving in Terminal 2 you should turn right. Might be worth trying bartering or as others do go upstairs to departures and lok out for a taxi coming in from Pattaya. Alan

Who are the Vikings? - apart from a bunch of Scandinavians who tried to rape and pillage their way through Scotland and England a thousand or so years ago? Alan

Thanks for that, Sunny. I was hoping someone would take pit on me and give me the information I needed . Loxinfo was the name I sort of recalled being recommended. 5 days, 17 hours, 24 minutes and counting. Alan

This year, I required varifocal glasses for the first time. The first pair I got weren't quite right and I had to get my eyes retested as one possible reason I was having problems with them was that the prescription was slightly out. As it happened, this was the case and I'm now very happy with them most of the time. For your first pair, it might just be preferable to buy them in the UK. That way, if you do have problems for any reason it will be a lot easier to deal with these at home rather on a short holiday. If you're looking for a spare pair though, then I might be inclined to buy in Pattaya. Alan

Having just bought a lap top, I might decide to bring it with me when I come out next week as it seems that mine is the same size as Tangent's. It would mean not having to use the internet cafe up the road from the RG and allow me to view some of the more risqe photos that have been posted. Might even be able to upload some of my own First though, I'll need to do a search on recommendations for local ISP's. Alan

A further thought here - on your last day make sure that you empty the safe well before you are due to leave. Another member had problems with his safe at the RG one night. They had to send to Bangkok to get an engineer to sort out the problem. As he had his tg with him at the time, I'm sure he found a way to pass the time Alan

I looked at Air France last year but there would have been a 6 hour (as far as I can remember) wait at CDG. Not long enough to go into Paris and too long to hang around an airport. Alan

Thanks for the suggestions Torrenova and Brian but I have now ascertained that it was indeed a virus. In fact, I received a warning e-mail about it from Trend Micro who offer free virus checks on your PC. Whilst I was unable to use my Norton software to get an update, I was able to download a fix from their web-site which found and destroyed it. I'm not sure how this virus got onto my PC and can only think it was contained in an e-mail even though I didn't open any attqchments. Stringing the cunt who developed this virus up by the balls would be too kind - something a bit more painfull would be appropriate. Alan

Hi guys, A similar problem to the one that Growler had but possibly more fatal I hope that one of you IT experts out there can help me with what could be a potentially fatal problem with my PC. Shortly after switching on, I get message after message after message ad infinitum that I or a programme has requested access. My ISP (AOL) gives me a warning beforehand and if I cancel one, the next one pops up almost immediately. My internet settings are set to never dial out and my anti virus software (Norton) is up to date – updated only 2 days ago. A virus check revealed nothing and Ad-aware also found nothing. What is more worrying is that whatever virus I have picked up has obviously targeted Norton and is somehow managing to switch it off so when I come on line, I am not protected against viruses. I have the Windows CD that I got when I bought my PC (Windows XP was pre-installed) but when I put the CD in, the serial number was not recognised so I can’t risk uninstalling and reinstalling Windows. So apart from some costly repairs or buying a new PC, any suggestions on to how to fix this problem? I was planning on buying a lap top before I retired to LOS next year but it looks like I’ll have to bring this acquisition forward by several months. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Alan