nkped

Went by the pharmacy next to Tim's to restock. I asked for Apcalis and got Tadalis-sx20. Same price, 3 boxes for 1,000 baht. If the box is to be believed, it is 20mg of tadalafil and is manufactured by ajanta pharma limited in Mumbai. That supposedly is the same firm which made my last batch of Apcalis - sx20. We shall see.

CHURCHILL & ORWELL: THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM by Thomas E. Ricks Ricks is an American reporter and commentator on military history and current military affairs. He's an excellent writer. While he can be quite critical, he is pro-military overall. This is described as a dual biography of Churchill and Orwell, focusing on the two men in the 1930s onward. His premise is that the two men, in very different ways, formed our anti-totalitarian world view. I had previously avoided reading Orwell other than excerpts I was forced to read in literature courses, probably as being both too bleak and too wholesome. Similarly, I have never watched Forrest Gump. Due to this book, I may now have to read 1984 and Animal Farm in my dotage. I'm much more familiar with Churchill. While I'm generally familiar with much of this, Ricks includes things often overlooked by academic historians. At some point, Churchill referred to former PM Ramsay MacDonald as "the boneless wonder sitting on the Treasury bench." One can only wonder what he would have said about Mr. Bentham. As to Orwell, Ricks goes through Orwell's time in Spain during the Civil War and Orwell's resulting disillusionment with the left. In passing, he mentions Hemingway who was in Spain at the same time and observes "He was as politically naive as Orwell was observant, in part because his macho posing got in the way of seeing accurately." Getting to his premise, Ricks says "The 1930s were horrible in many ways." He points out a number of things which some would say were similar to what is happening now. However, he avoids making that comparison and I have heard a podcast with a very friendly interviewer where he does not do so either. I will eventually have to check the reviews and see if anyone else has had that thought. As to Churchill and Orwell themselves, apparently they never met, but Orwell admired Churchill and, as a result, named the hero of 1984 Winston. Churchill says he read the book twice. Perhaps a fourth of the way through and so far a great read.

Looks like the cycling is finished and traffic in Jomtien del Norte returned to normal.

Cycling portion in progress on lower Tappraya on the inside lanes. Outer lanes open to vehicles. Pretty sure the U-turns are blocked.

Okay, had to think about that one for a bit.

Route signage on the lower reaches of Tappraya.

A lot less evidence of work above ground. Also, some additional signage about dangerous cargo being prohibited in the tunnel. They may be getting close.

Be aware that if you want to get a copy of your medical records at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, it will take seven days to fulfill your request. I think that is a change. I'm headed back to the U.S. in a couple of weeks. As I had had an overnight stay at BHP in Decemberhttp://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/topic/66961-bangkok-hospital-pattaya-blue-cross-and-the-thai-dl/, I thought it prudent to get a copy of the records to show to my internist. I went today to avoid waiting to the last minute. That was prudent. I took my passport which is a requirement. You go to the customer service office to the left of the big counter at the main entrance. I said I wanted a copy of my medical records. This drew a puzzled look followed by "You mean documents." She then pulled up a list of my visits on the computer and asked me which date. I had thought that it would be good to get the records from the inpatient stay in December and the follow up visits. However, I realized that to get records since December would probably induce a stroke on my part. So I will be getting the records from the overnight stay (I think).

Now that we're perfectly clear on that.

First I'd ever heard that one.

Not as of January.

The arrhythmia inducing loud music towards the south end of Tappraya shut down within the last 30 minutes.

The unleavened/flat bread itself is a tortilla.

The condo building seems downright abandoned the last few days. It will be interesting to see if things pick up next week. Just a theory, but I'm thinking the short term visitors cleared out pre-Songkran, as I did until last year, or are waiting for it to be over. The longer term residents, both Thai and farang, would be getting out of town for or because of the holiday.

Yesterday, I saw an older gentleman walking along Beach Road who had a bit of a limp. As I got closer, I saw why. He had a prosthetic leg. Correction, he had two prosthetic legs. He was wearing a t-shirt with something about "FOUR FEET." I suspect that referred to his height without the prostheses.

During the day, there actually seems to be less traffic. That may change later today. On one of the Jomtien 2nd Road-Sukhumvit connectors, I saw kids with super soakers and smallers ladles for water tossing. Moto taxi drivers got a bit with the water gun, but they refrained from throwing larger amounts at them.

First Songkran for me was at Nakhon Phanom in 1975. Young guys at bus stops were tossing buckets of water at the busses when they stopped. We discovered that the windows on those old rattle traps would actually go up. The driver had to open the door to board passengers. The poor guy was soaked.

That sounds obscene.

Went to Mae Hong Son at the beginning of the beginning of the month. Just a few things to add which may benefit some. We stayed at the Imperial Mae Hong Son. It is a pleasant hotel in a picturesque setting. It is 2 or 3 km from the center of town. I had anticipated that tuk tuks or taxi would be readily available. Not so. There are a few elderly tuk tuks, vehicles and drivers, in town, but you don't see them very often. We did take one from the airport to the hotel. The GFE provider arranged for the hotel van to take us downtown in the evening to see the lake and nearby sights and to eat and came to get us when called. That was 120 baht. We rented a relatively late model Toyota Hilux for 24 hours to make the rounds the next day. That was 1,600 baht and the man delivered it to the hotel. With both of us running Google maps, we found our way to the sights without getting lost. We did go to Ban Rak Thai, (not my photo) a village, that was about 40 km road miles away and perhaps 10 km as the crow flies to buy tea. Or at least that was the main point that I observed. It was at 500+ meters in elevation which is a good deal higher than Mae Hong Son. I was well and truly puckered by the time we got there. Did I mention that the GF is a good driver.

I never could figure that one out. 45 years of taking commercial flights and I have yet to lose a bag. Very few times the bags got there later than I did.

If he had been bumped at the gate, that would have been one thing. If I had been issued a boarding pass, and boarded, I would be a lot more upset whether or the legal regime was changed or not. Wonder if he had checked any luggage as my understanding is that if you don't make the flight your bags must come off for security reasons.

Got there about 2pm. They no longer have students checking your documents at the front counter. Rather, it was a uniformed officer handing out numbers. Wonder if he was being rewarded or punished. I had number 842. When I got to counter 8, they were servicing 841. I was called within 5 minutes. The students (interns?) are know at the counter where they check for required documents and signatures. Apparently, I had not copied one needed page of the passport. I think it was the one for when I was stamped out for my excursion to Siem Reap in January, my last departure. He made a copy of that one page. I had the TM7, two photos (only one was needed),my lease, the embassy letter for proof of income and copies of the passport pages. He also had me sign two pages of advisals, collected 1,900 baht and I was on way within 10-15 minutes of walking in the door. Now, if I get the passport back tomorrow with the extension, I'll be good for another year.

I was at Jomtien Immigration to file my retirement extension this afternoon. They have a sign up that they will be closed for Songkran 13-17 April. If your status is going to go pear shaped after tomorrow and before the 18th, you've got one day.

UA has developed cheap tendencies in recent years. You have to pay extra if you want to keep your kneecaps.