MartinL

I like the thought of the Thai Red Cross creating a body. I'm sure you meant 'cremate' though 🙂

Please move to a more appropriate forum if not suitable for "HEALTH and Medicine". My 90 y.o. friend made formal arrangements, years ago, to donate his body to a hospital medical school in Khon Kaen on his death. Now he feels he's approaching the end of his life, he checked to make sure arrangements were still in place. He was told that the hospital can no longer take the bodies of foreigners because of "problems with embassy", something they couldn't or wouldn't elaborate on. I can't see why his embassy - UK - would have any objections to or interest in him making such a donation after death. He has no children, no UK family, nobody to make claims on him. His Thai wife is his next of kin. I don't think he's made a Will in which he could specify donation of his body since he has nobody to inherit his estate except his wife so that's taken care of by Thai inheritance law. His wife agrees to his donation. A forum search resulted in a Chiang Mai forum recent thread on the same subject that suggested donation by a foreigner IS possible and a hospital in the north-east is specifically mentioned in one post. Is there, in reality, a restriction on taking foreigners' bodies? Is it up to individual hospitals to accept or reject foreigners? Is the hospital basing its rejection on out-of-date instructions from the government? Of course, they might be rejecting him because of age without actually saying as much. I've been thinking of doing this myself but if the restriction stands, there doesn't seem much point.

So now even "resembling foreigners' is a potential offence, is it? There seems to be no end of ways they're trying to finger foreigners for Thai crime. Surely, if the thieves definitely were foreigners, it would have been one of the first things used to describe them by the shop staff.

Since when has Phrae province been in Isaan, or has there been a wholesale redefinition of Thailand's regions while I was asleep? A few weeks ago it was 'crocodiles in Nakhon Sawan' now this.

Attempted rape of a doctor by a Thai and kicking of a doctor by a foreigner ...... it'd be interesting to know the comparison of the final sentences in both these cases. But we'll never know because, while the foreigner's case will be publicised widely and enthusiastically, the Thai's will be lost in the mass of other news.

A peacock.

I've been here 15 years and, literally, the only food I've REALLY missed from UK is a Cheddar cheese (preferably English) and Branston sarnie on seedy bread. Luckily, both are available here so, from time to time I get my fix and can then continue for a while ...... until the next one.

Exactly the thought going through my mind too.

Thanks Crossy. They're either PEA or tessaban poles, PEA installed/renewed last July, and it's PEA who've been asked to perform the move. As in your case, an extra pole would work but it seems a real hassle just because someone feels 'unlucky',

Does anybody here know whether there are any regulations governing the spacing of PEA electricity poles in a domestic situation? It seems sensible to me that there would be but ........ A long-vacant plot opposite us is finally being built upon 🙂. The new owners want to move an existing pole because it's 'unlucky' in the current position. At present, there's about 15m between poles. In the position proposed, there'll be about 5m and 23m between poles. In addition, it'll cause problems getting an electricity supply to our house since there'll then be another building in the way, between the pole and our house. I'm sure this will be resolved in an amicable way but I want to gather facts so I can be prepared. Thanks.

Nakhon Sawan, Isaan???

I checked my online HMRC Personal Tax Account (PTA) today to find out whether or not they'd presumed my frozen pension for 24/25 had received the annual increase when, of course, it has not. Sure enough, the pension figure had been increased by 8.3% and my tax code had decreased = more tax. I called HMRC on +44 135 535 9022 and eventually spoke to someone after a half-hour wait and that awful 'music'. She initially said that they'd have to wait until officially advised by DWP that the pension was frozen before any correction could be made. When I pushed it a bit, she spoke to somebody and came back to say that, since the figure for frozen pension was the same in 24/25 as it was for all previous years that I've received the pension, they could change it there and then which she did. Ten minutes after completing the call, I rechecked my PTA and the correction had already appeared there. If you have this same problem and your pension amount is unchanged, ask the advisor to check because they CAN make the correction immediately if pension amount is unchanged

She's retired now but when my wife was teaching, she also had to do weekend security duty maybe one w/e in 4, buy stock for and run the school 'tuck shop' and, towards the end of her time, buy food for school lunchtime once a week, I think. Only the female teachers had to do that last one. It all drove me up the wall and I told her so but she wouldn't complain. I almost had words with the school director but she looked horrified and said "No! You can't do that".

From the linked article:- "John, a retired teacher, received his UK pension .... John could potentially qualify for the “Wealthy Pensioner” category once he reaches 50 years old in a few years". So 'John' appears to be retired from teaching in his mid-40s or earlier. I can't imagine that any UK teachers' pension fund would allow a member to draw a pension at such a young age. I thought the minimum age for pension eligibility was 55 with, I seem to recall, moves being proposed to increase this minimum age. Something not right about this example but I doubt it's 'real people'.