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Barrier peeve

Re: British Pensions only one side to the matter

Girl watching accident

Video without kickbacks

No one was complaining when baht was at 74 plus

Good luck with monorail

Mail service to USA

Barrier peeve

Dear Editor;
One of my “Pattaya Peeves” is the barriers many small businesses place in the street to prevent cars from parking in front of their shops. I don’t understand why they do that. I don’t understand why they think that preventing cars from parking in the street in front of their shops is going to somehow hurt their business. The barriers they place are nothing official. Usually it is a chair or stool or something similar they place in the street at the curb.

I am often tempted to move those barriers out of the way and park there whether they like it or not, but I never do for fear that I might return only to find my tires slashed or some other form of vandalism, not to mention having to deal with the enraged shop owner.

My question is whether it is legal for them to place those makeshift barriers in public streets. Is it? Do they have the right to do that? If yes, that is one thing, but if it is illegal, why do the police never seem to do anything about it? Also, if it is illegal, what can an individual who merely wants to park his car at the curb on a public street do about it?
Frustrated Driver

Re: British Pensions only one side to the matter

Editor;
If someone robs me there is no ‘other side’ to the argument that I want my property returned. The half truths and other nonsense put forward by Ron Maynard (Sept 3rd) simply parrots the illogical, contradictory, unfeeling rubbish espoused by government spokespersons. Is he, one wonders, being paid for his Goebbels-like propaganda? Or, is he like the unpaid lackeys of the tobacco industry who propagate their filth for free?

A mosquito brain could have worked out that the first pensioners had not specifically contributed to their pensions, but I fail to see its relevance to the situation whereby a group of pensioners are penalised for no logical or acceptable reason. Clearly Mr. Maynard has completely missed the point which is that having paid the same contributions as everyone else, expats are entitled to the same benefits irrespective of where they live or what colour socks they wear.

To be told that the rate of inflation in foreign countries could not be estimated is fatuous beyond belief. In any case, over a period of a few years nearly all countries end up with very similar rates of inflation. However, this is also irrelevant and if it were not so increases could not be paid to pensioners living in Romania, Poland, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary, Turkey, Mauritius, The Philippines or the USA. The fact that increases are paid in these countries as well as several others, totally negates his foolish assertion.

Does Mr. Maynard have secret occult powers that enable him to know that expats knew their pensions would be frozen if they retired in Thailand? I certainly did not know. Whether we knew or did not know makes no difference to the fact that this discrimination is unfair, illogical, mean and dishonest.

My next move is to downsize or cancel my subscriptions to all the ten charitable organisations which I support and inform them why. I exhort all British expats to do the same. I do not think the government will be so callous as to see funds being cut to the blind, victims of torture and needy children. If it is, then there is no hope at all.
UK Pensioner

Girl watching accident

Sir,
I had the pleasure of meeting a very pleasant Norwegian gentleman yesterday. He was girl watching on Beach Road - a pastime we have all engaged in - as I slowed my motorbike to allow some pedestrians to cross in front of me. Unfortunately my new girl watching friend was also riding a motor bike, directly behind me, and as a result I was rudely dismounted and proceeded to give an aerial acrobatic display unbefitting to my age and general level of health and fitness. Fortunately there was no traffic in the other lane or I fear I would not be writing this letter. As it was I ended up with a few scrapes and bruises and this morning woke up feeling like I’d taken a Viagra that reaches the places other Viagra doesn’t reach.

You could not wish to be involved in an accident with a nicer guy that my new Norwegian friend. His only concern was for my well being. He immediately admitted full responsibility and offered full compensation. Both out bikes were un-ridable so he organized for a mechanic with a pick up to collect them and we went and had a drink in TQ, as it was (almost) the closest bar to where we met.

The reason for this letter is not to point out how decent some of the falangs in Pattaya can be, but to thank the unassuming Thai man who appeared from nowhere with his bag of field dressings and proceeded to clean and bandage my knee before asking if I wanted to be taken to hospital. I declined, he vanished. I can only assume that he is a volunteer with Sawang Boriboon Foundation; anyway I never thanked him and would like to take this opportunity to publicly do so. If anyone reading this has any Thai friends in the organization I would be grateful if they would pass on my thanks as I doubt that he reads the letters page of the Pattaya Mail (no disrespect intended to either party).

I will spare you the usual platitudes of what a wonderful job they do, I just want to make what can be a thankless task a little bit less so.

Thank you,
Matt Cardinal

Video without kickbacks

Dear editor,

What baffles many Europeans is when Thai agencies consider buying something it is often the most expensive, complex, over-priced and under-performing system available on the market. After the purchase, 6 months of hype follows and after that, the system is either broken, stolen or otherwise not operational and never used again. Very much the same as with the bomb sniffers.

The system presented in “Vendor pitches wireless video system to city” in Vol. XVIII No. 37 to Pattaya City is just that kind of system. When Thailand eventually gets a 3G telephone network, this type of communication problem can be solved with a 3G telephone with camera. It’s used daily by BBC, CNN and many more news agencies.

Hopefully Thailand gets 3G soon (3G is on the way out in Europe and replaced with 4G).

Regards,
H. Hansson
Stockholm, Sweden

No one was complaining when baht was at 74 plus

Editor;

Re Peter Mailbag 11/10: Sorry to hear you can’t make it back. You complain that the baht is too low against the pound. What has this to do with the Thai Government? Do you want them to run at a loss because your country is on the skids? I didn’t hear Brit’s complaining in 1975 when the baht was worth 74 plus. Come back and drink beer from 711 or at the cheap boarding houses with the rest of the losers. As for Chris Kennedy, get on online banking and transfer any amount for the one low fee (you get a better rate). If you live off your Master Card you deserve to pay.
Aussie Arnie

Good luck with monorail

Dear Editor,
I hope that Pattaya has more luck with it’s monorail than Los Angeles has with its light rail system. For US$5 you can get a day pass which turns the train into a temporary apartment where the homeless sleep. The mentally ill, vagrants, petty criminals and some of the filthiest of the unwashed masses prowl the cars. The sheriff officers that rode the trains when they were new years ago have virtually vanished with the budget cutbacks due to the poor economy. If Pattaya is foolish enough to go through with this project, I hope that they include elevators to access the trains so the falang families and elderly tourists can access them. Good Luck!

Regards,
Bill Turner,
California

Mail service to USA

Editor;

I am newly retired after 30 yrs of spending months at a time here in Pattaya. Because I was a civil servant with the city of Los Angeles I have been consistently annoyed by every city department which is unaware of my status. I have finally contacted many of them and now receive my mail at my Pattaya address.

The problem is not with receiving mail here; it’s with sending. I have no complaints with EMS International Express, Thailand. They guarantee 4-5 day delivery or a refund. I needed mail expressed to my bank in L.A.; deciding to use EMS the cost was 760 THB. The normal size letter was mailed August 18th, it was finally delivered August 30th. Upon tracking the delivery I was able to find the letter spent 5 days in U.S. Customs. While another normal size envelope sent regular postage mailed the same day posted in 5 days at a cost of 38 baht.

I wasn’t entitled to a refund from EMS because they held up their end and got it to the U.S. as agreed.

I’d just like to advise U.S. citizens you will have far less problems with regular mail than with EMS Express. Regular mail seems to be of no particular interest. I can’t say if the same problem exists with Fed-EX, as I haven’t used them and hope I never find it necessary to try.

Seems U.S. Customs has no regard for the business of EMS and in my instance with lost money, I will never send anything express mail again. From this point forward I scan and save all out going mail; in the event it is lost, or not delivered, I need only re-print it and send it again, regular mail.

Fed-EX worked fine from the U.S. to Thailand, while preparing my wife’s visa paperwork, but once or twice she sent pictures back regular mail. I had her write in Thai, NO VALUE, PICTURES ONLY, but they were never delivered. From that point as I have many friends coming through Thailand usually every few months, I would have them hand carry whatever here, then have it mailed from here to her Mom’s address in Samut Prakan.

If anyone can provide any further advice on handling mail I’d be interested.

Take Care,
Les & Lawan Harbour

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