Dear Hillary,
Like many British expat pensioners I am living off the small pension I get from the old country. This is enough for me and my lady as we don’t have expensive tastes and eat at the local markets and such, and it has been good for the last year. But now her two grownup kids have come to stay with us from their village. It was going to be for a week, and then it was two and then it was a month. It’s been three months now and they just sit around and drink Thai whisky, don’t work and live off me. At first I didn’t mind, but it’s costing me more than my pension and I don’t like dipping into the bank account that’s supposed to be for emergencies. I feel I have to do something. She tells me it is the Thai way. You know these things, what should I do?
Ernie
Dear Ernie,
You certainly have to do something my Petal – you have to show them the door! And ask them to close it on the way out! You are just being used. Forget all this nonsense about Thai ways and the family, the way the system works is that as soon as they are old enough the kids support the old folks, not the other way round. Put your foot down and tell them they either have to contribute and keep you in Thai whisky, or return to their village.
