Back in the UK after 14 years

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buksida
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by buksida »

That is one thing I've noticed about the UK after a long time away, there are a lot more mopeds around now than there used to be. Sadly they're mostly used by scumbags to steal phones.
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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buksida wrote: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:13 pm That is one thing I've noticed about the UK after a long time away, there are a lot more mopeds around now than there used to be.
One of the main reasons is the extortionate costs of motor insurance - especially for the under 25's.
buksida wrote: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:13 pmSadly they're mostly used by scumbags to steal phones.


Not to mention the latest "craze" in the UK (London mainly) of "Acid Attacks" - absolute sh*theads..... :banghead: :cuss:
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by caller »

Thought I'd replied to this already, but must have forgotten to press submit!

Good to hear you're settling in okay DM, I think the UK is a great place and your experience of the NHS is that of most peoples. Only bad news is deemed newsworthy!

I had a couple of years up in Sheffield and I too was surprised at how compact the whole area was and I would have happily relocated from my then SW London home and London based (Government) work had things turned out differently, but it was not to be. I visited a fair few grounds to see different teams play whilst up there as well, but admission prices were a bit cheaper then!

Anyway, I hope the experience continues to stay as positive as it has so far! :cheers:
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by oakdale160 »

There are a lot more electric mobeds in Canada too. For short commutes, they are very convenient. Can be carried up stairs, parked in hallways etc. The other thing is regular bikes with small electric motors that can be used when going up hills or when starting away from traffic lights. No license needed or road tax on them. Of course, there are many more bike lanes on the roads and they are respected and enforced.
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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DM: I'm worried about you being in your lovely flat on your own - especially during the winter months. You seriously need a cat or perhaps a Yorkshire Terrier (about the same size) to keep you company.

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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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Vital Spark wrote: Tue Aug 08, 2017 11:43 pm DM: I'm worried about you being in your lovely flat on your own - especially during the winter months. You seriously need a cat or perhaps a Yorkshire Terrier (about the same size) to keep you company.

VSx
For Christ's sake DM - you're in Yorkshire (or near as damn it)..... get a Ferret. By all accounts they can keep your nether regions warm once trained! :shock: :wink:

[EDIT] Oh, and obviously good company.......
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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^^ Rather like a small sheep with sharp teeth! :laugh:

I mentioned missing football on 365Sport. On the other hand, there is a plethora of local pubs with a number of large screen TVs showing the footie ate the weekend. My local is the very un-PC named 'Black Boy' (with a pub sign displaying just that), where I enjoyed a couple of pints of Abbott's Ale as I watched the Spurs game on Sunday. I had no idea there were so many Spurs fans up here!! Looking forward to next Sunday v. Chelsea...

Okay, on to TV adverts…

I remember them quite fondly as often innovative and entertaining, but much less so nowadays. Problems for women of a certain age: vaginal dryness <hides head in hands> and leaky bladders. Now, I have every sympathy for these inconvenient conditions, but I really don’t want to be informed about them while I’m eating my dinner.

Charities: adverts asking you to contribute £3-5 a month for donkeys, cats, children, clean water, disabled soldiers, etc. etc. Worthy causes, but overkill.
Companies that will buy any car or house (presumably at way under market price). Short-term loans at outrageous interest rates.
And the repetition – very counter-productive.

Where are the Hovis ads, Cinzano (Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, remember?), etc.?
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by Pleng »

Do they not still have the "drink this coffee and get laid for sure" adverts? :(
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by J.J.B. »

Pleng wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:31 pm Do they not still have the "drink this coffee and get laid for sure" adverts? :(
Haha, I remember that one!

Alas, TV advertising has gone downhill rapidly. I think two related factors are a cause of this:

1. Production costs have plummeted and now any muppet with a £500 camera can produce something of a high enough 'technical' quality to reach broadcast standard. Sadly.
2. The media owners are no longer limited to one (ITV) or two (Channel 4) commercial channels. There are hundreds of the buggers and moreover the internet is now in our pocket.

So with huge dilution of what the ad men call "opportunity to see" and the low cost of production, most companies adopt a spray and pray approach and hence, crap TV. Another reason I no longer watch it.
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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It's the gambling ads that really annoy me, and they seem to be particularly prevalent during the day-time crap shows (I sat and watched one or two with my Mum). 'We'll give you £10 to gamble' - and then we've got you hooked. No wonder so many people get into gambling debts in the UK. We also found the 'personal' female problem ads uncomfortable to watch. We'd just mute the TV and discuss the neighbours' personal problems...

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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by dtaai-maai »

Vital Spark wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:29 pm We also found the 'personal' female problem ads uncomfortable to watch. We'd just mute the TV and discuss the neighbours' personal problems...
:lach: :lach:

Brilliant, my best laugh of the day!
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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Vital Spark wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:29 pm It's the gambling ads that really annoy me, and they seem to be particularly prevalent during the day-time crap shows (I sat and watched one or two with my Mum). 'We'll give you £10 to gamble' - and then we've got you hooked. No wonder so many people get into gambling debts in the UK.

VS
When Thai Expat TV was on I would watch some British stations and the amount of gambling, and money lending, ads really surprised me. Although the two go hand in hand!!
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Re: RE: Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by Henry 14th »

migrant wrote:
Vital Spark wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:29 pm It's the gambling ads that really annoy me, and they seem to be particularly prevalent during the day-time crap shows (I sat and watched one or two with my Mum). 'We'll give you £10 to gamble' - and then we've got you hooked. No wonder so many people get into gambling debts in the UK.

VS
When Thai Expat TV was on I would watch some British stations and the amount of gambling, and money lending, ads really surprised me. Although the two go hand in hand!!
Agree - and have you seen the small print interest rates on those services!!!!????

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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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DM: I have a question for you. What things do you really now miss from living in Thailand?

Mr.VS and I are doing a lot of thinking at the moment about where we see ourselves in 5 years' time. Getting older, and all the things that go with that inevitable future are obviously points to seriously consider. Recent experiences with the Thai health system (both private and public) have left us with little faith in both. I really can't stand miserable weather, and, as you know, there can be lovely sunshine after the rain in the Land of Smiles, as well as temperatures that won't send my fingers numb. I'm not sure if I could stand the British climate.

We have so many things to consider like: Do we really want to relocate to another foreign country? How will any Brexit negotiations affect us if we live in mainland Europe? Should we go back to the country we are familiar with, and understand? Will we have the same quality of life if we live in the UK? I know these are questions that only we can answer, but would appreciate your (or any other readers') comments about 'life after Thailand'.

Hope you're keeping well and have adopted a cat or a ferret to keep you company.

VS. x
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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Vital Spark wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:59 am DM: I have a question for you. What things do you really now miss from living in Thailand?
Hi VS.

Interesting question.

The short answer is not much. Thinking about it a little more, the answer is not much at all.

Getting into detail, and after giving it some serious thought, the answer becomes “practically nothing”.

It is, of course, a very personal question. By which, I don’t mean it’s one that you shouldn’t ask, but one that I can only give a very personal answer to.

Most of all, I miss Mrs D-M, but I don’t want to go into that here. The plan is for her to visit for a few months next year, and we’ll take it from there. Subject closed.

I miss relatively cheap access to sport on TV, but I gather that’s gone now anyway. I miss the opportunity to go out for a decent meal at relatively low prices (but see the Wetherspoons reference above), though as time went on I found I was doing that less and less frequently. I miss the cheap house rental, but not the crap landlords (both Thai and farang). And I’m really struggling to think of anything else, to be honest.

In some ways, it would be easier to list the things I don’t miss. I don’t miss the weather. It’s colder than I’d like here – summer consisted of a very warm Bank Holiday long weekend in August – but it had become too hot for me in Thailand.

I don’t miss soi creatures. Dogs are invariably accompanied by humans, who (usually) clean up their mess, and are clean and well cared for (the dogs, not the humans…). There are a few cats around, but they’re not strays, have all been spayed, and don’t wake me up yowling hornily through the night (possibly one of the worst noises in the world, apart from angle grinders – another noise I don’t miss; Thais seem to love using them!). I wasn’t particularly bothered by snakes and insects (apart from the post rain flying ants), but I certainly don’t miss them.

I don’t miss the soul-destroying bureaucracy, the corruption or the poor customer service.

I don’t miss the price of cars, particularly 2nd hand cars. I didn’t think I’d be able to afford a car here, at least at first, and I think I mentioned earlier that I was planning to buy a scooter. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to put that on hold until next spring (rather than freeze my nuts off). My neighbour’s son is a car mechanic, and he recently made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: a 2004 Fiat Punto 1200cc 3-door hatchback, with 12 months MOT, for £300. That’s about 13,000 THB! You’d have difficulty buying a 10-year-old Honda Wave for that in Thailand!

There’s a lot of guff spoken about ‘the Land of Smiles’ - anyone who’s lived in Thailand for a year or two should have seen through that. Where I now live (a small market town in the northeast Midlands) the people are genuinely friendly. The ladies on the checkout call you luvvie, me duck, darlin’, etc. (not a ‘hello, handsome man’ to be heard…).

I satisfy my sport fix (okay, my Spurs games and the rugby internationals) at my local pub (the Black Boy…). The beer there is £2.40-2.60 a pint (105-115 THB), a shot of whisky £1.80 (80 THB) and a good cup of coffee just £1 (44 THB). I have to be honest and say that I stick out like a sore thumb there – it’s a working man’s pub, as are most of them round here, and the locals are a bit rough and ready, but there’s a lot of good-humoured banter and I don’t feel in the least unwelcome. I go in about once a week, it’s usually the same crowd, and I reckon in about 10 years I might be one of the locals!

Takeaways. Not something I use on a daily basis, but I do like my fish & chips every now and then, there’s a very nice Chinese just round the corner, and I’ve had a terrific kebab delivered (free). There are a few Indians I’ll try out soon.

There’s a market in town (about 500 metres walk) 4-5 days a week. Different days, different themes, but standard fare: crockery, clothing, tools, arts & crafts, books and ‘antiques’, with fruit & veg, and specialist bakery and butchers’ stalls a couple of times a week.

One very personal aspect of UK life is the theatre. It’s been a major part of my life since I was 14, and is something I missed a lot in Thailand. I went to drama school aged 40 (long story…) and was a professional actor for a few years before going to Thailand. A short-lived career notable only for a remarkable lack of success! Nevertheless, it’s a hole in my life that has now been filled (as an amateur of course), which is quite important to me.

Family. I have 3 grandchildren, 2 girls 12 and 10, and a boy who is coming up for his 1st birthday. They live about 14 km away and I see them regularly, which gives me great pleasure.

Back to your specific questions:
Do we really want to relocate to another foreign country? How will any Brexit negotiations affect us if we live in mainland Europe?
Too early to say for sure, but the answer must be that it will be more difficult, particularly as a post-Brexit arrival.
Should we go back to the country we are familiar with, and understand?
Probably something that becomes more relevant as you get older. For those who don’t know me, I’m 60, which by HHF standards makes me a young upstart… I’ve been back in the UK for over 4 months, and I have no regrets (yet!).
Will we have the same quality of life if we live in the UK?
I think accommodation is the main issue, otherwise I don’t see why not (and I have a rough idea of the sort of lifestyle Mr & Mrs VS enjoy :laugh:).
Recent experiences with the Thai health system (both private and public) have left us with little faith in both.
Yes, this is a big one. As you well know, VS, I developed lymphoma about 8 years ago. I have good reason to be grateful to the Thai university where I worked, they gave a me a lot of support and were very patient (things have changed since, and I doubt I’d be that lucky again). I also have good reason to be grateful to the Thai health system (I was insured as I was technically a government employee) – to an extent. The diagnosis was a long time coming (way too long), but they sorted me out eventually. It was far from perfect, though, particularly the nursing, and of course communication was often difficult. I have to say, I don’t think I’d have got through it without Mrs D-M – she was my nurse, my driver, my carer, my rock.

To close, I’d say that the idea of relocating to the UK after 14 years in Thailand was probably more daunting than the idea of staying in Thailand in the first place! All I can say is that I have no doubt that it was, for me, the right decision.

If anyone has any questions, I’m quite happy to address them here or by PM
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