Just a glimpse...

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, and is NON CH related - chat about the weather, or anything else that takes your fancy.

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Angela Woodford
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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by Angela Woodford »

Oh, but Caroline, I'd love to be reading you in The Times!

How would you pose for your picture?
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icomefromalanddownunder
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Re: Just a glimpse...

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Angela Woodford wrote:Oh, but Caroline, How would you pose for your picture?
Image

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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by Jo »

Awwwww.......he looks so cute. :heart: But just look at those claws!

Did you take the photo yourself? Where did you see him?
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icomefromalanddownunder
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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

Jo wrote:Awwwww.......he looks so cute. :heart: But just look at those claws!

Did you take the photo yourself? Where did you see him?

The photograph was taken from a lab window by a fellow student. It sums up life in The Discipline of Wine & Horticulture pretty well :lol:

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Re: Just a glimpse...

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icomefromalanddownunder wrote:
Jo wrote:Awwwww.......he looks so cute. :heart: But just look at those claws!

Did you take the photo yourself? Where did you see him?

The photograph was taken from a lab window by a fellow student. It sums up life in The Discipline of Wine & Horticulture pretty well :lol:
Was he alive?
The reason I ask is because when I was clearing out my mother's house in South East London, my Jack Russell got very agitated about something up a tree outside the front gate. He'd already cleared out a nest of mice and I thought he had found a stray one.
Up the tree, in a very similar position to your koala, was a dead fox. Probably came along the wall, tried to get down via the tree, slipped and I saw the result.
I called in the council, who bagged said fox and carried him away.
I thought this was quite unusual and said so, but the "bag man" said they picked up about 5 foxes a week in similar positions. The most usual was the wooden fences with the serrated/triangular top, where the fox slipped on climbing over and ended up dangling with his head on the top of the fence.
Despite being a suburban council estate, it has a plague of foxes, who get in and out of wheelie bins with ease, don't ask me how they raise the lid, and leave rubbish all over the place. They terrorise the cats and dig up any recently buried family pet.
Obviously not a good way to die, but there self inflicted deaths are keeping the fox population down far better than fox hunts.
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Angela Woodford
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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by Angela Woodford »

I love the koala, I love him! Look at the expression on his face! Aaah!

But, like Jo, I'm very impressed by those claws! Is a koala a gentle creature? With claws like that, I wouldn't like to approach one in a bad mood! A koala bear looks so appealing...
"Baldrick, you wouldn't recognise a cunning plan if it painted itself purple, and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing "Cunning plans are here again.""
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icomefromalanddownunder
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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

Angela Woodford wrote:I love the koala, I love him! Look at the expression on his face! Aaah!

But, like Jo, I'm very impressed by those claws! Is a koala a gentle creature? With claws like that, I wouldn't like to approach one in a bad mood! A koala bear looks so appealing...
To answer all questions with one post:

Yes, quite definitely alive. That's how koalas spend most of their time. I have only seen one dead one, quite recently, at the side of the freeway. It was a poignant sight - he had died as he tried to climb up the embankment, with his front paws stretched out. Well, I assumed he was dead, because they usually hang around in trees, but he may just have been taking a nap.

The males can get quite grumpy and are sometimes seen sitting in a tree doing a King Kong impression as they swipe at swopping crows and magpies.

An ex colleagues lives in The Adelaide Hills, is a big guy, a true gentleman, usually pretty laid back, and always dressed for work in immaculately pressed moleskins and highly polished RM Williams boots (translation being that he looked like someone who can handle themselves in the bush). Anyway, he turned up for work one morning looking a little frazzled. He had been woken during the early hours by someone trying to break into his house. Upon investigation he found a male koala attempting to break down his front door.

'What did you do Geoff?'

'Opened the door, let him in, waited until he had finished looking around, then opened the door to let him out'.

'What the???????????????'

'Nasty bu%%ers, koalas. Wasn't game to upset him but not letting him do what he wanted'.

I have a photograph of Jess, aged about 4, taken when wildlife parks and zoos still let you 'cuddle' koalas. The koala is almost as big as Jess, and left deep indentations in her shoulder by planting its claws to hang on.

Oh, and they aren't bears :)

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Angela Woodford
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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by Angela Woodford »

Oh! I am corrected - I really thought a koala was a variety of bear! Despite hours of devotedly watching wildlife programmes!

Imagine having one trying to break into your house though... And how lucky it just had a look round.

Just seen a Sky news item when I switched on the computer - man jogging in the suburbs of Melbourne attacked by a huge kangaroo - eek!
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J.R.
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Re: Just a glimpse...

Post by J.R. »

icomefromalanddownunder wrote:

The males can get quite grumpy and are sometimes seen sitting in a tree doing a King Kong impression as they swipe at swopping crows and magpies.
Clever little critters !

Still - Makes a change from swopping cigarette cards and marbles, I s'pose !!

:axe:
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Re: Just a glimpse...

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Am stunned by the television reporting of the unrest in Thailand - when I was there, albeit a good few decades ago now, the concept of Thais rioting in the streets with machetes would have had us all rolling on the floorin hysterics. I know that there has been long term dissatisfaton with the government - Mr P would you update please? Your 'just a glimpse' thread puts you in prime position to comment. Is it really that bad? The news clips seem to be limited and repetetive but are showing a side of the Thai life that I have never experienced and the language used in most of the newspapers is highly colourful and truthfully, I'm struggling to buy into it.
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Re: Just a glimpse...

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gma wrote:Am stunned by the television reporting of the unrest in Thailand - when I was there, albeit a good few decades ago now, the concept of Thais rioting in the streets with machetes would have had us all rolling on the floorin hysterics. I know that there has been long term dissatisfaton with the government - Mr P would you update please? Your 'just a glimpse' thread puts you in prime position to comment. Is it really that bad? The news clips seem to be limited and repetetive but are showing a side of the Thai life that I have never experienced and the language used in most of the newspapers is highly colourful and truthfully, I'm struggling to buy into it.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JI03Ae01.html

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedi ... imthongkul (the leader of the opposition)

http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/us ... 2_41_1.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samak_Sundaravej (Thai PM)

I think your instincts are right, Gerrie. One of the problems here is that while the country (presumably) wants to be accepted as part of the standard 'world community', democracy is comparatively in its infancy here, and corruption is rife. Thaksin (or 'Toxin' as he is often referred to by some English speakers) was elected to popular acclaim, and in some ways did Thailand a lot of good. Economically, he turned the country around. He also appears to have lined his own (already rather full) pockets, as well as those of family and friends.

Some selected quotes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand
Since the political reform of the absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has had 17 constitutions and charters. Throughout this time, the form of government has ranged from military dictatorship to electoral democracy, but all governments have acknowledged a hereditary monarch as the head of state.

The 1997 Constitution was the first constitution to be drafted by popularly-elected Constitutional Drafting Assembly, and was popularly called the "People's Constitution".

The 1997 Constitution created a bicameral legislature consisting of a 500-seat House of Representatives (สภาผู้แทนราษฎร, sapha phutan ratsadon) and a 200-seat Senate (วุฒิสภา, wuthisapha). For the first time in Thai history, both houses were directly elected. Many human rights are explicitly acknowledged, and measures were established to increase the stability of elected governments. The House was elected by the first-past-the-post system, where only one candidate with a simple majority could be elected in one constituency. The Senate was elected based on the province system, where one province can return more than one Senator depending on its population size. Members of the House of Representatives served four-year terms, while Senators served six-year terms.

The court system (ศาล, saan) included a constitutional court with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, and political matters.

The January 2001 general election, the first election under the 1997 Constitution, was called the most open, corruption-free election in Thai history. The subsequent government was the first in Thai history to complete a 4-year term. The 2005 election had the highest voter turnout in Thai history and was noted for a marked reduction in vote-buying compared to previous elections.

In early 2006, significant pressure from corruption allegations led Thaksin Shinawatra to call for a snap election. The opposition boycotted the elections and Thaksin was re-elected. Pressure continued to build, leading to a military coup on 19 September 2006.
There have been as many military coups here in the last 80 years as there have been constitutions - around 17. Most of them have been swift and bloodless (a couple of exceptions, I think, in the 70s and early 90s), as was the last one less than 2 years ago. One of the problems, and one of the reasons Thaksin was so successful, is the standard of education here. By and large people tend to believe what they see on TV and read in the newspapers - most of that is government controlled. The poorest (and most heavily populated) area of Thailand is Isaan, a vast agricultural area in the northeast. Handouts of 2-3 quid and promises of help to agriculture got Thaksin elected and mean that he remains popular there today.

The bottom line is that Thailand is an enigma. It is very proud of never having been colonised (surrounded by previously colonised countries: Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma), conveniently ignoring the fact that vast swathes of land were conceded at various periods of Thai history and that they simply (and inevitably) folded to the Japanese in WWII, and even declared war on the US and the UK (the Thai ambassador to the US refused to hand over the declaration and helped create a resistance movement using Thai funds in the US that would otherwise have been frozen); the UK accepted the declaration from the Thai ambasador in London and were technically at war with Thailand from early 1942 (don't quote me, this is from memory, but I found it all fascinating).

The Thai Royal Family, and the current King in particular, who is over 80 and has been King for 60 years, are revered to an almost frightening degree. The King has done a lot for his country and his people over the years, there can be no question of that. There can also be no questioning that, although this is technically a constitutional monarchy, he wields much more power and vastly more influence than any European monarchy. When a cousin of the King dies, TV presenters wear black for months. One of my biggest concerns is what will happen when the man himself passes away.

Thailand exports rice and rubber and cheap clothes. It makes a lot of money from tourism. Unfortunately, much of that has been associated with the sex industry, and although that is not yet a thing of the past, it is (thankfully) becoming much less of a factor than it used to be. As it should - this is a big country with a fascinating culture and a lot of diversity from north to south. The food is good (not as good as the Thais seem to think IMHO...), the weather is terrific, the scenery is beautiful, the temples are... well, frankly, after 5 years here, the temples are just temples. But it's a wonderful place to visit. The people are very welcoming (though sadly that has become much more financially based these days) and the general atmosphere is an open friendliness that is very rare, if not extinct, in the UK.

Back to the current situation - a friend of mine has just got back from 2 days in Bangkok. The trouble is confined to a very small area, and life seems to be going on as normal everywhere else. Hua Hin is about 130 miles from Bangkok and there has been absolutely no knock on effect here. One man has been killed. Terrible, but hardly world news. Imagine 20,000 people with sticks and knives camped in Hyde Park - how long would the government put up with that? Of course, it is the army that is crucial now; if they decide to step in, this will all end very quickly and we'll back to where we were 2 years ago. But even that would be unlikely to change anything much.

But how can they, as a nation or as a government, expect to be taken seriously if this is to be the continuing pattern? How many people watching TV in Europe and the US will have changed their holiday plans? How many investors or potential investors will be running in the opposite direction? Frankly, the Thais don't seem to care very much.

Sorry, didn't mean this to turn into a lecture. It obviously matters to me, but I'm really no expert on Thai culture and politics. I rather suspect that any westerner who claims to be is lying. As a non Thai I can't own land here. I will almost certainly never qualify for permanent residence here, however long I work on a permit or am married to a Thai. The bureacracy is stunningly long-winded and very dependent on the mood of the official you're dealing with.

But I love it here - I've never been happier in my life, and I can't imagine going back to live in the hurly-burly of British daily life, cursing the weather, unable to tick off a child for swearing in case I get a knife in the guts, surrounded by political correctness gone mad, obsessed with material possessions, house prices - oh, the list is endless. And very boring - apologies.

My take on it all is that Thailand really needs to decide what it wants to be, and quickly, before it gets left completely behind.
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Re: Just a glimpse...

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But I love it here - I've never been happier in my life, and I can't imagine going back to live in the hurly-burly of British daily life, cursing the weather, unable to tick off a child for swearing in case I get a knife in the guts, surrounded by political correctness gone mad, obsessed with material possessions, house prices - oh, the list is endless. And very boring - apologies.
No apology needed, I am just very very glad that the essense of the country in which I enjoyed living for two years is still in place, I think a culture moving to match pace with so-called western civilisation is a often a mistake but it is not limited to eastern or third world countries - would anyone in the UK have 'embraced' Amercian style economics the way that we all did if we had known at the time that it would also bring us 20thC American culture, letigiousness on a grand scale, daylight gang warfare on the streets, massive consumer greed, credit cards for schoolchildren, Kuwait, 15 rated movies that ought to be X, X that should never be released, Iran, breakdown of morals and morale, Iraq, the credit crunch, etc etc. The feeling of the grass being greener is a sad fact of the human condition.

Whether you can buy there, or choose to live there and contribute to society, have your children born there and stay there till you die there with or without a Thai passport, I wish you and your countrymen well as that is very clearly what they are to you even if you are not sure that that's what you are to them.
Gerrie M-A (GMA) - 2:34 71-75

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Re: Just a glimpse...

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Ajarn Philip wrote:This hasn’t been very exciting for the reader, but it’s not meant to be. I’m just trying to give you a little glimpse of my life here, which is so very different to what went before. It’s certainly not perfect, but then again it ain’t bad.

I’d also very much like to hear some snippets from those other members of the forum who live ‘abroad’ – or from anyone, anywhere who thinks they have something that might be interesting to share.
To follow up on Philip's post, just something to show you that the local council does have a heart. (Just try to imagine a UK town of 6,000 people doing something like this!)

Lucien (well. I'll call him that) is a young lad in a relatively poor family from the next village with a degenerative disease. Whether he will see another couple of years is open to serious doubt. Three years ago an ex-pat retired English nurse ran a boot sale to raise funds to help him enjoy what is left of his life. Now the local town has taken over (It is in a different county, a different administrative region but so what).

Last Sunday was almost given over to Lucien. The town (with sponsorship from many different local companies) took over the local football club premises and arranged a series of races (running up to 10km in many different age categories) and other events, funfair type stands for the kids, bar (no licence required and I didn't see any requests for age identification by the bar maid who couldn't have been more than 16) demonstrations by the fire brigade and ambulance service (yes - they did set the cars alight and they did cut the roofs off) and several different restaurants. The Red Cross received nothing for being present - the members simply gave their services free though I don't think they were needed.
The police were out in a small number to assist in getting cars through the melee and parked and with the use of public roads for the races. I saw just one bit of litter where someone had spilt their meal and didn't pick up the last bit. All in all a very pleasant day without the slightest hint of bad language, drunkenness, aggro. etc.

How much did all that cost? as much as you put in the tin at the bar, restaurant or exit and the moderate cost of whatever you ate / drank..
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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Re: Just a glimpse...

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Hi David

Thank you for that very heartening post, which lifted some of the gloom that had settled on me as I read emails from three cyber friends in Houston. One is 72 and lives alone with her dog and cats. She was becoming increasingly fearful, and rather than being hopeful that neighbours would go to each others assistance, she was checking her gun and ammunition to reassure herself that she could see off any potential looters.

I remember watching the post Katrina newscasts with increasing frustration and despair as people seemingly sat around awaiting the arrival of the cavalry while telling journalists that they and their children had spent the night sleeping alongside dead bodies. Was there not one person there who had the sense and decency to organise/shame the evacuees into working parties?

On the bright side, I guess that there is a good chance that Ms Palin will be in charge during some future hurricane seasons .................

Well done your village, and very best wishes to Lucien and all who are doing what they can to lighten his life.

xxxx
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Re: Just a glimpse...

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icomefromalanddownunder wrote:Hi David

Thank you for that very heartening post, which lifted some of the gloom that had settled on me as I read emails from three cyber friends in Houston. One is 72 and lives alone with her dog and cats. She was becoming increasingly fearful, and rather than being hopeful that neighbours would go to each others assistance, she was checking her gun and ammunition to reassure herself that she could see off any potential looters.

I remember watching the post Katrina newscasts with increasing frustration and despair as people seemingly sat around awaiting the arrival of the cavalry while telling journalists that they and their children had spent the night sleeping alongside dead bodies. Was there not one person there who had the sense and decency to organise/shame the evacuees into working parties?

xxxx
As a contrast to the two accounts (which seem to be typical of much of the developed world:

A friend a mile away (pushing 70 with an older partner with Parkinsons) went to the doctor with some complaint or other. The doctor prescribed intravenous injections for a week but realised that Peter would not be able to do much.
As Peter got home there were two social workers at the door to assess what was needed - meals on wheels, bed baths for the partner , (......you name it, it could be available) which were duly supplied over the coming few days as required. An hour later the nurse arrived to give him his evening injection (and came back morning and evening for the rest of the week).

There was a potentially sad side to this. The nurse realised that Peter was not reacting as he should so he was taken into hospital for an op - which, after more than a few worries, was successful. Anne, in the meantime, was still getting the assistance she needed, all as part of the French NHS.
(When SWMBO had a fall there was one patient in A & E already being treated so the nurses started immediately on the lacerations etc. - the doctor arrived 3 minutes after she walked in the door). No wonder UK NHS patients elect to come to France for treatment.

OTOH my (UK) consultant is very good when I can get to see him! He wanted to see me after 3 months (ie September) but had to put it off to late November because his registrar (Frau Altmann) is pregnant. I had difficulty in keeping a straight face as I translated her name, whilst, despite his 50 odd years he is still Mr Yung :lol: :lol: ).
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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