BACK IN BANGKOK

14th - 20th Dec 2021

The latest (muffled) news on Thai TV

I must be getting old and unadventurous as I find myself going back to familiar places and not exploring new ones. Thus many of the places photographed here were probably shown on previous Thailand blogs. I suppose the main difference this time around is that Bangkok is suffering a lack of tourists so things are not so 'vibrant'. Following a total lockdown earlier ths year, including a total ban on alcohol (and we think we had it bad in UK!) many shops, hotels, bars and restaurants went bust or just closed down. As tourists were 'cautiously' allowed back, me included, things began to pick up a bit until "BANG!", they made it more difficult again. A real 'shot in the foot'. Well done Thailand.

Left: Phat Phong Street three years ago. The epicentre of Bangkok debauchery, its Night Market was always packed with punters looking for a bargain fake watch or a lively, stimulating and 'original' cultural show. Helpful and accommodating 'hostesses' were in abundance and the bars were humming.

Right: Phat Phong now. Oh dear! What a difference a bug makes. I was hoping, to stay at a hotel on Silom Road called The Narai as I have done on previous visits as it was a) very comfortable with a great bar providing musical entertainment plus an excellent restaurant b) central for travel and c) real value for money at about £30 pn. It is another casualty of 'Covid' and has closed. Bah!

Of course the main thing you notice here now is that everyone is face-masked everywhere. I believe it is the law and you can be fined if caught with a naked face (unless sitting down eating or drinking where, as we have agreed, this virus does not operate). Tourists follow suit, although asking around I have not heard of anyone who has been fined and I have certainly never attracted any comment when I 'accidently' forget to wear mine over my mouth and nose....just around my throat in case of ambush by the 'mask police'.

The Thais put up with this unquestioningly. Much more so even than the TIMs in UK. They are fervent 'maskies'. As with the Vietnamese, they are an exceedingly charming, polite and helpful people. However they are brought up to respect and obey authority, or their bosses, and comply regardless of whether what they are told to do is right or wrong or even counter-productive. They do not seem ever to ask themselves, or others, the question 'why'? They are very bright people and quick to learn, but robotically educated and trained 'by rote'. Things to them are rather 'black and white' (if it's not a criminal offence to use that expression nowadays!). Hence, as well as being compliant and submissive, lateral and original thinking are not their strong points. For example, they would  never understand the concept of the party game 'Charades', but it is why Ho Chi Minh & Co. managed to get supplies down the trail from North to South Vietnam during the war. If a North Vietnamese officer commanded "Nguyen Thi Bonk Ho, you take this 100kg artillery shell 500 miles down to Viet Cong comrades in South, now go!". "Yes comrade I go quick quick" would have been the reply. Can you imagine what a British squaddie would have said? Somehing along the lines of "you must be f*****g taking the piss, Sir!" (or an American GI would merely have blown his officer up). Another example, was given to me by a lady who taught English to Vietnamese in Saigon. The students, aged in their 20s, were very diligent and quick to learn. At the end of the course the teacher asked them "what is your opinion of the course?". She was greeted with blank stares. When pressed to answer the reply was "but you have not taught us that". Opinions? A dangerous question.

After a while it becomes rather dispiriting, indeed depressing, to be in a country where nobody dares to show their face. One of the joys and uplifting sights in Thailand used to be the many pretty girls you saw on the streets. Now you are confronted by a faceless society of zombies. On the other hand that girl may have a lovely figure but, who knows, she might be concealing the fizzog of a gargoyle! Masking the whole population is no small matter. It is not just a minor uncomfortable inconvenience. It is social death. I worry that it will never end. Anyway, enough of my philosophising.

I went to the Esplanade Mall (left), a vast emporium in the north of the city to see the Bangkok version of the virtual reality museum 'Art in Paradise'. I visited the Pattaya version a few years ago and was impressed. This Mall has six levels, is immaculate inside and has shops which sell just about anything you can think of. The 'Art in Paradise' was on the 4th floor (I read). I got there. It was closed! I was told it had been closed for over 6 months (Covid 19 of course) and no sign of reopening. Various internet sites are still advertising it. Bah again! 

Right: In many of these establishments there are 'covid detecting stations' positioned at the entrances. Some are manned, most  not. They are multi-function temperature taking, UR code tracking, hand-sanitiser dispensing facilities, plus 'warning' notices. You rarely see anybody using them, and if manned the most you are asked to do is put your hand over the electric thermometer thingy. Again, more for virtuous display than useful purpose.

Travelling around the city using the Mass Rail Transport (MRT) or Skytrain (BTS), the overhead equivalents of London's Underground, is a joy. The stations and trains are immaculately clean, electronic signage always shows where you are going both in the trains and on platforms, the ticketing system is efficient and simple and, above all, cheap

Left: You rarely see any passenger who is not head down on their smart-phone.

Being Christmas time, carols were being played at the station platforms. Actually it was either 'Yingo Bells' or, over and over again, 'The Twelve Days of Keesmah' sung rather delightfully by a female Thai warbler. It was delightful for the first few times but began to pall a bit after the umpteenth rendition. 

I revisited the famous Chatuchak Weekend Market. This vast market, possibly the biggest in the world, covers 37 acres and has in excess of 15,000 'shops' divided into sectors. A map (right) is necessary to give you half a chance of finding something you want.

Left: Darth Vader was standing outside the MRT station when I arrived. I never did find out what he was selling, or advertising, but he enjoyed having his photo taken and gave me a cheery wave with his lightsabre. He was still there when I returned 2 hours later.

As rather expected, the market was relatively quiet. Not the heaving mass of tourists, and locals, that I remember. Indeed most of the shops inside the covered areas were closed. There used to be several 'performers' doing odd musical and other things, but they were mostly 'absent without leave'.

Left: This was a shop in the market that I hadn't seen before. It was, as you can see, selling cannabis things to eat. I have no idea what they are like and I certainly wasn't willing to try! I am told that the present Thai Goverment is very 'Methodist' on things like alcohol (and more about that later) and try every which way to make the purchase of it difficult....but they must be rather more relaxed on 'soft' drugs.

Right: Not so many muslims on display here, but at least they are well catered for. Except that when I went to find out what Islamic delicacies were on offer I found it was closed. 

Left: One of my regular haunts on Silom Road. Another 'Oirish Bear' called O'Malleys. No muslims there as far as I could gather, but a pleasant pub nevertheless.

Right: Another stalwart watering hole on Silom Road; Buddy's Bar. Managed by a 'Brit' it attracts many 'ex-pats' and does great nosh, especially delicious are the Swedish meatballs with a spicy gravy, redcurrent sauce and mash. Yum yum. 

Left: Inside Buddy's. Taken when I was there alone. Believe me, it does get quite busy at times and they have a pool table up the stairs at the back. Plus the ubiquitous Premier League football on TV. I may have mentioned this before but there are three things, and only three things, that the rest of the world knows, or takes an interest in, regarding the UK. First and foremost Premier League football, secondly the Royal Family and third, Mr Bean!

Right: A bevy of bemasked beauties offering massage. Every other shop in some streets seems to be a massage parlour. I rarely see any customers visiting.

Stopping here for a breather, and I am well behind writing this drivel, I attach a column from the Daily Telegraph which rather supports my views on face-masks in planes.

ANNABEL FENWICK ELLIOTT

Daily Telegraph. 22nd December 2021

 

22 December 2021 • 2:02pm

Masks on planes forever?

What a ludicrous travesty that

would be

Face masks could become a permanent feature of air travel, despite data showing that they're next to useless in a plane cabin.

I was encouraged to see on Twitter this morning reports from a CNN travel journalist that several of the “cavalier” flight attendants on her BA flight were not wearing masks. “I'm so angry,” Julia Buckley huffed. “I even booked a seat in biz to feel safer, and the danger was in the galley right in front of me.” Looks to me like progress. It has been my fear that muzzle mandates would become another of one of those daft protocols forever absorbed into the permanent aviation safety doctrine, in the same way that, thanks to 9/11, we will never again be able to board a plane with a normal-sized tube of toothpaste in our hand luggage. It’s certainly what White House medical advisor Anthony Fauci suggested over the weekend when asked by ABC whether we’d eventually get to a point where we won’t have to wear masks on planes. “I don’t think so,” he stated.

Of course, there was outrage in response to Buckley’s tweet thread, in which she posted a photo of a maskless cabin crew member standing alone sipping a drink by the coffee machine, and further complained: “Can’t wait for my executive club gift of omicron to take home to the family for Christmas.”

“Crikey. That’s really shocking,” read the first reply. “You would think the cabin crew would be worried about their own safety, if nothing else.” The rest followed a similar theme.
Readers, it’s time for a few fast facts. First, it goes without saying that if Buckley – believing, as presumably she does, that the cloth barrier between her face and the surrounding air really is critical in keeping her safe from Covid – dared, at any point during the flight, to lower her mask in order to eat or drink herself, along with the vast majority of her fellow passengers, then she’s lost the argument, and all logic has left the cabin. Masks either work or they don’t; the virus doesn’t take a break at mealtimes.

I'm on a BA flight where neither the cabin crew nor the pilot are wearing masks as we sit here waiting to take off. Unsurprisingly some of the passengers are following their lead. Can't wait for

my executive club gift of omicron to take home to the family for Christmas

Secondly, it might seem counterintuitive but even if no-one wore masks on flights at all, airline cabins would still provide about the safest environment you can be confined to when it comes to Covid transmission – far, far better than that of a bar, coffee shop or restaurant, where guests are seldom forced to wear them.

Fauci himself conceded this on Sunday. “Even though you have a good filtration system [on planes], I still believe that masks are a prudent thing to do,” he said, offering no more justification, after Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stated: “I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment.”

In reality, thanks to their hospital-grade HEP (high-efficiency particulate) filters, the air inside a plane cabin is changed more than 25 times an hour; a system that removes 99.97 per cent of airborne viruses and bacteria, states the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The data backs it up. According to the largest real-world study to date, conducted by Delta Air Lines, your chances of being exposed to Covid-19 on a flight whereby every passenger has tested negative (as per the policy on most routes) is less than 0.1 per cent. Separate findings from IATA, from early 2020 – crucially before the use of face masks on flights became common practice – identified just 44 cases of potential coronavirus infections among the 1.2 billion people who travelled by air in that period.

In short, for all the hysteria they attract, planes have never been a hot-bed for Covid transmission, and no scientist pretends otherwise. Rather, that accolade goes to hospitals – far and away your best setting in which to catch the virus – where

   

absolutely everyone is masked up at all times, and have been for the best part of two years.
But such precautions aren’t entirely useless when flying. Those little packages airlines hand out to passengers in their billions – the ones containing surgical masks, gloves and hand sanitisers – have at least been highly effective in reversing the industry’s long-running crusade against single-use plastic.

Indeed, if anyone should be getting their knickers in a twist over how, when and why masks should be used at 37,000 feet, it would rightly be the turtles, all those miles below, who shall be suffocating on them for many decades to come.

ONWARDS TO BANGKOK

 13th -14th Dec 2021

Thailand. The 'Land of Smiles'....?

Following on from my arrival at Gate 19, T2 LHR, to board the Austrian Airlines Flight  OS456 to Vienna and, hopefully, on to Bangkok, I was confronted by a little martinet as passengers were boarding. "You cannot board with that face-mask!". What?! Donner und Blitzen! (or whatever they say on Österreich). I had dutifully put my blue rag over my mouth and nose (normally around my chin when in face-mask territory). "Why not?" I asked. "You need to have an FFP2 mask", he commanded. I was left bewildered. "WTF is an FFP2 mask?" I politely enquired, "and why wasn't I told about this petty regulation on the Austrian Airlines website (which was expansive, if useless, and which I had actually wasted much time reading), or at least been warned at check-in? He merely suggested I might be able to buy one (you might have thought they could afford to issue them) at the W H Smith's shop, wherever that was. After getting this far I was, as you can imagine, quite irate. I was about to explode when a lady standing nearby (sensing an altercation) came to the rescue and said she had a spare one and gave it to me. Thanks so much to her (she was Polish as I discovered) and with much gratitude accepted the white rag to replace my blue one. So, I was generously allowed to board the Airbus to Vienna.

It took off on time and, during the course of the 1hr40min flight to Vienna we were served (or more accurately bought) some refreshments. I bought a coffee. We had been instructed/ordered to keep our face-masks on for the duration of the flight unless eating, drinking or taking medicine. Of course the FFP2  face-masks were then removed by many passengers nursing their drink, sandwich or bottle of pills, and continued to be so for the majority of the flight. 

This face-mask diktat is a complete farce.

During the course of the flight I expressed my concern to a hostie about the short turn-round time to catch the ongoing connection to Bangkok. She said that there were 25 people on this flight who had the same connection and it should be fine. We arrived 10 minutes early. Full marks to Austrian Airlines for that. As it happened, after (eventually) getting off the the aircraft, it was a check-free and short dash to the next boarding gate where there was a long queue to board Flight OS025 to Bangkok. We boarded a Boeing 777-200 ( a fairly rudimentary wide-body jet) and it was packed! Capacity about 315 seats and I saw few, if any, vacant (all full even in 1st Class, which I always make a point of strolling through at some point to envy their comfort). We in the plebs' seats were crammed in cheek by jowl. Most of the passengers seemed to be Westerners bound for a Thailand holiday. It was to be a 9 hour flight and, again, we were regaled with the face-masks "you must vear zem or be shot" order for the duration of the flight (9 hours!) unless eating, drinking or taking medicine routine. Well I, of course, and fortunately also the person jammed up against me in seat 38G, were keen to order a drink as soon as possible and keep drinking! That, combined with some rather inedible plastic flavoured supper and breakfast meals, avoided having to wear the blasted things for the duration. 

Arrival at Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi International, was spot on time (1515hrs Local on 14th Dec). Well done again Austrian Airlines. The following series of hurdles was to get through all the checks there. I can't remember the sequence but with various check points for temperature checks, vaccination certificates, Thailand Passes (and mine never got scanned, just looked at), immigration forms, passport control (and my visa was never asked for) it was not as time consuming as I thought it might be as they had plenty of staff on hand and were rushing people through. Thanks to the many documents we were all conscienciously carrying the system really could not cope with checking them all properly. In fact they have made it far too complicated and most documentation went unexamined. I never had to show my ASQ booking, for example, and probably could have easily just hopped onto the local transport system and booked into any hotel, anywhere in Thailand, unquestioned (following the first ASQ hotel no others have asked for any proof of PCR tests or vaccinations).

I then had to go to the baggage collection carousel to collect my totally unwanted, and useless, checked-in 'insurance' suitcase! It was there, sadly, and then off to Gate 10 to be met by a plethora of 'representatives' from various ASQ hotels. Most efficiently, I was identified by the Holiday Inn Express lady rep and directed to a mini-bus. I was the only occupant and hermetically sealed off from the driver - gosh they are worried by this bug. We sallied forth (4.30pm) for the 50 minute journey to some drive-through hospital facility in the city and very quickly PCR tested, simply by a 'nurse' opening the door of the mini-bus, poking a stick up my nose and throat and taking my passport details. We then proceded to the hotel. Checked in at 6.30pm (all staff fully masked up of course) and sent to a room on the 'quarantine' 2nd floor. It was a very comfortable room with room service for refreshments. No hardships there.

I came down to breakfast the next morning having been told that my PCR result was, fortunately, 'negative'. In fact they had received this result the previous evening...which is quicker than any rip-off service would aim to do in UK. I was then given another, equally decent, room on another floor and free to go.

That summarises my journey to Bangkok in these extraordinary times and, hopefully, exposes some of the illogical nonsense that we are now expected to put up with.

Left: I saw this notice at the hotel reception. It reminds me of guest houses in 1950s Britain.

Gosh! Isn't this now considered rather unforgiveably 'racist'? You could be arrested for putting it up in a British hotel. 

I have not yet been to Duria, but am making enquiries. I wonder what the Thais have got against them?

 



That concludes the tedious story of my journey. Next on to the latest from Bangkok.

CHREXIT 2021

 20th Nov - 13th Dec 2021

Yo Bleedin' Ho Ho......!

This issue is going to be rather dull, even by my standards, but I thought I would detail what I had to do to get to Thailand for 'Chrexit 2021'. It might come in useful if anyone wants to follow me. The whole process was intensely tedious and full of potential pit-falls and prat-traps. I started this process about 3 weeks before departure.

During a visit to London I dropped by the Thai Embassy to see what was needed. On previous trips visas etc. could be handled on the spot. I was told by a functionary at the door that all applications for anything had now to be done 'on-line' via the internet. Oh woe! So this is what I did in an order which seemed to work, but might easily not have:

1. Booked a flight. Being a cheapskate I booked and paid for the cheapest I could find (at booking.com, having compared others); a non-refundable flight with Austrian Airways via Vienna to Bangkok. I noticed, and then worried, that the turn-round time in Vienna was a mere 25 minutes. "Shit!" I thought. From landing to taking off in a different aircraft at an International Airport in 25 minutes?! From my experience it takes about 10 minutes to get onto a stand after landing and another 15 minutes to off-load passengers before even running to another gate to board the next flight when you should be there at least 15 minutes before boarding. Potential pit-fall 1.  I tried, for the first time, to ring Austrian Airways for clarification. After 35 minutes of listening to the Vienna Waltz and a recorded "our agents are here to assist you and will answer your call as quickly as possible", I gave up.

2. The rule, for 'vaccinated' tourists (and I have had my two...just to enable me to escape...ha ha) is that you have to be booked into what they call an 'Alternative State Quarantine' (ASQ) Hotel for one night. It involves being collected at the airport, driven to a hospital facility where they give you a PCR test, and then taken on to the hotel where you are put into a 'quarantine' room. On receipt of a 'negative' result you are free to go where you want. Potential pit-fall 2. After much searching I eventually found what I considered a suitable hotel (The Holiday Inn Express, Pathorn) in an area near Silom Road which I know reasonably well. The cost of that first night was about £120, paid for in advance. Similar to cost at all other ASQ hotels. I chose, for convenience, to book a further 4 nights here (via booking.com) at £30 pn, to be paid on arrival, thankfully.

3. Increased my insurance cover abroad to 45 days (£50). Through a bank account I get free coverage for 30 days, and the company (Allianz) were responsive and helpful. They even answered the phone promptly which is exceptional these days. Plus they were aware of the single page document needed to cover Thai requirements, and they e-mailed me a copy after two days. A pat on the back for them.

4. Applied for the necessary 'Thailand Pass' on-line. This, I was informed, needed to be submitted at least a week before travel and may be refused if not 'correct'. Potential pit-fall 3. This involved answering many questions and scannning several documents to attach in JPEG format. Lots of personal details including proof of booking at the ASQ hotel, confirmation of flight details, insurance cover to include a Covid clause, proof of vaccinations plus the QR codes, passport photos and copy of passport including pages to show where I had been in the previous year and even a bank statement to show that I had sufficient money (how impertinent)! Maybe more that I have forgotten. I did receive it about 4 days later. Actually, I'm not sure that they  even read and assimilate this myriad of information. The insurance document I sent was from an old company and well out of date before I got my new one. 

5. Applied for 60 day visa (£30). Not the usual simple form. Many more scanned attachments required as above. Potential pit-fall 4. OK, got that fairly promptly!

6. Four further attemps to call Austrian Airlines (an Austrian Tel. No.) to clarify the viability of the turn-round time at Vienna. A total of about 3 hours listening to the sodding Vienna Waltz and assurance that my call "will be answered as soon as possible" but never was.

7. PCR test within 72 hours of travel. £69 pre-paid to a company called Prenetics which had a testing facility relatively nearby; one of many (wealthy) organisations that are making a bomb out of these regulations. I had my test on the Saturday mid-day before I was due to fly on the Monday evening. Potential pit-fall 5. Result, fortunately negative after some stressful waiting, received on Sunday afternoon.

8. Advised by Austrian Airlines to check-in on-line within 72 hours of flight. I attempted that, but having answered the various questions with all the details they required, the system then just told me that I had not submitted 'additional details required'. What these were was not explained. They offered a specific 'check-in' help-desk tel.no. I called it, twice. Guess what? The bloody Vienna Waltz again and no answer for a total of about 90 minutes. I gave up and hoped the check-in at the airport would be more straightforward. Potential pit-fall 6.

9. Still worried about the very short turn-round time at Vienna, I checked in, on-line, a hold bag (£50) which I wasn't intending to do originally. This was a form of insurance as, from previous experience, if they load transit hold baggage the flight will not depart until it's owner is on the plane. I found an old damaged suitcase in which I put very little and wouldn't mind if they lost it. 

10. Copied all the relevant documents, twice, to be put in both my cabin bag and my small 'valuables' computer back-pack.

11. I gave myself masses of time to get to London Heathrow (T2) on the basis that I would have plenty of time to, maybe, sort out any unforeseen problems at the airport. Anyway, I might as well sit around at the airport rather than at home, because the flight was not due to depart until 7.40pm. As it happened, I arrived with 4 hours to kill and could check-in straight away. It was quick, no big queue and all appeared to be in order (passport, vaccination certificate and Thailand Pass), phew, and through to departures with no hiccups. I have a routine if I have ages to kill at these airports. I find a business class lounge, in this case Lufthansa, and paid £30 for the privilege of using the facilities. These included good wi-fi, comfortable seating and, significantly, unlimited complimentary, and rather good, food and drink. I had a newspaper to read and a good book. I most definitely made sure I got my £30's worth!                            

Back on my hobby-horse, it was interesting watching my fellow 'business class' diners. It is now apparent that the public have become Pavlovian in their wearing of face-masks. Like robots, they sit down and remove them to eat and drink, but unthinkingly, automatically, replace them when they stand up. Most of the public have been entirely 'conditioned' thus. I suppose, as we all know, the 'virus' does not exist below an altitude of 5 feet. Actually a couple sitting near me kept their masks on the whole time and only slipped them down to take a bite, or sip, and quickly replaced them. Really zealous 'TIM's! Incidentally, when some people take their snot-rags off to eat they just put them on the table beside them. I reckon that is rather unhygenic. I mean, it is about as healthy and appealing (if it were possible) to eat with your underwear, or snot filled hankerchief, on the table beside you! I stuff mine in my pocket which, by now, must be a breeding ground for every sort of bug.

Having successfully surmounted all the hurdles so far (and we haven't got to the far end yet) I was quietly confident as our flight was called for boarding. What could go wrong now? I will leave it there for the time being and hope it might help others. I suppose the lessons I learnt were:

1. Don't ever bother telephoning Austrian Airlines. Others may be equally unresponsive.

2. Don't even think about travelling if you don't have a computer and a reasonably sound ability to use it (or a savvy friend, or agent, to help I suppose).

3. Give youself plenty of time to jump through all the hoops, and spare time if one of the applications fails first time.

4. The Thai Embassy offers helpful advice on their website at: thaiembassy.com. Don't bother ringing them either. They also keep you on hold and never answer.

On to Gate 19 and boarding. 

Left: My Thailand Pass. I have deleted my name at the top, and I suppose anyone could insert their's. It wasn't scanned at either Heathrow (where you had to show it) or at the Bangkok end either. But I suppose they could, maybe should, have done.

It is date specific, in my case arriving on 14th December. If your flight is delayed and you don't get there until the next day I'm not sure if it would still be valid. You would also lose your ASQ hotel booking. It would be a disaster. Potential pit-fall 7.

STOP PRESS !!!!

Disregard all above! On my way out of the hotel for a well deserved glass of cool beer I was talking to the hotel manager. He glumly told me that the Thai Government, as from 18th December, has reimposed severe quarantine restrictions for tourists. Now back to square one. No more one night quarantine in QSA hotels. Now tourists have to go to Phuket (a popular island off the SW coast) and isolate, expensively, in a hotel for 7 days with several tests before they are allowed to go free. This he said is a hammer blow to the tourist industry which was only just beginning to recover. Many people who had recently got their jobs back wii again be out of work. Tourists will just not come. A two or three week holiday will no longer be viable. He was, to say the least, pissed off.

What a load of BOLLOCKS. The world's Governments have gone STARK RAVING PARANOID MAD. What on earth are they hoping to achieve (because they won't stop this pesky over-hyped virus) other than crippling their ecnomies and peoples' livelihoods. All very depressing.

STOP STOP PRESS

Disregard all above, again. Another change. All Thai passes applied for prior to 22nd December, if accepted, will be honoured for the date chosen. From 22nd December only the 'Phuket Sandbox' scheme (sounds like something for cats) will apply. This means fully vaccinated tourists can fly direct to Phuket (without transiting at Bangkok) and after taking a PCR test at Phuket, if negative, stay in any Phuket hotel and free to wander the island. After 7 days they can escape to the mainland. 

This is pretty nonsensical but, hey ho, the Thai Government likes to be seen to be doing something.

MORE FRUSTRATIONS AND EVENTS

 

Dec 2021

I have just discovered that I started a blog back in September and failed to finish it. I have escaped UK and am now in Thailand. Lots to report from here, not least the hassle involved in getting here. But before I do, and with time on my hands, I belatedly complete the September issue! Somewhat 'old hat' but I've started, so I will finish!

This rather sums it up.

 

No journal entries for a few months thanks to the complicated, rip-off and pointless Covid testing system, continuing changes in 'rules' and the fact that the places I want to go to won't let tourists in. I just ain't been anywhere worth writing about. The world has gone stark raving paranoid bonkers and there is no real end in sight, yet. Sanity might return one day, but who knows. 

So, to pass the time and let off a bit of therapeutic steam, I thought I would mention my current favourite gripes. The list seems to be forever growing! Some may ring true with a few of you. 

1. Road works. For reasons I won't bore you with I have to travel regularly to London Heathrow airport. I drive down the M4 motorway. This motorway has been undergoing 'roadworks' for at least the past 6 years and seems no nearer to being completed. I begin to think it is merely a 'job creation' scheme. Thousands of bollards line the road where nobody ever appears to be working. I suspect that is just cheap storage space. Speed restrictions vary, seemingly at random, no doubt designed to trap motorists into paying fines.

2. 'Wokery'. In general, involving:

    a. Obsession with 'racism' and the BLM nonsense.

   b. Historic #Metoo allegations, indeed all 'allegations' where the alleged against is automatically considered guilty without trial.

  c. Anti-colonial issues regarding our statues, houses, ancestors and impressive history.

    d. Hoohah about transexuals (who cares?).

  e. Policing of speech involving de-platforming of speakers (usually by pathetic emotionally fragile students and supported by their feeble academic 'leaders').

    f. 'Eco-warriors' with their unrealistic demands to stop all fossil fuel production in UK. Which would put thousands out of work and leave us to import more expensive gas/oil/electricity from less abstemious nations (ie Russia!).

  

3. Face masks.  My bête noir. Not only uncomfortable and de-humanising but I am increasingly convinced that they are not effective in reducing the spread of this virus. Also, if not used correctly, are merely 'bug collectors' which actually help spread it! They certainly spread anxiety.  I have read several papers on the subject which confirm this. Indeed, my highly scientific video demonstration (Single  Life, 5 blogs back, 23rd March) shows why to my satisfaction.  Unfortunately the ever unthinking, unquestioning and compliant public have been scared into wearing them. They like to conform with their peers (the Bandwagon Effect). They merely serve as 'comfort blankets' or a form of 'virtue signalling'. I have coined a rather rude acronym, 'TIMs', for those who continue to wear them, especially those who do so in the open air where there is a non-existant chance of contracting the virus. It stands for 'Tw@ts In Masks'. I shall be refering to them. Are you a 'TIM'? 

4. Hand sanitiser. This revolting sticky gunge is forced upon you at various places nowadays. I'm sure it does your immune system no good and, again, merely a signal that you are being virtuous. I don't know how the human race has, up to now, managed to survive without it. We used to be content just to wash our hands. Some people, as with face-masks, have become robotically conditioned to accept it as normal.

5. Rip-off Covid Testing.  If required at all it should be free on the NHS. After all, the NHS has just been given another mind-blowing £39 billion of our money. I don't know what else they have, or will spend it on? I suppose it does keep many, sometimes dodgy, testing companies well remunerated so, along with face-mask and hand-sanitiser manufacturers and all the Big Pharma companies there are many beneficiaries from this 'panicdemic'.

OK, enough of my happy whingeing. At the beginning of September I went to a 'Game and Country Show' at the Newbury Showground. This was a very jolly ocasion and well attended (it was in a period between lockdowns. Happy days!).

There were several jazz bands (left) and a multitude of bars, eateries and stalls selling all sorts of 'country' gear, together with laser, paint-ball and clay pigeon shooting stands. Craftsmen were demonstrating carving large trees into intricate statues using chainsaws. There were gun dog 'obedience' displays which, on several occasions, amused the crowd by showing how disobedient they were. Stage fright no doubt.

As always, my poor photography does not do the proceedings justice. There was a large enthusiastic crowd but my photos don't really show it. In between 'displays' I spent some time sitting drinking ale and just people-watching. It is the first sizeable event I had been to in years and I was amazed, indeed concerned, that so many of the spectators were so fat! Obese even. Maybe the preceding lockdown had something to do with or, as I suspect, we have just become a very 'fat' society. Not healthy (and I'm no paragon of virtue here!).

Right: Pony racing. There were two races over small jumps which were fiercly contested.

Left: An intriguing sign. 'Hamsters this way'. I hope hamsters can read. Anyway I went to have a look.

How educational! having taken little interest in hamsters during my life I hadn't realised there were so many varieties. Maybe you can tap on and enlarge this to read. I bet you are fascinated.

Left: Live specimens were on display and, for a price, children were encouraged to pick one up and 'cuddle' it. Do they bite? 

The only similar creatures I have come across are guinea pigs, especially in Peru  (Cuy) where they are bred to be eaten. I suppose there is not enough meat on a hamster to make it worth the effort. An 'amuse bouche' on a cocktail stick maybe?

Notice the 'hand sanitiser'. Perhaps necessary here?

Right: Cuy chactada 'n chips.

Left: Meant to read: Portsmouth Reptile & Amphibian Society. Live exhibits now on display include snakes, lizards, spiders, frogs and something beginning with 't'.

Yes, I went to look at various reptiles which, for the most part, were hiding in straw at the back of their cages. Snakes were available to be picked up. I didn't. We were told that there were no venomous ones present. Pity.

Right: A motorcycle and quad-bike daredevil display team called something like 'The Suicide Squad' performed some interesting aerobatics. One display had motor bikes leaping increasing distances over a parked van. This pic was only at mid-range. Nobody crashed. Quite impressive.

Left: This lunatic kept setting himself on fire and running up and down the arena.

Right: Ultimately he was put out. 

Left: Not to be deterred, he than set himself alight again and jumped from a platform into a safety net. I wonder if he had an unhappy childhood? With this inclination he must have been a worry to his parents. 

I'm not sure I would want him to visit my home, or at least I would keep the matches well hidden.

OK, lots more was going on and I missed the stock car race and tug of war competion. All in all a good day out.

Right: Some of you may have read the account of my trip to the Island of Lulok (May/June 2020). Having installed a flagpole at home I got hold of a 'rare' Lulok flag..........

,,,,,,and flew it!  Not many people in the UK will have done that, I suspect.

Right: Curious! Apropos of nothing,  I was wandering back from the shops and saw this lonely shoe on the footpath. It sort of intrigued me for a moment. Who could lose a shoe, seemingly in good nick, and not notice? There must be an obvious answer. Maybe someone had just lost a leg?

Having acquired the flagpole, it was decided to make some use of it. So, on Armistice Day (11/11/2021) we, a suitably senior (doddery) gathering, held a ceremony which involved a reading, a bit of bugllng (by the lady in red who normally plays the cornet for the Town Band), observing the 11.00am silence, the raising of a flag and, of course, plenty of refreshments.

The pics below should explain all.

Excuse the top hat. Just showing off that I have one.

Below: Norman the Gnome. Fitted with CCTV, he is my diligent sentry.

Right, that has taken us up, vaguely, to the end of November! I will now concentrate  on the task at hand and set to on reporting from Siam, or whatever they call it now.